PCC to host forklift rodeo

WINTERVILLE — PCC is partnering with local businesses and organizations to hold a Forklift Rodeo Safety Competition on National Manufacturing Day.

According to Patrick Jacques, dean of PCC’s Construction and Industrial Technology Division, the rodeo will take place on Pitt’s campus from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 4. In addition to PCC, the event is being sponsored by Hyster-Yale Group, Gregory Poole Lift Systems, Pitt County Economic Development and RiversEast Workforce Development Board.

“The Forklift Rodeo is part of PCC’s celebration of Manufacturing Day, which takes place nationwide on the first Friday in October each year,” Jacques said.

“It’s a chance to highlight and spur interest in manufacturing careers and showcase the programming PCC offers to prepare students for those jobs,” he said.

Jacques says the rodeo will feature skilled drivers from local manufacturing companies maneuvering lift trucks around various courses to demonstrate their operating skills and knowledge of workplace safety standards. He says the event will take place in the parking lot adjacent to the G.H. Leslie Building and include music, food trucks and guided campus tours.

“The competition is a chance for local industries to come together on Manufacturing Day to celebrate forklift drivers,” Jacques said. “If you think about it, nearly everything we encounter in our daily lives has been moved around by a forklift at some point.”

Jacques says this year’s competition will feature four teams from businesses and industries located within the five-county area — Pitt, Beaufort, Bertie, Hertford and Martin — served by RiversEast. A three-man team from Fastenal’s Greenville branch claimed first place in the 2023 Forklift Rodeo Safety Competition at PCC.