A hodgepodge of things that go vroom will fill the northwest parking lot of Westland Mall in West Burlington on Saturday as the Burlington Rotary Club kicks off its first Touch-a-Truck event. 

The free, family-friendly event, which will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., will give children and adults the opportunity to explore about 30 vehicles and pieces of equipment from 18 businesses and municipal services, including MedForce.

"The dads and grandpas are just as entertained as the kids at an event like this," said Rotary member and Greater Burlington Partnership President and CEO Della Schmidt. "I have seen events like this in other places I've lived, and there are many a 30-, 40-, 50-year-old guy who turns into a 10-year-old boy real quick."

There will be tractors, combines, livestock vehicles, a cement mixer, a front-end loader, police cars, fire engines, ambulances, semi trucks, a dump truck, a tow truck, the Burlington Public Library bookmobile, Burlington Trailways' restored vintage motorcoach and a helicopter.

"Each exhibitor has been encouraged to have hands-on, kid-friendly activities for them to do, which in many cases will include being able to climb up and sit in the cab and be able to toot the horn, that sort of thing," Schmidt said.

Touch-a-Truck takes the place of the Rotary's annual chicken barbecue fundraiser, which last was held in 2019. 

"It just got to be a huge project, more than our club could handle, and so it kind of went away," Schmidt said. "But the need for having some fundraising in order to be able to do scholarships and encouraging literacy and all those things that Rotary likes to do, we needed to come up with some new fundraisers."

Schmidt said Rotary hopes to raise $3,000 at the event through donations made by the participating businesses and sponsors. The money raised will go toward scholarships and the book distribution program Rotary Reader.

To coincide with the event, Cashus Italian Cuisine, located in the mall, will be offering specials, including $6 loaded taco bowls, $6 spaghetti and meat sauce with garlic toast, and some kind of cake. 

Lost Bear Coffee also will be open. 

Food vendors may be incorporated in the event in the future. 

"We're going to give this a whirl and see what kind of community response we get," Schmidt said. 

Michaele Niehaus covers business, development, environment and agriculture for The Hawk Eye. She can be reached at mniehaus@thehawkeye.com.