Vendors, vehicles, and volunteers make Touch-A-Truck a success

Submitted by Bristow,, OK Artisans and Gardeners Market The Bristow, OK Artisans and Gardeners Market hosted its third Touch-A-Truck Kids Day Event this weekend with 30 vendors, nearly 40 vehicles, and dozens of volunteers. The market has worked to grow the Touch-A-Truck Kids Day Event for the last three years to an event that everyone looks forward to before going back to school.

The Artisans and Gardeners Market welcomed 30 different local vendors with hand-made and home-grown items. Each Saturday morning from 8:08 a.m.-noon you can find vendors on the corner of Historic Route 66 and Highway 16. Touch-A-Truck made for a busy and noisy market day including a watermelon filled farm truck, balloon artist, and face painting as well as dozens of anchor vendors that shoppers can find at Bristow’s market every weekend. The Market’s next event will be their annual Fall Festival, held the first Saturday of September, September 2, of this year.

From three fire engines, a historic trolley, law enforcement from nearly every entity, mini trucks, a monster truck, and everything in between, Touch-A-Truck Kids Day was a day for kids at heart of all ages and stages. “As long as you have this event, we will be here,” said Adam Estill of Baer Logistics. “Our truckers love getting to show off their rides and see the light in a child’s eye when they sit in the driver’s seat of a big rig and pull the chain to honk those big horns.” This year the Market tried a Quiet Hour, where no horns were honked until 10 a.m. My son will completely freeze and not want to move if things are too loud. He wouldn’t want to get near anything if he couldn’t predict when the horn would go off. That wasn’t a problem on Saturday.

“So many people got to experience joy because others were patient,” said anchor vendor and Quiet Hour suggester, Kylie Shockley.

Besides being a great day for vendors and truckers, this event was a philanthropist’s dream.

$7,000 of school supplies were given away in less than an hour, 200 backpacks were filled for Touch-A-Truck by Rotary Club of Bristow, Spirit Bank, and Palmer’s Print Shop that were funded by the donations of individuals, businesses, and organizations. Boy Scout Troop 571 volunteered to rope off the parking lot, direct traffic, and park the big rigs. Guests could learn more about different services and programs offered right here in Bristow from Bristow 4-H, Friends of the Bristow Public Library, TSET Healthy Living, Youth Services of Creek County, and OSU Community Wellness Program.

Our vendors, vehicles, and volunteers thank each family for coming and we look forward to Touch-A-Truck 2024.