BY DAVID ECK
Enquirer Contributor
LOVELAND -- By holding this week's JulyFest celebration, area firefighters should be able to buy much-needed equipment.
JulyFest, a four-day celebration culminating with an Independence Day parade, will feature dozens of games, rides, food booths and fireworks each night.
The event will run July 1-4 in the 800 block of Loveland-Madeira Road. It is sponsored by the city and the Loveland Community Firefighters Association.
The festival runs 6-11 p.m., and more than 18,000 people are expected each evening, said Candy Cook, director of customer relations for the Loveland-Symmes Fire Department.
The festival could generate as much as $35,000 for the firefighters group, which supports the Loveland-Symmes Fire Department, said Candy Cook, the department's director of customer relations. The group assists firefighters by buying equipment.
"They purchased a pumper for the department," Mrs. Cook said. "They pay for training for the department. They supply staff vehicles for the department, and they also help provide health-care coverage for the employees. Basically, we save the taxpayers money."
The fire department operates four stations and serves Loveland and Symmes Township.
About 45 active association members, mostly Loveland-Symmes firefighters, operate the festival during their off-duty hours. "They're working for themselves, basically, to help get the equipment they need," she said. "It helps when you have the association, who can go out and get you what you need."
The association also runs twice-weekly bingo games. Those games and the festival proceeds help provide the $500,000 the association spends each year on fire department purchases and other community activities.
"We just ordered a half-million-dollar heavy rescue (truck)," said Loveland-Symmes Assistant Fire Chief Otto Huber. "What it allows us to do is provide the extra above and beyond. We've been able to keep the taxes low and provide extra equipment and personnel to the fire department."
But the group's work goes beyond what it does for the fire department. "The association does a lot for the city, and I'm proud they're a part of our city and organization," Loveland Mayor Lee Skierkiewicz said. "They're very community-oriented."
The association helped build a senior citizens center, purchased bicycles for the police department and each fall takes local underprivileged kids on a shopping spree, Assistant Chief Huber said.
"We believe in the fact that we need to put back into the community," he said. "We have a longtime heritage of good people here that we want to show our support to because they've (helped) us for so many years."
