By C.J. Hirschfield
Last week, Fairyland welcomed
more than a thousand guests to our first Port Day, in partnership with the good
folks who operate Oakland’s popular air- and seaports. Together with its
business partners, the Port of Oakland supports more than 73,000 jobs in the
region, and getting kids – even little ones – excited about STEM (science,
technology, engineering and math) may ignite an interest that could lead to a
career in the sciences … and perhaps at the Port.
Many wonderful hands-on
activities and giveaways were on the schedule, but the big draw was the Port’s
mini container crane that could be operated by the kids. The crane had not been
out in the community for a number of years, so we were over-the-top excited.
But just half an hour before we were
to open our fairy gates, disaster struck.
You see, although the crane is
mini when compared to its huge working counterparts, it is nonetheless 12 feet
tall and weighs in at about a thousand pounds. When it was pulled into our
grassy meadow area, its trailer sank into the rain-soaked earth and couldn’t be
extracted.
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| The Port of Oakland's mini crane. |
