Saratoga Springs DPW Hosts Big Truck Day

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Scores of children, young and old, visited the Weibel Avenue Ice Rink lot this week, where the city’s Department of Public Works hosted its first “Big Truck Day.” 

“A lot of people don’t know what we do day-to-day and in how many different ways we serve the community, so this is an opportunity to see all the different vehicles, learn what they do, and talk to some of our guys and gals,” said Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub. The event was first launched in 2019 during DPW Commissioner Anthony "Skip" Scirocco's time in office.  

“It stems from our philosophy of wanting to be more pro-active with the community have more touch-points that are positive and give the community the opportunity to see what DPW actually does,” Golub said. 

The DPW is responsible for providing municipal services to the public 24-7, 365 days per-year. Among those responsibilities are 156 miles of city streets, and more than 250 miles of water, sanitary and storm sewer utilities. 

The free public event offered kids the opportunity to sit in vehicles, learn about the DPW fleet and the services they provide to Saratoga Springs. DPW workers were stationed along the lot with an assortment of  vehicles - a dump truck, bucket truck, front-end loader, tractor, backhoe, skid steer, and the DPW flower truck, among them.

Members of the Saratoga Springs Police Department were also on hand with some of their vehicles on display, and handed out coloring books and junior police badges. 

Note: the online version of the story has been updated to indicate Big Truck Day was initiated in 2019.