June 27, 1997

Enjoy strawberries, learn fire safety at annual festival

       Ah summer, the time when a young girls fancy turns to ... strawberries.  The fifth annual White River Township Strawberry Festival is today and Saturday to kick off the season with fresh-picked berries.  Strawberry shortcakes will be sold for $2.50 each to raise funds for rehabilitation equipment and educational supplies for the White River Township Fire Department.  Last year more than 1,000 people attended the event, which raised $2,500.  “We’re hoping for a good turnout again this year,” said Lt. Travis Sichting of the White River Township Fire Department.  The festival will be from 4 to 10 p.m. today and 10 am. to 10 p.m. Saturday at White River Township Station No. 2, 398 Meridian Parke Drive, just west of State Road 135 and south of Fairview Road.

         A variety of activities is planned throughout the festival, in addition to eating berries topped with whipped cream.  The festival will start with a car extrication demonstration at 4 p.m. today, followed by a car fire demonstration at 6 p.m.  “The demonstrations are intended to show people what we firefighters do. Some people may not understand why we cut a car up in an extrication, but we’ll have a narrator there to explain it,” Sichting said.  Entertainment and competitions will also be on tap at the festival.  Young dancers from the Dance Refinery will perform at 5 p.m. today, and gymnasts from Gymnastics Etc. will perform at noon Saturday.  The band Moriah Rose will play a mix of country and southern rock from 8:30 to 10 p.m. today.  At 7 tonight there will be a friendly competition between members of the Ladies’ Auxiliaries from the White River, Greenwood and Bargersville fire departments.  “The teams will drive up in a pumper truck, then race to unroll sections of hose, hook them up and knock over a cone that’s about 100 feet away with a stream of water,” Sichting said.  Firefighters from the three departments will take part in the same competition at 4p.m. Saturday.  A clown will be on hand to do face paintings and balloon art, from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, and the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department will conduct a canine demonstration at 2 p.m. that day.  The festival rounds out with another car extrication at 6 p.m. and a car fire at 9 p.m.  All throughout the festival, visitors can take helicopter rides, which cost $15 to $20 for a seven- to 10-minute ride.  Children and parents can also tour the fire safety trailer sponsored by the Johnson County Firefighters Association.  The bi-level camper has been made into a small-scale house, complete with a living room, kitchen and bedrooms upstairs.  “The lights work, and the smoke alarms work, and it puts out staged smoke just as if there was an actual fire,” Sichting said.  “It even has things like a door that gets hot to give kids an idea of what it’s going to be like if their house catches fire.”  Sichting said the annual festival is a great way to raise money for ongoing public education. Each year firefighters visit local schools to teach about fire safety, using props like the safety trailer.  “Several booths will be set up throughout the festival to teach people about fire safety and other related matters. The main purpose is to teach people to be safe,” Sichting said.  The strawberries are just an added bonus.  (Reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal)

  
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