The air horn heard echoing across town was the sound of hundreds of children exploring the different vehicles on display in Jefferson parking lot.

ECFE Coordinator Betty Uehling the annual vehicle fair brings in an average of 500 children and their parents and it was one ECFE’s longest ongoing traditions. Uehling said the vehicle fair is around 40 years old. The event started before she joined ECFE 35 years ago.

This year around 40 vehicles were on display in Jefferson Parking lot. Uehling said the Rolling Out Creations (ROC) truck organization agreed to participate bringing in an additional 12 vehicles.

Uehling said this year kids were especially interested in exploring the school bus, fire engine, ambulance and testing the air horn on the different trucks.

Four-year-old Mason Adler was a little startled after pulling the air horn cord on the Schugel Trucking semi. Adler was one a hundred kids to try the vehicle horn durning Wednesday’s vehicle fair.

Several children explored the different emergency vehicles on display. Brown County Sheriff Deputy Randee Murphy let kids explore her squad car. She said it was always interesting to see whether kids would go to the driver seat or ride in back.

Megan Rodewald said every year she and her sister bring their kids to the vehicle fair and get a photo of them in the back of a squad car.

“We’re hoping that if we expose them to this when they are young they will have an aversion to being in the back of a squad car later in life,” she said.

In the Allina Health ambulance, EMS worker Jasymn Stolt-Ostermann showed kids how some of the equipment works. Kids were able to try on the pulse monitor on their finger to see a readout of the vital signs.

Stolt-Ostermann said some kids have heard their heart beat through a stethoscope, but few have seen it displayed on a computer monitor.

Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Randee Murphy shows Lucy Rodewald the ins and outs of the squad vehicle during the vehicle fair. Murphy said half the kids go to the driver seat first; the other half check on the back seat. “All the kids like to push the different buttons,” she said.

One of the more popular vehicles with the older kids was a demolition derby car owned by Dustin Reinhart. He said the vehicle was last run in derby in Rapid City. He had recently fixed the car up and he will run it again during the Brown County Fair.

Reinhart said kids seemed to like climbing inside the vehicle. A few get a chance to get up close to a derby car.

Eight-year-old Avery Dustin said it was his first time seeing a derby car up close. He got a chance to sit behind the wheel. Dustin said he was considering getting into demo derbies when he was older.

“It just looks fun to crash into things,” he said.

The air horn on the J & R Schugel semi was the most popular. Ross Pehling, a part-time trucker for J & R Schugel showed the different kids how to pull the cord for the air horn. He estimated that over 100 kids pulled the cord before the end of the day.

The pump from A.R.R. Construction’s work vehicle served as a temporary entryway to the ECFE Vehicle Fair, Wednesday.

Pehling also confirmed that when driving the truck, it is still common to see children in other vehicles request he pull the horn.

Pehling said this was one of the perks of being a truck driver. If kids want to hear the horn, drivers will comply.

“Anything to make them smile,” he said.

Alliana Health EMS working Jasymn Stolt-Osterman shows children the equipment used to measure a patient’s heart beat and pulse.

Sylvie Baumann, 2, was delighted to get behind the wheel of the New Ulm Fire Department’s fire engine during Wednesday’s ECFE Vehicle Fair.