By Adam Donnelly

JDRF introduces thousands to Meet a Machine in Kamloops

Apr 23, 2018 | 5:07 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kids love big machines. So when groups from across the region get together and bring out some of the biggest and most colourful machines out there, it’s a recipe for a fun-filled day for the whole family. That’s the premise of Meet a Machine, a fundraising event for the JDRF.

“It’s a fundraiser for Juvenile Type 1 Diabetes,” JDRF Corporate Chair Janice Otremba explained. “There’s about 3500 to 4000 that come attend it.”

There were big machines, and small machines, and definitely loud machines. Bob Bexton, a member of the Shuswap Pioneers Collectors Club had a number of items on display, including a 1947 Whizzer moped he’s restored.

“Whizzer made it, and that’s a 1947 engine,” Bexton told CFJC Today. “The rest of it… CCM bicycle, I don’t know what year the tank is from. The engine makes the number.”

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: The icon who is Taylor Swift

Nov 17, 2024

Two and Out

PETERS: Business owners shouldn't be held responsible for nuisance calls

Nov 15, 2024

Looped In

LOOPED IN WITH NIKKI OMEN: November 14, 2024

Nov 15, 2024

Along with the Whizzer, Bexton brought a pair of demonstration water pumps, which proved very popular with kids.

“[Kids] love anything that makes a noise,” Bexton said. “Especially when they get hands-on with the water pumps.”

That hands-on nature of the event seems to be what really gets kids fired up at Meet a Machine.

“It’s fun when you get to, you know, climb on top of something, work the gears, pick up a watermelon, bring it over, drop it, smash it,” Otremba said. “It’s fun. It’s just a fun day.”