We recognized 811 Day on Aug. 11 by rolling out a new damage prevention demonstration trailer in Arkansas.

The trailer, which looks a lot like a food truck, is the first of its kind for our company and something new for the industry. It will be used at community events to educate and encourage people to always call 811 before they dig, in order to be sure they don’t hit any buried utility lines.

In Arkansas, 811 Day began with a partnership event with Riverwood Homes. Riverwood Homes invited contractors to a safety demonstration at a new subdivision at Farmington, Arkansas. City officials also attended.

Black Hills Energy team members then traveled to Rogers, Arkansas, where they set up the trailer for a public event at Lowe’s. Cold drinks were popular on this hot day, as were 811 slap bracelets, flashlights and other items.

The damage prevention team then partnered with a large commercial contractor, Nabholz Construction Corp., to show our damage prevention videos, introduce our team and pass out cold drinks and 811 promotional items. That event was held at the 350-acre Walmart home office construction site in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Arkansas media covered the 811 Day events, which included an hour-long radio call-in program that allowed residents to ask questions about trees, landscaping, fences and the like. 

To further increase awareness of the importance of dialing 811, our local community and Chamber of Commerce partners in the area shared our public safety education messages in newsletter and on social media during the week of Aug. 5.

The successful debut of our trailer was just the start of many more opportunities for our damage prevention team to share safety tips with the public and promote calling 811 before digging. We’re looking forward to more trainings at public events and on construction job sites.

Well done team!

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