By Mike Finney

tDOVER — America is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year, along with the nation’s volunteer fire service.

It was a combination that Dover Mayor Robin Christiansen thought would be worth celebrating together — so he came up with the idea of hosting a Fireman’s Delaware 250 Parade on Saturday.

Jay Jones, executive manager of the Delaware Volunteer Firefighter’s Association, said it should be quite a celebration of those volunteers who work to keep the state’s community safe.

“The mayor of Dover came up with the idea with the fire service — with it being America’s 250th anniversary — we wanted to highlight the volunteer fire service, which also started that year, and have a fireman’s parade,” Jones stated.

“We’ll have some activities throughout the day with some antique firetrucks around, and some new apparatus, as well. We’ll be doing a parade in the afternoon.”

The event, which will be held at Legislative Mall, will feature an antique fire truck display from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The parade will roll off at 5 p.m. and will feature fire companies from Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York City, that will celebrate America’s 250th birthday and the fire service.

“The good thing is we invited our brothers and sisters in from neighboring states, as well,” Jones pointed out. “So, I think we’ll have about 40 to 50 pieces of apparatus, and we’ll have fire companies from throughout the state of Delaware and our neighboring states joining us for our parade.

“So, it’ll be a good time. We’ll have departments from all our neighboring states at some point showing up and also antique fire apparatus that are privately owned, as well.”

Following the parade, at 6:30 p.m., there will be a wreath-laying ceremony at the Fallen Firefighter’s Memorial on Legislative Mall.

The Smyrna Citizens Hose Company Band will be performing a concert at 7 p.m. that will be capped by a flyover by an aircraft from Dover Air Force Base at dusk — all topped off by a spectacular fireworks show.

This event is part of the broader, year-long celebration for the 250th Anniversary of the United States, in partnership with the Delaware Volunteer Firefighter’s Association.
The event is a rain-or-shine, free, and public event

Jones added that fire company parades used to be commonplace in Delaware but have been slowly slipping away.

“We have our annual conferences and stuff, but parades kind of filtered out — whether it’s lack of manpower or people are just so busy — so you don’t get to see parades as common as you used to,” he stressed.

“You would see a fireman’s parade a couple of times a year back in the day, but you just don’t see them anymore. But this is going to be a parade that you’re going to definitely want to see.”

Staff writer Mike Finney can be reached at 302-741-8230 or mfinney@iniusa.org.