Bellegrove’s fire carnival in N. Annville Twp. is a time-honored family tradition

From the time he was born, Keith Blauch has always attended Bellegrove Fire Company’s fire carnival. 

Now as an adult organizer of the annual event, Blauch will continue what’s become a time-honored family tradition for many in the Lebanon Valley and those who serve in the local fire department.

“Both my parents are still involved and were involved in the fire department. So I’ve pretty much been there for the last 50 years ’cause I’m 50 years old,” Blauch said. “My grandfather and grandmother were also involved in the fire department. So there’s a long family history in the fire service in North Annville Township.”

Anyone who’s involved in that fire company is also an integral component of the carnival, which is an event that’s for people of all ages. “I’ve been there from day one, I guess, from my day one or right around there,” added Blauch.

The same is almost true for wife Tammy, who has been a fire company member since she was a teenager. The carnival has been a part of her life since she was a child.

“I remember going there as a kid to the carnival. And I mean, my whole family went, my parents went, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, my grandparents. Saturday nights in June, that’s just where you went, you went to the carnivals,” she said. “And then I started running as a volunteer when I was 17, and I’ve been there ever since.” 

The next two Saturdays, county residents can experience the kind of event that used to be a summer staple across much of the Lebanon Valley. While other fire company carnivals have ended in recent years, Bellegrove’s has endured. 

On June 7 and 14, Bellgrove Fire Company will sponsor what’s billed as its 75th anniversary fire carnival and the first under its new name, North Annville Fire Company. (On Jan. 1 of this year, Bellegrove merged with neighboring Union Water Works Fire Company to become North Annville Fire Company.)

“We have live bands, live entertainment starts at 6.30 on Saturday night. We have games, home cooked food, and admission to the carnival is by donation. There’s no cover fee,” Keith said, with Tammy adding that bingo is a game of choice for many attendees. “You give what you want to get in. There’s not too many places you can go and see live entertainment, and not be charged a set price to get in.”

Proceeds from food sales go to the company’s auxiliary and the rest to fire department operations.

“The food sales go to the auxiliary, and the auxiliary’s mission is to support the fire company. So once a year throughout all the fundraisers that the auxiliary holds, they make a donation to the fire company. So the proceeds from the carnival help go to that donation that’s made annually,” Tammy said. “And then the rest of the proceeds go directly to the fire department.” 

Speaking of the food, which is served beginning at 4:30 p.m., it’s all made by the hands of the carnival volunteers.

“We make our homemade chicken corn noodle soup, our ham and bean rivel soup, our chicken barbecue on a bun, and then we have burgers and bologna sandwiches, sausage sandwiches, ice cream, and we have a dessert table of all desserts made by our volunteers,” said Tammy.

Not only do volunteers prepare all the food but perform every other job necessary to make this event possible, a fact that both Keith and Tammy are quick to point out.

“We just continue to plug along and it … probably takes a good hundred volunteers on a Saturday to make it happen. From the time we start in the morning, setting up and the food prep till the evening, and late at night till we get cleaned up, there’s a hundred people who may not be there all day, but they may come for an hour or two and help,” Keith said. “And then there’s some of us that are there all day long, but it does take a large amount of people to make it work. And we have good volunteers, even people from outside of the fire department that just volunteer to help with carnivals.”

Everyone is integral to the carnival’s success, he adds.  “We couldn’t keep it going. We need those extra hands from outside the fire department as well to make it successful.”

Tammy said company records show that the fundraiser began in the late 1940s – but not as a carnival.

“The first carnival was June 4th of 1951, and they held (before that) what they called picnics, which was similar, I guess, to a carnival back in the late ’40s,” Tammy said. “But on June 4th of 1951, they actually made stands and held their first carnival, I guess where they actually must have had games is what I’m assuming from documentation that I found.” 

Since the 1950s, the fire company has held carnivals across four Saturdays in June. Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the company scaled back the carnivals to the first two Saturdays in June.

A reason this company’s carnival has survived when others have ended is due to the sense of community that prevails over those two days. 

“I think the community looks forward to it  – and not just North Annville (residents), but the surrounding communities that, people will say, ‘Well, I grew up coming to the carnival back when my parents and grandparents came and now they’re the grandparents and their kids and their grandkids come.’ I think a lot of families look at it as like a homecoming,” Tammy said. “And they’ll come in big groups, family groups, and they’ll sit together.”

The event is like a homecoming for those who remember attending it as a child. “Maybe they lived in Bellegrove before or their grandparents or parents did, or they grew up here and they moved away. But they’ll come back for the carnivals,” adds Tammy.

While the town of Bellegrove continues to have their carnival on the grounds of the fire company, others in Lebanon County have not withstood the test of time.

A Facebook post from Aug. 14, 2019, on the Schaefferstown Volunteer Fire Company’s carnival page announced that members had decided to end theirs, noting it had been a long-standing tradition of the 100-year-old fire company that entertained thousands of attendees over the years.

“The Schaefferstown Volunteer Fire Company and Carnival Committee have made the tough decision to end our long-standing carnival. It is with sincere regret to say that we will not be providing any entertainment this year. Many elements have played a part in our decision. But as a volunteer fire company, we must maintain focus on fundraisers that benefit and support the needs of our department to keep our communities protected and safe,” states the post.

Campbelltown Fire Company also used to have an annual carnival, with fire chief Kurt Kauffman telling LebTown theirs ended in 2003.

“The reason we stopped having carnivals was due to the increasing cost of the entertainment.  We would book Nashville entertainment.  We had many country stars such as Connie Smith, Holly Dunn, and Bill Anderson. We also had some up and coming stars at the time such as Rascal Flatts, Trace Adkins and Kenny Chesney,” Kauffman said. “Our primary fundraiser (now) is bingo.  We hold bingo every Friday night. We also do Mother’s Day dinners, New Year’s Day dinners, ham sandwich sales, and spaghetti dinners. We hold an annual Sportsman’s Raffle and do an annual fund drive.”  

Stanley Smith Jr., fire chief of Neptune Fire Company in Richland, said their last carnival was in 1999, ending due to the rising costs of entertainment. 

“We were spending $80,000 for four nights of carnival and ran the chance of rainouts. We now do our annual fund drive, sub sales every month, gun raffle with Keystone Fire Company of Myerstown and Schaeffertown Fire Company, a money raffle, two filling sales, two drive-thru chicken dinners, two soup and bake sales, three boot drives, and two bingos. We do have a fire tax that generates around $40,000.”

As those who fight fires know, costs annually exceed whatever funds they may be able to raise throughout the year.

“The cost of fire equipment just keeps rising,” says Smith. “To equip one firefighter to enter a building costs over $13,000. We purchased a new engine last September to replace a 25-year-old engine for almost $800,000. Now it would cost $1,000,000.”

While holding their carnival does not pay all their bills, every bit helps, Tammy said. Proceeds have to purchase gear for the firefighters, among other beneficial uses. And there’s ultimately another reason for sponsoring their carnival every year, according to Keith.

“Some people say we still have our carnivals just because it’s a long-standing tradition but also for that public relations aspect that we’re still doing something that the community’s been used to for 75 years,” he said. “We’re gonna still try to do that so they have that little bit of nostalgia as well.”