Letter: Firefighters have fun with fundraiser (July 11, 2008)
Editor:
What are your plans for Labor Day weekend? Each year without fail, the Engine One Fire Department in Cape Elizabeth and their spouses are busy at work preparing for their biggest fundraiser of the year. While raising money to help support the call company and their many expenses throughout the year to ensure the safety and wellbeing of those they protect is the main goal, having a little fun is surely on their minds as well. Surely they could do bake sales or sell trinkets instead, that would be much easier for them. However, they chose to think outside the box 41 years ago and have continued this tradition ever since. They choose to offer an event for everyone to come and enjoy, something that benefits them in the long run, but also benefits the artists and the community.
Although fun was mentioned, don’t be fooled. There is plenty of hard work to go around. The work begins mid-winter when artists are recruited and contacted about signing up to participate in the art show. Without these wonderfully talented artists, this fundraiser would not have prevailed for so many years. Each year a group of amazing and creative artists return as well as newly recruited ones. Advertising and organization carries on throughout the spring until finally the end is near. By the time that before mentioned Labor Day weekend approaches, everyone on the Engine One Company is in full Art Show mode. The setup begins Saturday night as the allotted area of Fort Williams Park in the heart of Cape Elizabeth comes alive by dusk with fire fighters buzzing around staking out lots and setting up signs and tables. This all has to be done now, you see, because by the time the sun rises in the morning there will be artists waiting in line outside the gated fort entrance to register.
It is that early, up before the sun morning that is the most tedious. With coffees in hand (thank goodness for the early opening Dunkin Donuts) the members of Engine One and their wives begin to crowd the little station on Cottage Road. It has begun. Although it may not feel so at 5 a.m., these people truly enjoy this weekend each year. They joke, they laugh, they work hard, but most importantly they raise money for a good cause. Without this money, they might not have the equipment and manpower to respond to your burning house or your flooding basement quite so quickly and efficiently. They might not be able to reach that car accident or fallen hiker in the park as adequately as they do now.
So, although their plans for Labor Day weekend are set from now till eternity it seems, what are you doing Sunday, Aug. 31? If your looking for a great family event, hundreds of talented artists and a group of fire fighters with large hearts and tired eyes, please stop by Fort Williams Park the Sunday before Labor Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to support the cause. Rain date is Sept. 1.
Jana Grant
South Portland
What are your plans for Labor Day weekend? Each year without fail, the Engine One Fire Department in Cape Elizabeth and their spouses are busy at work preparing for their biggest fundraiser of the year. While raising money to help support the call company and their many expenses throughout the year to ensure the safety and wellbeing of those they protect is the main goal, having a little fun is surely on their minds as well. Surely they could do bake sales or sell trinkets instead, that would be much easier for them. However, they chose to think outside the box 41 years ago and have continued this tradition ever since. They choose to offer an event for everyone to come and enjoy, something that benefits them in the long run, but also benefits the artists and the community.
Although fun was mentioned, don’t be fooled. There is plenty of hard work to go around. The work begins mid-winter when artists are recruited and contacted about signing up to participate in the art show. Without these wonderfully talented artists, this fundraiser would not have prevailed for so many years. Each year a group of amazing and creative artists return as well as newly recruited ones. Advertising and organization carries on throughout the spring until finally the end is near. By the time that before mentioned Labor Day weekend approaches, everyone on the Engine One Company is in full Art Show mode. The setup begins Saturday night as the allotted area of Fort Williams Park in the heart of Cape Elizabeth comes alive by dusk with fire fighters buzzing around staking out lots and setting up signs and tables. This all has to be done now, you see, because by the time the sun rises in the morning there will be artists waiting in line outside the gated fort entrance to register.
It is that early, up before the sun morning that is the most tedious. With coffees in hand (thank goodness for the early opening Dunkin Donuts) the members of Engine One and their wives begin to crowd the little station on Cottage Road. It has begun. Although it may not feel so at 5 a.m., these people truly enjoy this weekend each year. They joke, they laugh, they work hard, but most importantly they raise money for a good cause. Without this money, they might not have the equipment and manpower to respond to your burning house or your flooding basement quite so quickly and efficiently. They might not be able to reach that car accident or fallen hiker in the park as adequately as they do now.
So, although their plans for Labor Day weekend are set from now till eternity it seems, what are you doing Sunday, Aug. 31? If your looking for a great family event, hundreds of talented artists and a group of fire fighters with large hearts and tired eyes, please stop by Fort Williams Park the Sunday before Labor Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to support the cause. Rain date is Sept. 1.
Jana Grant
South Portland
Comments