CULLMAN, Ala. – The Cullman Electric Cooperative (CEC) on Saturday assembled some heavy equipment at the Cullman County Fairgrounds for its Touch-A-Truck event. Vehicles and construction equipment from the CEC were joined by many more from the Cullman Power Board, , Ready Mix USA, Kent Logging, Wallace State Community College, Cullman EMS, the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office and the Cullman, Hanceville, Logan, Crane Hill, Trimble and Cold Springs fire departments.
James R. Smith Trucking brought a tractor-trailer rig with a trailer advertising the company’s stance against human trafficking, and R.E. Garrison Trucking displayed its newest wrapped truck which salutes law enforcement. A big attention-getter for many kids–and quite a few grownups–was the arrival and landing of the Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter.
CEC Communications Manager Brian Lacy told The Tribune, “We’ve seen touch-a-trucks, you see events like it all over the country. And we at the co-op were looking for something to do just as a fun community event in the spring, and nobody else around Cullman was doing anything quite like this, so we thought, ‘Well, let’s pick up the ball and run with it.’ So that’s what we decided to do.
“Back in February we started making some phone calls and inviting some people out. We really wanted to have a big emphasis on our first responders, so we reached out to the city law enforcement, the sheriff’s office with the county, all of the volunteer fire departments, and invited all of them to come to this. And then we kind of just started reaching out to a few businesses and folks like that, to bring some of the other big equipment and trucks that you see out here. And we got a pretty good turnout!”
As a drizzling rain began to fall on the fairgrounds, Lacy continued, “We didn’t know what to expect; it’s the first year that we’ve done this. We thought, ‘Well, let’s just do it and we’ll see what happens.’ And the weather’s been OK, but we’ve had a decent turnout, so we’re pretty happy with that. It’s been a pretty fun day.”
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