135 years of tradition lives on as the annual Navesink Hook and Ladder Fireman’s Fair returns Aug. 8-10

By:  | August 7, 2024 |  Events |  Middletown

By Bill Clark

The Navesink Hook and Ladder Fireman’s Fair returns for another summer August 8-10 at its facility in Middletown. 

The annual festivity and fundraiser will celebrate its 135th rendition of the popular event that brings in over six thousand people. 

Fair Chairman Russell Mount has overseen the yearly gathering for close to two decades. The money raised helps the Navesink Hook and Ladder Company maintain its building, equipment and training for the firefighters and first responders that respond to emergencies in the area. 

Fairgoers can enjoy a crisp beer, listen to live bands, try their luck at the various festival games and send the kids off to bounce on the inflatables. Mount said that many attendees speak highly of the food stand that serves up traditional summer fare with a special emphasis on the seafood offerings. 

“The members take a lot of pride in that kitchen,” Mount said. “It's a lot of prep work getting it ready. It's weeks in the making.”

After loading up both hands, people can sit and enjoy what came fresh from the grill while they talk with family and friends. 

Attendees also look forward to the much-anticipated raffle drawings, the options of which have expanded significantly in recent years. People clutch tickets in hopes that they are one of the lucky ones to be drawn as winners of prizes that are provided by supporters and local businesses. 

“The girls start selling those tickets at the gift auction as soon as the fair opens,” Mount said. “They go as long as they can until eventually we have to shut it down so we can draw the prizes for that night.”

But it isn’t just the gift auction that people clamber to in order to try their luck. Another popular stand is the produce wheel. For a spin, winners can walk away with baskets filled with vegetables, fruits or the special fill of lobsters and filet mignons. 

Between food, drinks, raffles and games, the grounds of the firehouse are lined with stands that Mount said are all fabricated by the members of the company themselves. In the weeks leading up to the opening night, members will remove the structures from storage and perfect anything that a winter in the garage has inflicted. Anything new is planned and created under a timeline. 

The labor involved is intensive and the time horizon could be daunting. 

“We joke that it takes about three weeks to assemble everything and then it takes about four or five hours to take it all down and put it away,” Mount said.

Members of the company set forth in the summer heat with Mount using previous years as templates to ensure that the coming fair is better than the last. 

“I'm very fortunate myself and a group of members do help out quite a bit with it,” Mount said. “They respect my insaneness on how sometimes I change things and move things around a little bit from time to time.

The event itself is a testament to the dedication that the members of the company show towards their community. Mount, who has been a firefighter for over 30 years, sees that connection in the older members and newer recruits.

“It takes a lot of commitment,” he said of the hours that members dedicate towards training, responding and making sure that events like the fair are successful throughout the year. When Mount first signed up, the training hours were fewer and most members were expected at the station over the weekend. Not so much anymore, Mount said. 

“These individuals are sacrificing their time Tuesday and Thursday and all day Saturday for almost a six-month period in time. And it's quite a bit of work. The one thing we always say in the fire service is it's about inconvenience,” he said. As firefighters are readying themselves for their day jobs in the morning they have to turn their schedule around to respond to an emergency. During a storm at the end of June, Mount himself was part of crews that were ensuring the safety of residents through daybreak. 

“It's a lot of sacrifice, a lot of lost nights of sleep, a lot of lost meals,” he said. “But you know it is all worth it in the end for us who are really into it.”

Navesink Hook and Ladder are welcoming three new members after residents went through 200 hours of training and proved themselves capable through assessments and certifications. 

Mount said that one member is the father of a current firefighter. At 58 years old, the gentleman was inspired by his son and applied. Another new member who recently relocated to the area is also in his fifties. Family ties run strong also for the third new member, a 40-year-old woman who is following in her father’s footsteps. 

The fair is a chance for a laid back summer evening with neighbors. Mount said that he appreciates when people from the area come through and interact with the members of the company. Some are surprised that each volunteer time. When Mount isn’t circulating throughout the area making sure everything is running smoothly, he gets to catch up with people that he may only see during the three-day festival. Mount points specifically to one mother and son that have come each year and he has been able to watch the young man grow up. 

One certainty is that once the fair ends, Mount will set his sights on next year after taking a well-deserved deep breath. The company will produce other community events throughout the year including during the fall and winter. But unlike the Fireman’s Fair, the Halloween parade hasn’t been a tradition for over a century. Navesink Hook and Ladder found ways to keep the fair going through pandemics and power outages, only suspending operation during World War I so that they could adhere to safety precautions by keeping the street dark during the evening hours.

But this year, Mount will watch as excited faces walk away stuffed from food or excited from winning one of the raffles, their fun and excitement keeping a valuable part of the community financially stable.