[print-me]The 2015 Fruitland Fire Fair had two food vendors who participated. The Hideout Steak House from Duchesne, and Papa Murphys Pizza from Heber which made great food and drink and home made ice cream available to every fair attendee.
The Fire Council worked tirelessly and obtained product donations from so many wonderful vendors who were unable to attend in person in a booth, the the Master of Ceremonies (Jim Davis) was giving away a door prize every 2-3 minutes for the entire 6 hours of the fair. The last prize to be given away of the day (and you have to be present to win) was a $450 pair of VORTEX binoculars.

There were many other wonderful vendors in attendance with their booths who all gave many wonderful door prizes too, like; Intermountain Farmers (IFA) from Roosevelt, Charlotte Neilson the Avon Lady from Duchesne, Allison Pantry, Mountain Ranch Smoke House Jerky, Younique Makeup, Fruitland Rock Products, Yevo and more.

Smokey Bear was there and personally met all of the children (who were willing) and all of the kids got tons of Swag like; Jr. Fireman Hats, Rulers, safety whistles, wrist bands and more.

For the adults there were demonstrations of fire equipment, fire fighting procedures, defensible space dioramas, video presentations, a digital fire extinguisher “put out the flames” game. There were fire fighters there answering questions and helping people sign up for FREE assistance from Ken Ludwig’s department to  help them tune-up their defensible space with tree pruning and clean up fire hazards around their homes. Chairman Wardle said; “These crews come in and make your property look like a State Park. They gently prune trees around your buildings and homes and then shred the pruning’s and clean the entire area up and spread the wood chips around until it looks like professional gardener’s have been there. The best part is they do it at no charge to the property/home owner. It’s paid for by grants and monies that come from the State and In-Kind hours compensation that comes from NFPA and Firewise. (In-kind hours are any hours put in by community members and property/home owners and their families, friends and even employees, cleaning and protecting their properties and then reported to the fire council).”

Some of the firemen and women brought out their bunkers (personal fire fighting equipment and uniforms) and taught attendees how it is all put on, THEN they let willing attendees race the clock putting on the bunker suits for prizes.

And when the dust settled, the booths were taken down, the food trucks had left, everyone had gone home, and the fire trucks and ambulances were safely tucked back into their warm firehouse bays, the fire fair had twice the attendance as the year previous, EVEN with the crazy weather we can have in May and June.

Speaking of weather
We can see all four seasons in one day in Fruitland. This day was no exception. The day before was sunny and warm all day and the day before that was 12-15mph winds. This day started with a gray and cold sky which turned to cold rain, which turned to snow (an inch stuck in the firehouse courtyard), then back to rain and then by noon the clouds parted, the sun came out, the wind stopped, everything dried up and the kids began playing in the courtyard with all of their swag, and everyone began eating pizza and pulled pork and beans dinners.

All in all, it was a great event and many vendors and people are looking forward to the next one.