Touch-A-Truck at P.S. 295!

Both kids and kids-at-heart will have the chance to get touchy-feely with a whole host of trucks this weekend at Park Slope’s P.S. 295.

On Saturday the arts magnet school will host Brooklyn’s first-ever street fair, a fundraiser for the school where kids can get up close and personal with some of their favorite things on four wheels – from staples like a fire truck and ambulance to an Airstream trailer and The Truck Farm, a traveling garden and CSA that brings a rural experience to urban kids. All proceeds from Touch-A-Truck Brooklyn will be used to help fund P.S. 295‘s arts programming.

The event was dreamed up by P.S. 295 parents Melisa Coburn and Christine Gillespie, who run the local parenting blog Shiny Brite.

“We visited a Touch-A-Truck fundraiser in Connecticut and the kids were so completely into it,” said Coburn. “We thought the concept was so great that we would bring it to our own Brooklyn neighborhood.”

Drivers of the truck will be on-hand to chat with kids about how the trucks work and what purpose they serve in the community

“I think it will be fun for the kids to get in the drivers seat and pretend they’re driving the truck,” added Gillespie.

For the older crowd, the event will boast a vintage ice cream truck and other vintage autos from the Brooklyn Antique Automobile Association, as well as some of the city’s best food trucks – including Red Hook’s Country Boys/Martinez Taco Truck, Frites & Meats and the Treats Truck.

Gillespie, though, is less excited by the more “grown-up” amusements.

“As a grown up I’m really excited for the garbage truck,” said Gillespie. “I just think they’re so cool.”

Touch-A-Truck will take place at P.S. 295 on April 9, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 per person, children under 2 are free.