THREE RIVERS – The Three Rivers Firefighters Association are having their ninth annual Chicken BBQ on Sept. 10 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Pulaski Park on 40 Belchertown St. There will be plenty of food and games, a bounce house for children, a 50/50 raffle and a dunk tank, as well as live performances by Gotta Dance Studio and bands Rock is Dead and Trailer Trash. In addition, the association is doing something new this year by having local artisans at the BBQ.

The Three Rivers Firefighters Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization comprised of past and present members of the Three Rivers Fire Department. All the funding from the BBQ goes directly toward the association, which they use for other future events and the Fire Department.

Vice President Amber Duby stated, “In the past years, we’ve never had vendors, but this year we’re trying to reach out to the local community and have people come in and be able to show their products at the event. We’re hoping to have a different variety of craft vendors there to reach toward all age groups.”

Association Treasurer Dan Gagner said there was a transition of new board members within the association with new ideas to jumpstart events and outreach to the community. Along with revitalized membership and improving public relations between the Fire Department and residents, they were able to bridge the gap between community and the Fire Department itself.

During that time, Scott Turner took over as fire chief in Three Rivers and was thinking of ways to have more community outreach. Turner told Reminder Publishing the idea was to have an event hosted by the Fire Department for the community where they could come out for a day and enjoy themselves. The discussion came up on how the association could spark up a real summer event, so everyone collaborated and tried to see how they could capitalize on it.

“There’s usually a lot of events surrounding the town, but never really anything in town at the time,” Gagner said. “We deliberated over the ideal time of year. At the time, it was the end of August and the beginning of September just before kids went back to school. We decided to put together an end of the summer chicken BBQ ushering in the fall.”

Gagner also credits Michael Rollet, who played an integral role in the original event planning. Rollet was a firefighter and member of the association and sought to engage the community as well. Though this was a collective effort on the association’s behalf, Gagner said Rollet put forth a mentionable amount of effort to get the original BBQ off the ground.

The association decided to host the event at Pulaski Park, owned by the St. Stanislaus Lyceum in Three Rivers, as it has the ideal facilities to host such an event, Gagner pointed out. It ended up having an overwhelming success on the first run – between 500 and 600 attendees. From there, they made the chicken BBQ an annual event and became one the bigger events of the town throughout the year. In 2019, they had an estimated 1,000 to 1,200 people in attendance throughout the day. Since then, the association has been trying to restart that interest in coming back out while remaining aware that public safety and health remain paramount. Gagner is hoping this year will be a nice re-entry back to having in-person events.

“We feel it’s important to have this event because the community has something else locally here in this town to look forward to every year,” Duby responded. “It’s also a good activity for families and their friends to unwind, have some good food, see our local departments and hear some live music.”

For artisans interested in participating, the vendor application is posted on the Three Rivers Firefighters Association Facebook page and the chicken barbecue event page. Tickets are available to be purchased online through the Association’s event page on Facebook, at the Three Rivers Fire Department Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. or reach out to a member of the department.

The cost to attend for adults is $20. Tickets for band only can be purchased at the gate and are $10. Additionally at the gate, tickets for children 3-12 years of age are $5 and children under 3 are free. Additional tickets are available at the gate until sold out.