Companies lined up with their best swag and biggest equipment Friday morning at the Kootenai Technical Education Campus in Rathdrum at the annual Hard Hats, Hammers and Hot Dogs event, hoping to tempt high school students to consider careers in the construction industry.

“It’s a trades day to expose the students of northern Idaho to the opportunities that are in the construction fields and in the trades,” said KTEC Director Colby Mattila. “It’s like a career day.”

Xanaia Dahlstrom, 14, wants to be a teacher, maybe of welding, when she graduates from Lake City High School in a few years.

“It’s been a really great experience,” she said. “And it’s fun to be able to weld.”

She got to weld two copper pipes together, and she also loved operating the crane.

More than 600 ninth and tenth grade students arrived at KTEC on buses from high school campuses from throughout the region. As they arrived, they attended a safety orientation and received hardhats and personal protective equipment before touring the KTEC campus.

At the rear of the KTEC building, past the labs full of over 50 industry professionals marketing their own companies, were dozens of pieces of heavy equipment gathered for the students to get exposure to.

Students were able to operate equipment on each truck. They moved a school bus suspended from two tow trucks, sprayed the hose from a fire truck, drove Bobcats, dumped dirt from skid-steers, lifted a tree stump with a crane, and operated dump trucks, cement mixers, remote-powered equipment and more.

Students worked with professional volunteer operators to complete games, like stacking cones with a bobcat, or stacking tires with an excavator.

“It really is all about the kids, watching them light up,” said Bert Rohrbach, faculties curriculum administrator for Associated General Contractors, a sponsor for the event. “This is a teaser, we want to set the hook in ‘em. Keep it short and sweet and encourage them to come into the industry.”

AGC collaborates with Associated Builders and Contractors in sponsoring the event.

There’s a gap between people retiring from the industry now, and new employees to fill those openings, said Shannon Talbot, the public information specialist for AGC. The Hard Hats, Hammers and Hot Dogs career day is an industry-wide event aimed to fill that employment gap in North Idaho – the gap resulting from millennials getting college degrees, and leaving the trades vacant in a time of spiking demand.

Inside the labs in KTEC were industry booths manned by employers and employees anxious to introduce their companies and trades to students. Most had interactive displays, which students could touch and use tools, pieces and parts, like welding, hammering, cutting or clipping.

“We want to let kids know that there’s more than just linemen and electricians,” said Brian Watkins, a journeyman representing Avista Utilities in a booth. “There’s a lot of other crafts that do a lot of different things, and it takes all the crafts working together to produce power.”

Trade reps, volunteers and students had fun exploring the campus, before getting a hot dog lunch in the cafeteria on campus.

“I find this hugely entertaining,” said LCHS student Gavin Karlinsey, 14. “In our normal high school, we’re never going to be able to weld, or use heavy machinery, so this is actually really cool in my opinion.”

Gavin doesn’t know what he wants to do for a career yet, but after attending Hard Hats, Hammers and Hot Dogs, he could see construction as being really fun.