Dunedin’s Special Rigs for Special Kids celebrates 30 years of spreading joy.

Special Rigs for Special Kids celebrated its 30th anniversary in August, and everyone came to the party – except the weather. Not that it mattered – nothing puts a dampener on this day.

There isn’t much more praise that can be heaped on the team that puts Special Rigs for Special Kids together year after year. Three decades of holding this remarkable event have resulted in everlasting memories for thousands of children, parents, caregivers, volunteers and, of course, the drivers.

This year, 324 vehicles, including livestock trucks, spreaders, loggers, waste disposal trucks, fire engines and – a sign of the times – many traffic management trucks lined up for the event. First, they gathered around the streets of the Edgar Centre in Dunedin. There, the drivers would collect their passenger (or passengers) and then drive the familiar route out to Mosgiel via Three Mile Hill and back again. People lined up along the route to wave and watch the parade of vehicles.

Organiser Greg Inch is unquestionably the face of the event, but he will be the first to admit that he is just a small cog in a noticeably big wheel. Those who provide resources and volunteer their services for the event cannot be thanked enough.

It is a formula that works every year. Hundreds of children turn up, and all go away with a goodie bag and a smile, knowing that in 12 months, they will do it all again.