Kids Gather To Experience The Thrill Of Operating Heavy Equipment While Raising Money For Local Charities
NUCA of Eastern WA & North Idaho in partnership with the Nutter Foundation enjoyed another fantastic turnout as they overflowed the Cabela’s parking lot during their 3rd annual Dozer Day event at Cabela’s Stateline in Post Falls, ID which took place Saturday May 21st and Sunday May 22nd, 2022.
This year enjoyed record breaking attendance when over 5,000 children, parents, grandparents, volunteers and members of the community came out to learn about the construction industry and utility community. In addition to putting kids actually on and operating over 25 pieces of heavy equipment including loaders, dozers, excavators and compaction rollers, Dozer Day exposed its attendees to activities and displays from our local police, contractors, equipment providers, educators, banking partners, medical providers, power company and more!
As the excited kids walked through the gate, they were greeted with their very own hard hat and safety vest and welcomed to start the scavenger hunt of clues leading them to visit the booths of all the amazing Dozer Day partners. "Sponsor Row" was filled with educational information on 811 Call Before You Dig from the local utility coordinating councils and spinal care from Summit Family Chiropractic. While the kids enjoyed sidewalk chalk and the NIC Swag Plinko game, their parents were able to explore exciting educational opportunities at the Workforce Training Center NIC booth. The custom painted 811 Corvette from One Call Concepts drew a crowd as well!
The action picked up with a tour of the Post Falls Police Rescue 1 armored vehicle where kids and adults could climb up and see a tool used by the Post Falls SWAT team for high risk/emergency incidents. Before entering the equipment area, kiddos stopped at the Western States, Caterpillar booth where they took a spin operating one-of-a-kind remote-control dozers!
Next stop on the Dozer Day path put the kids on top of the “Tire Mountain” where they were able to climb up on the giant tires normally used for heavy off-road machines at the Les Schwab tire crawl. Kids were also able to try their hand at “changing a tire” at the Pit Stop Challenge! The Inland NW AGC showcased a little hammer and nail action for all those future carpenters and tradesman and Avista joined in the fun with their show stopping electric trailer where an experienced lineman demonstrated the electrifying “Do’s and Don’ts” of how to manage exposure to a downed line or a kite in a tree.
As the kids continued to run from station to station collecting their hard hat stickers to complete their scavenger hunt, they were able to slide down the zip line provided by United Rentals Trench Safety who displayed their trench boxes to educate the community about utilizing shoring while practicing safe excavation. Back again this year was the chance to climb up on the fully restored British Abbot, model FV433 tank brough by the classic military vehicle collecting club The Spokane Motorpool. And this year, Core & Main added a slide to their always popular pipe crawl! In the spirit of workforce development, local contractor NPL demonstrated pipe fusion to show kids what a career in gas pipe install might look like.
Following the loop of hands-on activities, the kids began to hop in the operator seat! Once again, our local equipment providers brought an amazing selection of excavators, bulldozers, loaders, backhoes and were even able to see what a directional boring machine can do! NUCA member contractors showed up once again with some of the most amazing volunteer equipment operators to guide the children through the controls as they raised buckets and dug dirt!
After working up an appetite in the bouncy obstacle course sponsored by ACI Northwest, families were able to enjoy tacos from Taco Works or grab a hot dog and balloon sponsored by LiUNA Local 238. Kona Ice served up cool treats and Pip n Pops catered to any sweet tooth with Mini Donuts, their famous Sandy Candy, and Kettle corn. If the parents needed a pick me up, Jitterz Java was there with their selection of coffees which they also donated coffee for our volunteers to keep them energized!
NUCA is happy this traditional weekend of family fun continues to get kids excited about the construction industry from an early age and hopes to get them thinking about pursuing alternate career paths in the skilled labor and trades. After wrapping up the Dozer Day event, NUCA of Eastern WA & North ID is excited to offer financial support once again to multiple non-profits with donations totaling over $30,000 that will benefit the children in our area through non-profit organizations such as Communities in Schools and Children’s Village. NUCA also supports the Mead Cheerleading and Post Falls Cheerleading programs that provided the volunteers needed to pull off this phenomenal event. Dozer Day truly is a community event, and we can’t wait to see you all there again May of 2023 for more construction themed fun!
For more information on becoming a sponsor of or attending Dozer Day 2023, visit ewni.dozerday.org
A PDF copy of this release can be obtained below
Media Contact:
Sheri Nowlan - Executive Director
National Utility Contractors Association of Eastern WA & North ID
Ph: 509-904-0652
sheri@nuca.com | www.nucaewni.org
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