“At home, they can read books about the real-life interaction they’ve had with the vehicles that day,” Tyndall said.

Event organizers said the inaugural event was started to provide access to the myriad of vehicles children often see but never get a chance to meet.

“I think it really provides that sense of interaction, not only the child with the machine, but the child with the operator,” Tyndall added.

The Battlefords Early Years Family Resource Centre, which opened at the end of January 2020, is relatively new to the community and could not host in-person events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, they’re able to start hosting in-person events.

“We were very limited in the in-person services that we could offer. Now, just this year, we have lifted some of our restrictions, and we just had our grand opening in June,” Tyndall said. Now, programming has gone back to pre-pandemic levels.

All of the vehicles for the event were volunteered by local organizations, governments, and businesses, including: the City of North Battleford, North Battleford RCMP, North Battleford Fire Department, Loraas Environmental, Department of Highways, Redhead Equipment, Brad Mcleod Milk & Water Delivery, Battlefords Pure Water Delivery, Bout Time Ride Truck, BATC, Western Development Museum, and First Student Canada.

 

(“Battlefords children get a chance to ‘Meet a Machine'” was used on 9/21/2022 from https://www.sasktoday.ca/north/local-news/battlefords-children-get-a-chance-to-meet-a-machine-5835692)