Events that are family-oriented, free, fun and informative are often hard to find.

But this Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon, Briarwood Mall in Ann Arbor is hosting an annual event that's all of the above.

Touch-a-Truck is an event sponsored Washtenaw Success by 6 and the Washtenaw Great Start Parent Coalition. Along with providing a fun environment for the whole family to learn about trucks, emergency response vehicles, farm equipment and more, there will also be local businesses and non-profit organizations to present parents with information about preschool, health services, childcare and more.

Melissa Pinsky, co-director of Washtenaw Great Start Collaborative, said that what the event needed was a way to attract the children, which is why the vehicles are the headliners.

“The trucks for us are a little bit of a way to lure the kids in,” she said.

It gives parents a chance to look around and collect information from all of the organizations.

The parking lot of the mall is turned into a circle of various large vehicles, which surround the tents and tables where non-profits and businesses talk to families and pass out information.

Briarwood Mall Director of Marketing and Business Development Denise Murray said this year is the third year for Touch-A-Truck — and this year they expect the largest turnout.

She said the mall was dedicated to ensuring that the event came back again this year. The first year attracted around 2,000 people, while the second year brought 3,000 people. The first two years of its existence, the event was met with poor weather, with the threat of storms all weekend.

“Weather hasn’t really been ideal,” Murray said. “This year the weather is supposed to be fantastic, so a really good turnout for this event is expected.”

Pinsky and Murray agree that it is important for children to learn about the vehicles that are within their neighborhoods and communities.

Murray said that she thinks children coming to see the trucks is more of a sense of interest than anything else, but that doesn’t mean the importance of the message is lost.

“I think that anytime the children get to interact with anybody involved in security it develops lifetime comfort and appreciation for those organizations,” Murray said.

All trucks and organizations participating in the event are listed at the link.