It’s April, but new fallen snow covered the spruce trees on top of Whitetop Mountain, where the local fire and rescue department was hosting their annual maple festival. Inside the fire hall, bands played old-time and bluegrass music, and dancers were flatfooting on the wooden floor.
Many Virginians who live in rural communities have a local fire and rescue squad that’s staffed entirely by volunteers. One big challenge for many of them is how to pay for equipment. At Virginia’s highest elevation, the Mount Rogers Fire and Rescue Squad has found creative ways to fundraise.
Volunteers began work at dawn making pancakes and sausage for thousands of customers.
“We just financed a brand new tanker at the end of last year, it was $400 thousand dollars,” said Mount Rogers fire chief and rescue captain Ralph Norris. “And so this festival here is gonna help us make a lot of our payments on that truck.”
Across the country, volunteer fire departments fundraise all kinds of ways. Many try Bingo. Here in Whitetop, not far from where Virginia meets both Tennessee and North Carolina, the fire department is leaning into food and music from their area as a means to raise money.
In addition to the maple festival, they also host a ramp festival in May. Ramps are wild leeks that grow in the forests of Appalachia. The fire department also hosts a sorghum festival in October. Sorghum is like molasses, and is another specialty food found mostly in central Appalachia.
Randy Lewis has been a volunteer firefighter here for 35 years.
He remembers the first fire he helped fight, before he joined the department. A house down the road caught fire.
“And I stopped. It was actually my grandparents’. So I was there and whenever the fire department left, I joined with them,” Lewis recalled.
Like most volunteer fire departments, finding people to join, is a struggle.
“It’s getting real tough to get volunteers,” Lewis said.
This maple festival helps with that, a bit, because it’s an event that draws just about everyone from the community into one space, it’s an opportunity for the fire department to do outreach, and recruitment, said Norris.
“Trust me, we’ve talked with everybody we can think of, ways to recruit people,” Norris said.
For those who want to help, but can’t commit to joining the fire department, Norris finds a place for dozens of volunteers at the festival.
Tom Revels is one of them. “This is the best community I’ve ever lived in. And the most community minded group of people I’ve ever lived around,” Revels said. “This is just a way to contribute. And to be a part of what everybody represents here in this community.”
Revels’ volunteer job at the festival is selling maple syrup from sap that was tapped on nearby trees, and cooked down for hours. On the table in front of him are golden colored candies, in the shape of maple leaves that were made from that maple syrup.
It’s just a way to add a little sweetness to fundraising.
The Mount Rogers Ramp Festival is Sunday, May 19th from 11-5 at the Fire hall. They’ll be serving barbecue chicken dinners with green beans, fried potatoes with ramps and a roll. There will also be live music, and a ramp eating contest.
Admission to the festival is $5. Meal is $12 for adults and $8 for children.
