Funny enough, we have one of these in our town of Decatur, GA. Mostly it is for the mayor to ride in during parades but it also is used at every festival we have - and we have a lot of them - for two purposes. The first (and most fun) is that kids get to ride around in it and ring the bell and all that. The backup purpose (I have not actually seen it used for this but it probably sounded good in the budget meeting) is to to carry people out of the middle of the festival who get hurt or pass out.
Mostly it is for the mayor to ride in during parades but it also is used at every festival we have - and we have a lot of them - for two purposes. The first (and most fun) is that kids get to ride around in it and ring the bell and all that. The backup purpose (I have not actually seen it used for this but it probably sounded good in the budget meeting) is to to carry people out of the middle of the festival who get hurt or pass out.