Community turns out for parade and equipment display at HVRHS

Falls Village Fire Department’s 100th

Community turns out for parade and equipment display at HVRHS

Fire departments from across Connecticut participated in the show on Saturday, Sept. 21.

Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan

FALLS VILLAGE — The Falls Village Volunteer Fire Department held a fire apparatus parade and show Saturday, Sept. 21 as part of its ongoing 100th anniversary celebration.

Fire departments from all over the state participated. A reporter, wandering around the Housatonic Valley Regional High School grounds, which was the destination of the parade, noted trucks from nearby (Salisbury, North Canaan), near-ish (Riverton, Northville, and Brick Mountain in New Hartford) and from a considerable distance (Old Saybrook, Wolcott).

The 30 or so pieces of apparatus at the high school represented about half of the total from the parade, First Selectman Dave Barger noted.

There were several vintage pieces on display, including “Old Number One,” an 1854 fire suppression machine purchased by Colchester in 1954 from the William C. Hunneman Fire Engine Company in Boston.

Old Number One cost $850 — including postage — as it was mailed from Boston.

Colchester received good value on the investment. Old Number One remained in service until 1924, when it was replaced by a newfangled gasoline-powered truck.

A little closer to home — and the present day — young Hudson Riva of North Canaan sat with a solemn expression in the driver’s seat of the Falls Village antique truck which was very similar to a 1924 REO truck from the Sharon fire department, parked on the opposite side of a tent containing historic firefighting artifacts.

This exhibit included scrapbooks. Within one of the scrapbooks was a photograph of a man Kent Allyn identified as his father at the wheel of a white ambulance with the Falls Village name attached.

Allyn said the photo dates from some time in the 1950s.

The backstory: Allyn’s brother was hit by a car, and it took some 90 minutes for an ambulance to get from Sharon to Falls Village.

Deeming this situation unacceptable, Falls Village purchased a hearse, painted it white, and thus had its own ambulance.

“Remember, we didn’t have EMTs then” said Allyn. “It was ‘load and go.’”

There were food trucks, a raffle, a merch table with sweatshirts and potholders, and music from the Tailgate Band.

And at the end of the evening, fireworks.

Latest News

Join us for


 

  

Keep ReadingShow less
When the guide gets it wrong

Rosa setigera is a native climbing rose whose simple flowers allow bees to easily collect pollen.

Dee Salomon

After moving to West Cornwall in 2012, we were given a thoughtful housewarming gift: the 1997 edition of “Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs.” We were told the encyclopedic volume was the definitive gardener’s reference guide — a fact I already knew, having purchased one several months earlier at the recommendation of a gardener I admire.

At the time, we were in the thick of winter invasive removal, and I enjoyed reading and dreaming about the trees and shrubs I could plant to fill in the bare spots where the bittersweet, barberry, multiflora rose and other invasive plants had been.Years later, I purchased the 2011 edition, updated and inclusive of plants for warm climates.

Keep ReadingShow less
A few highlights from Upstate Art Weekend 2025

Foxtrot Farm & Flowers’ historic barn space during UAW’s 2024 exhibition entitled “Unruly Edges.”

Brian Gersten

Art lovers, mark your calendars. The sixth edition of Upstate Art Weekend (UAW) returns July 17 to 21, with an exciting lineup of exhibitions and events celebrating the cultural vibrancy of the region. Spanning eight counties and over 130 venues, UAW invites residents and visitors alike to explore the Hudson Valley’s thriving creative communities.

Here’s a preview of four must-see exhibitions in the area:

Keep ReadingShow less