Williamson Road Library to host Ride and Read Festival Saturday

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - An event for children this weekend in Roanoke will bring together books, big trucks, heavy equipment and even model trains.

It’s the Ride and Read Festival at the Williamson Road Library.

Billy Nauert will be sharing his love of model railroading with a new layout he’s built on the back of a pickup.

The President of the Roanoke Valley Model Railroading Club says he has long wanted to have a way to share his passion at outdoor events like the one on Saturday.

“I’ve always wanted to build a display that I could take out for children to play with everywhere,” Nauert told WDBJ7. “And there’s never one that’s mobile enough, so I put it on the back of my truck.”

“The best part of Ride and Read is we have over a thousand Star City Reads Books to give away,” said Youth Services Librarian Jeffrey Wood, “and also two dozen vehicles from city departments, facilities, fire, police and parks and rec and of course Billy with his trains.”

The Ride and Read Festival is free, and it runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Williamson Road Library.

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