Cochranville Fireman's Carnival This Weekend

Cochranville Fire Company member Dennis Keenan prepares for this week's fire company carnival.

This from the Gap-Parkesburg-Oxford Community Courier:

The annual Cochranville Fireman's Carnival brings old-fashioned family fun to the area. This year, the carnival will run Wednesdays through Saturdays, July 20 to 23 and July 27 to 30, with rides, games, food and live music every night.

The carnival will be open from 6 to 10 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday nights and from 6 to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. Every night is family night, with discounted prices for rides available by purchasing wristbands in advance online.

"We try to put a family carnival together so parents can come, teenagers can come and young children can come - there's something for all of the family," carnival committee member Dennis Keenan said. "That's the history of the firehouse. The fire company started having carnivals for fundraising in 1946.

Live music is a big part of the carnival. Each evening there will be a different featured band performing. Several of the bands are popular favorites returning to perform again, plus there are some new bands on the schedule this year. Gene Douglas with Country and More and the West Chester Swing Kings are new additions this year that will appear on July 20 and 21, respectively.

The Band and The Coyotes are country music groups that will perform on July 27 and 28, respectively. Returning favorites Chestnut Ridge, Hung Jury, Brian Clayton and the Green River Band, and Summit Hill are returning bands that will be featured on one of the Friday or Saturday nights.

Last-minute plans for theme nights are still in the works, but information will be available on the fire company website as the carnival opening approaches.

In addition to the fun and excitement of the carnival, this year there will be a chance to get an advance look at a piece of structural steel from the World Trade Center. The piece of I-beam that was once part of a floor structure in one of the towers was salvaged from the wreckage. The fire company sent in an application to the New Jersey and New York Port Authority to receive a piece of the metal and was approved.

"The process took almost a year from the time we sent the application in," Keenan said. "When (I) look at it, I get emotional about it. It's something in history that's going to be in Cochranville."

The plans are to remove the rust from the 115-pound piece of girder, add a protective coating, and then make it a part of the memorial that stands outside the firehouse. A formal dedication ceremony will be held in the fall. "If all plans work out, by Sept. 11 we'll have a memorial to the people who lost their lives on 9-11," Keenan said.

Local firms have contributed their time to the preparation of the steel, and other businesses are building additional brickwork onto the memorial to accommodate it. The present memorial recognizes fire chief Wayne Yost, who died in the line of duty in 1999, suffering a heart attack while at the scene of a fire.

All proceeds from the carnival will benefit the Cochranville Fire Company to help cover operating costs. The fire company is an all-volunteer effort supported by members of the community who give their time and risk their lives for their neighbors.

The fire company building is located at 3135 Limestone Road, Cochranville. For more information, readers may visit the website at www.cochranvillefire.com.