Antique fire trucks and emergency vehicles will take over Chatham-Kent this weekend for Firefest.
It all kicks off Friday night with an outreach program to Thamesville.
"The rigs will convoy out from Comfort Inn, our host hotel, probably around 4 o'clock.," said organizer Brent Denure. "Then by 5 o'clock we'll do a little tour through Thamesville, and we're going to stage the trucks outside Johnny Quests by about 5:30. They'll be on display from 5:30 til about 7 while the owners eat and have a little bit of social time."
Then on Saturday, the vehicles will be on display along King Street in downtown Chatham. Denure said the vehicles featured this year range from 1840 to 1999.
"One of the features vehicles that we have this year is a tiller that served in Phoenix, Arizona -- a tiller is one of those trucks that you steer at both ends," said Denure. "A lot of shows would be happy to have one of those, we're going to have six of them this year. This rig from Phoenix is one of the biggest ever made and it's got some incredible history."
Denure said they will have lots of entertainment and activities for the kids.
"Stan the Safety Fireman is back by popular demand, he's been with us since I believe 2016," said Denure. "He's a huge hit, so he does fire safety through magic and storytelling. We're going to have the junior fire course, our friends from Teksavvy are going to be doing face painting, and the Detroit Fire Clowns are coming over."
In addition to the emergency vehicles lining the streets, three fire fighting documentaries will also be screened at the River Rock throughout the day, and several fire safety demonstrations will be conducted at the King Street fire station.
The parade route the display vehicles will be taking out of downtown Chatham at 4 p.m. on Saturday is different this year.
"Instead of our usual Grand Avenue route, we're taking King west to Merritt, Merritt north to Riverview, Riverview west to Keil, and Keil north to the former Target parking lot," said Denure. "We had to use this route actually back in 2017 when Grand was having some issues."
For more information on Firefest, click here.
