Ocean Concrete opened their gates and allowed us curious outsiders in for their annual open house. This year marked the 15th year the construction company at Granville Island hosted the community event. Despite the inclement weather, everyone had great fun!

Ocean Concrete trucks

If you’ve seen the cement trucks decorated as a bunch of asparagus, a ripe strawberry, a buttery cob of corn or a happy sunshine, you’ve seen the Ocean Concrete trucks. These 4 trucks were set up for the kids. The kidlets could hop on board, pull the atrociously loud horn (our eldest is responsible for many ringing ears) and play with the air brakes.

Ocean concrete sandpileIn case mucking around on a cement truck was not sufficient entertainment, skid steers, gators, excavators and more were also lined up for the kids’ exploration. The kids were given bright yellow hard hats and bouncy blue balloons.  A colouring station was set up, a MASSIVE sand pile complete with diggers and dump trucks tempted every child (and pained every parent who neglected to pack a change of clothes), and there was also a raffle to win construction toys.

Three fire trucks were set up outside the gates, the rescue teams did a rappel demonstration off the crazy-high tower, and there were tours of the concrete-making facility. We had a truly memorable day. The one downside…trying to explain the concept of “happens once a year” to a 2 & 4 year old. Our two had such fun they would have stayed all day and every day after!

Despite the complete downpour, the event was very well attended. The staff-volunteers from Ocean Concrete put on a fantastic event. We’ve already marked our calendars to ensure we attend next year!