Carnival to celebrate anniversary, raise funds

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July 6, 2012

Carnival to celebrate anniversary, raise funds

By Nelson Bradshaw Contributing Writer The Daily Star Fri Jul 06, 2012, 03:30 AM EDT

While thousands of visitors will be having a good time in Margaretville this week during the fire department's annual carnival, the celebration has a serious aim: raising funds to support training for volunteers in the department.

The Margaretville Fire Department will celebrate its 125th anniversary Saturday with a parade, live music and a "giant" fireworks display as the celebration that began Tuesday continues.

The carnival, which runs through Sunday, offers rides, food, classic cars, music and more.

Funds raised during the carnival go toward volunteer training for the department's 75 firefighters. A special pay-one-price policy will be in effect for the rides from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday.

The band Detour will perform Saturday from 8 p.m. to midnight. A fireworks display is slated for Saturday night at 10:30.

And the parade, featuring fire trucks from more than 30 area departments, begins rolling down Main Street at 11 a.m. on Saturday. Owners of classic cars are invited to join the line of march.

The firefighters barbecued chicken Wednesday, using a "secret sauce" mixed up by one of its volunteer members; they will be serving chicken again on Saturday. On Friday, a classic car show will begin at 6 p.m.

Gordon McMurray, a 52-year veteran of the department, is grand marshal for this year's parade, which is expected to draw fire trucks from more than 30 area departments.

McMurray, who remains active in the department, still going out on calls, recalled an occasion when tragedy struck a fellow firefighter.

In 1961, McMurray was demonstrating fire control.

"But, the humidity was just right for disaster," McMurray said. "The fire spread quickly out of control. I rolled through it. I woke up in Cooperstown. I was in the hospital there for seven weeks. Stubby Delemeter was with me. He got burned badly, too. He didn't make it, though."

McMurray went back to his volunteer job at the department after getting out of the hospital, but said it was a while before he was his old self again.

Fire Commissioner John Hubble said the need for volunteers is constant.

"We just don't have enough younger people coming in,"Hubble said. "It's hard to do. There is a lot of training you have to go through. It's a manpower or womanpower problem."

Nevertheless, Hubble, a 37-year veteran himself, predicted optimistically that the department would still be around 125 years from now.