Kauai Touch-A-Truck event draws families, first responders and utility support

Children climbed into an armored rescue vehicle, listened to sirens and got a close look at fire, sanitation and police rigs as the Kauai Police Department turned the Vidinha Stadium parking lot into a hands-on public-safety lesson in Līhue. The free event gave families a low-pressure way to meet the people and machines that show up during emergencies, road incidents and rescues.

KPD’s fifth annual Touch-A-Truck ran Saturday, June 20, from 9 a.m. to noon and was open to the public. The display included a bomb vehicle, fire engine, sanitation truck, dump truck, police car and other large vehicles, with general parking on the north side of the lot and the display area on the south side. The setup let children move from truck to truck without the formality of a station house visit or a county meeting.

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative also treated the event as a community connection point. Beth Amaro said helping at Touch-A-Truck was a win for the cooperative because it let employees interact with the public while supporting a gathering built around children and families. That role fit the event’s larger purpose: showing how utility crews, law enforcement and emergency responders work in the same public space when Kauai needs them most.

The event has grown quickly since the first Touch-A-Truck in 2022, when about 500 people attended. By 2023, turnout had climbed to about 1,000, according to KPD spokesperson Tiana Victorino. Local coverage later described the 2025 gathering as the fourth annual event, and noted that it began as a pastime tied to Kauai Police Activities League flag football games before expanding into a larger family program with 17 scavenger-hunt and passport stations.

The crowd has also drawn a broad slice of the county’s civic life. Deputy Police Chief Mark Ozaki, County Councilmember Bernard Carvalho, Regina Carvalho, Kauai Board of Education representative William “Bill” Arakaki and Coach Blanche were among those present at last year’s event, underscoring how Touch-A-Truck has become both a children’s outing and an informal countywide gathering. For KPD, the format offers something practical: a way to introduce young residents to police and emergency work before they ever need it in a real crisis.