Children and their families arrived in droves for the first Kids n Rigs Truck Show at Richmond Park on Saturday.
Families were treated to the finest trucking the region has to offer, and were not charged a cent for the experience.
Organisor Darren Letham, a truck driver at Stuart Drummond Transport, says so often he was seeing parents have to choose between their children buying a hotdog or going on a ride due to cost at similar events.
“I just wanted to do something free for families and kids. I didn’t want any family to be charged, I wanted everything free.”
Darren and a team of five others fundraised just over $10,000 to make it all happen, with a portion of that needed to cover costs. Everything else, he says, will be donated to the Child Cancer Foundation.
Families were offered rides around the park in some big rigs, with horns heard and smiles seen around the length of the track.
“There’s a few future truckies being inspired here today,” one dad told Waimea Weekly.
Darren says the sponsors and local community stepped up to make it happen, with ice creams, drinks, sausages, toys, rides and merchandise provided free of charge.
On the day, he said he already had a meeting scheduled to discuss repeating the event for next year.
