Kids in Redmond will get the chance to climb behind the wheel of a fire truck, honk a horn on a construction rig, and peek inside a Washington State Patrol vehicle when Big Truck Day returns to Farrel-McWhirter Farm Park next Friday, August 14. The event runs from noon to 3 p.m. and brings together construction equipment, Redmond police and fire vehicles, and large, unique machines that don't usually roll up somewhere kids can touch them.
Among this year's lineup is the Washington State Department of Transportation's Incident Response Team, which posted on social media that it will bring its crew to the park. According to WSDOT Traffic, the agency's account covering traffic in King and Snohomish counties, including Seattle, is monitored from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and the agency reminds drivers to call 911 to report road hazards rather than posting about them online.
The City of Redmond has split the event into two 90-minute sessions this year, running noon to 1:30 p.m. and 1:30 to 3 p.m., and it's cautioning families ahead of time that the day comes with loud noises, including honking horns and emergency sirens, according to the City of Redmond. Pre-registration per child is encouraged so organizers can manage capacity on the park grounds, and the city is asking for a limit of one parent per two children. Registration information is posted at redmond.gov/bigtruckday.
What's Included With Registration
Families who register can expect more than just a look at the vehicles. Big Truck Day includes a tractor-pulled wagon ride and a goodie bag for registered kids, on top of hands-on access to the trucks themselves. Seattle's Child, a regional family publication, has reported that ticket pricing for similar past sessions of the event has typically run between $20 and $25 per registered child, geared toward kids ages 1 to 10, with infants under 1 attending free, according to Seattle's Child.
The setting itself carries some history. Farrel-McWhirter Farm Park spans 68 acres and traces back to a homestead established in 1890. Earl and Elise McWhirter purchased the property in 1936, and Elise McWhirter bequeathed it to the City of Redmond upon her death in 1971 so it could serve as a public park, per the city. The farm still preserves mid-twentieth-century structures and animal barns alongside multi-use trails, giving the family event a backdrop rooted in the area's agricultural past.
Why WSDOT Keeps Showing Up
WSDOT's presence at community events like this one isn't just for show. The agency reported in June 2024 that nearly 31% of its Seattle-area Incident Response Team crew members have been struck by traffic while clearing highway scenes, with eight team-involved vehicle collisions in 2023 alone, according to WSDOT. Seattle-area IRT drivers respond to highway emergencies roughly once every 12 minutes on average, underscoring how routine — and how risky — that work has become.
The stakes go beyond crew safety. WSDOT performance evaluations found the Incident Response Team generated an estimated $34.7 million in economic benefit during the third quarter of 2023 by quickly clearing highway hazards and heading off secondary traffic backups, the agency reported. State transportation models cited by WSDOT show that every minute a lane stays blocked can create four to 10 minutes of compounding congestion, which is part of why getting crews off the shoulder quickly matters so much to the broader highway system.
That danger has been showing up in statewide numbers too. WSDOT and the Washington State Patrol reported a 17% annual increase in statewide highway work zone collisions in April 2025, with crashes rising to 1,607 in 2024 and serious injuries surging 36%, according to KIRO Newsradio. Officials pointed to distracted driving, excessive speed, and tailgating as the primary causes behind those crashes.
One Piece Of Redmond's Bigger Event Calendar
Big Truck Day is run by Redmond's Parks & Recreation Department as a specialized community recreation event, distinct from the city's larger seasonal festivals like summer's Derby Days or winter's Redmond Lights, per the city. While those signature festivals draw broad regional crowds, an event like Big Truck Day is built around a narrower, family-focused demographic getting close-up access to vehicles they'd otherwise just see driving past.
Families traveling across Redmond to reach the park have another option worth knowing about. The city launched RedLink in April 2026, a free electric microtransit pilot connecting Downtown Redmond and Education Hill, which debuted alongside Sound Transit's regional rail expansion to provide first-mile public transportation, as Hoodline has reported.
Neighboring Snoqualmie took direct inspiration from Redmond's event when it launched its own Big Truck Day in 2019, according to the Snoqualmie Valley Record. That city built in a dedicated sensory-friendly period with horns and sirens kept silent before the louder demonstrations began, a model aimed at accommodating children with sensory processing needs. Redmond's own advisory about honking horns and sirens at this year's event gives parents of sensory-sensitive kids a heads-up to plan around the noisier stretches.
The vehicle showcase also arrives against the backdrop of Redmond's broader push on traffic safety near children. The city rolled out a Speed Safety Camera Pilot Program across multiple school zones in summer 2025 to discourage reckless driving near kids and pedestrians, citing Federal Highway Administration data suggesting automated safety cameras can cut speed-related crashes by up to 54%, according to the city.
