The fire truck pull is a unique event to raise money for Special Olympics

Tag : grape
What do you get when you cross a 30,000-poundfire truck and 10 of the area's finest firefighters and safetyservice personnel? Quality entertainment.
Saturday played host to the 3rd annual Special Olympics Fire TruckPull at the Grape JAMboree. This year's event featured nine teamsfrom various local fire and law enforcement departments. Competingwere Geneva Fire Department, Saybrook Fire Department, HarpersfieldTownship Volunteer Fire Department, The Ashtabula County Sheriff'sDepartment Corrections team, four teams from the Troy Township FireDepartment and the Ashtabula County Special Olympics athletes.
A large crowd gathered in the center of town to watch
the teams pull a fully-loaded fire engine a measured distance of 12feet. Each team was timed and had two shots at the pull. The teamwith the fastest time was named the winner.
For the second consecutive year, Troy Township Fire Department'smen's team claimed the victory with a time of 8.53 seconds. Theteam has improved each year it participates. The first year Troyplaced fourth and although the firefighters were victorious lastyear, their time improved substantially this year. Last year it wasa 13.4-second pull that led the team to victory.
Placing second this year was the Ashtabula County Sheriff'sDepartment Corrections team with a time of 8.57 seconds. Troy'sCo-ed Team A pulled the truck in 9.19 seconds, beating Saybrook bya mere .03 seconds for the third place title.
A tradition for the fire truck pull, the last place team receives atrophy with the rear-end of a horse atop it. Receiving the prizethis year was the Troy Township Fire Department ladies team.
"The team is undefeated for the past three years," said ChandraBrode, event coordinator.
After all the trophies were handed out, the Special Olympicsathletes were called up front and center as Troy's men's teampresented them with their 5-foot, first-place trophy.
The fire truck pull, introduced three years ago at the GrapeJAMboree, is a unique event to raise money for Special Olympics.Each participating team must raise a minimum of $300. This year'sevent raised almost $3,000 for the organization, Brode said.
The fire truck pull was just one of the many highlights at thisyear's Grape JAMboree. In its 45th year, the event appealed tothousands of people despite the overcast sky.
The two-day festival kicked-off a full line-up of activities at 10a.m., inviting the crowd to downtown Geneva. Saturday's eventsincluded the first of two grape stomping competitions as well asthe first of two parades featuring area bands and floats. Two and 3year olds competed for the title of Sr. Baby Grapette and fivelucky contestants participated in the grape pie-eating contest.
To see more of the Star Beacon or to subscribe to the newspaper, goto http://www.starbeacon.com/. Copyright (c) 2008, Star Beacon,Ashtabula, Ohio Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune InformationServices. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com,call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, orwrite to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Provider:
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services / McClatchy-Tribune BusinessNews / Star Beacon
Keywords:
European Automotive , Automobiles , Automotive , Automotive Electronics , Automotive Models , Automotive Technology , Business News , Electronics , European Transportation , European Business News , European News , Top World News , Central Europe , Europe , Western Europe , Transportation , Switzerland , Land Transportation , MSNBC Business Video News , Passenger Transportation , Government , Wall Street Corporate Reporter News