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Dozer Day puts kids at the helm of heavy machinery

Annual fundraiser also helps companies hire workers

By Scott Hewitt, Columbian staff writer
Published: May 18, 2018, 6:05am
5 Photos
Crowds watch bulldozers at work at the annual Dozer Day event at the Clark County Fairgrounds in 2017.
Crowds watch bulldozers at work at the annual Dozer Day event at the Clark County Fairgrounds in 2017. Photo Gallery

Children who have spent much of their lifetimes making revving, rumbling sound effects with their mouths while pushing toy trucks through sand will really dig Dozer Day at the Clark County Fairgrounds.

It’s a big step up for a little kid. The trucks at Dozer Day aren’t toys, they’re the real deal and as large as life; plenty of joyful “vroom, vroom” sound effects will come straight from big motors and machinery, not anybody’s pretending lips.

Dozer Day — actually two days running May 19 and 20 — is the annual Clark County outing that lets small children operate large construction equipment. Held in a massive sand pit at the Clark County Fairgrounds, the event deploys dozens of professionally qualified volunteers to supervise — that is, provide safety-belted laps and help move the literal levers of power — while the kids get to do more than pretend. The volunteers love it, said event planner Renee Nutter. They used to be eager little kids, too.

This year’s Dozer Day has an additional draw for former little kids who have grown bigger and eager to do more than pretend. This is the first time that Dozer Day’s many corporate partners and contributors will host an on-site career fair for job seekers 18 years and older.

If You Go

What: Dozer Day.

• When: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 19 and 20.

• Where: Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds, 17402 N.E. Delfel Road, Ridgefield.

• Cost: Tickets $13 for adults; $11 for children 2-12 and seniors 60 and older; free for 2 and younger. Parking is $6 per vehicle, cash only.

• Learn More: Vancouver.DozerDay.org

“Some of our local sponsors, some really great companies, are looking to do some hiring,” Nutter said. Employers such as A&E Construction, Clark County Public Works, Dietrich Trucking, Les Schwab, Northwest Natural, Papé Machinery, PetersonCat, RDO Equipment and Waste Connections will be on hand to talk future employment with visitors — along with Nutter Corp., the family construction company that grew this event.

“Frankly, I wish I was just entering the workforce now,” Renee Nutter said. “Everybody is hiring.”

To make sure job seekers and employers really do meet and mingle, she added, Dozer Day is holding a sneak preview today for 200 students involved with the Geometry in Construction program in Evergreen Public Schools, which combines math on paper with real-world construction experience. Mobility-impaired and special-needs students from Evergreen Public Schools get a preview today, too.

After that, Dozer Day is open to the public from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday with hands-on heavy equipment, trucks and dozers, fire engines and an ambulance.

Children of all ages can participate. The littlest kids get a lot of hands-on help from volunteers; the oldest kids (adults) even have the chance to try driving on their own.

Children of all ages

Dozer Day started in Wisconsin and was adopted locally first by the nonprofit Parks Foundation (as what turned out to be a prohibitively expensive fundraiser), and then by Nutter Corp., a civil contractor that does heavy construction jobs such as highways, railways and underground infrastructure. Nutter Corp. launched its own Nutter Family Foundation in 2006 to manage Dozer Day and distribute the proceeds to charities benefiting children.

The foundation’s goal of distributing $1 million to charities used to seem like a pipe dream, Renee Nutter said, but the total generated by Dozer Day for nonprofit groups such as local Boy Scouts, the Hough Foundation, Open House Ministries and the YWCA now stands at $1,208,363.91.

Dozer Day has even become a successful franchise, with licensed sister events now held in Yakima (earlier this spring) and Puyallup (on June 2 and 3). The Nutter Foundation is hunting for more interested licensees across the nation, and Nutter said she’s expecting corporate visitors from Idaho, Nebraska and as far away as Florida who want to see how this year’s event works.

“Construction isn’t going away,” Nutter said. “Computers may be taking over in some fields, but they’re not going to take construction over. There’s always going to be a need for people.”

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