Little leaf collector meets his heroes
SALEM – Four-year-old Will Fletchall loves the bright orange City of Salem leaf collection truck “Big Bird” so much, he dressed up as a miniature version of the truck for Halloween.
And Will couldn’t wait to show his heroes, the crew of the big truck, his costume.
Little leaf collector Will Fletchall, who is 4, meets his heroes, “Big Bird” leaf collector truck crew members Jeff Bishop and Shawn Driver on Nov. 3 in front of Will's house in Salem. Will wore his leaf collector truck costume for Halloween and to show the crew. Photo by Meg Hibbert
Last week he got the chance to meet the fellows and see the truck up close, in front of his house on Maryland Avenue in Salem.
His parents, Elizabeth and Zack Fletchall, used their son’s fascination and their creative talents to transform a cardboard box with bright orange paint and an exhaust hose for a clothes dryer to create the costume for him.
Elizabeth explained her son’s fascination: “Will is obsessed with every single truck and every single street and maintenance department worker in the City of Salem.
Big Bird truck swings through our neighborhood every Monday afternoon around lunch or sometime after. The drivers definitely know who we are. We’ve been out with Will the past two weeks waving,” she said.
When Will plays with his action figures, his guys are Billy and Jason (and Glee before Jason), our garbage collectors, who always look for Will on Friday mornings.”
Elizabeth Fletchall praised not only the street department employees Jeff Bishop and Shawn Driver, the Big Bird Crew, but all the city workers. “It’s everyone from the folks trimming trees or patching our sidewalks to the firefighters who we stop to see on our walks. They’ve all gone out of their way to talk to or wave to our son.
“Zack and I are beyond grateful to each and every one of them because they’ve all taken just a few seconds to recognize a little kid. How easy it would be for them to ignore or pass by, but each little wave or question answered gets loads of smiles from Will and gives him a story to tell over and over to us, his grandparents, or anyone else who will listen.
She added, “Their kindness just makes our hearts soar. Zack and I are both originally from northern Virginia where this type of treatment isn’t the norm. We are blessed to be part of such a wonderful community.”
Although Will was thrilled to have the truck stop at his house for a photo of him and the big guys on Nov. 3, he wouldn’t come close until they turned off Big Bird’s giant sucking hose.
Will’s younger brother, Benjamin, watched with fascination from a distance, safe in the arms of one of his grandmothers, Pam Thacker. The boys’ grandparents all live in Botetourt County. They are Pam and Pete Thacker of Daleville and Jenifer and Mike Fletchall of Buchanan.
Mike Tyler, director of Salem’s street department, explained how the leaf collection truck that was converted from a street sweeper got the name.
“When the truck came back after the leaf box was installed, it was much higher and was all bright and orange, one of the guys said that it looked like ‘A big bird.’ ”
Tyler added that the Street Department does “fun things like that from time to time. There is also a leaf truck that says HKTT industries, Salem, Virginia. The truck was a hodgepodge of many parts of different stuff and basically engineered/manufactured by us so the HKTT is the four last name initials of the four guys that built it.”
