Latest / WashCo Insider / Maura & Phil Boggs
Transcript
- speaker-0: Welcome back to the Washco Insider, the podcast where we introduce you to the people, places, and events that make Washington County such a special place to live and visit. Today we're headed to McDonald to talk about one of the community's favorite summer traditions, McSummerFest. But while the festival is packed with great food, family fun, and entertainment, there's an even bigger story behind it. Our guests, Phil and Moora Boggs of the McDonald Volunteer Fire Department, are here to share what it takes to keep a volunteer fire department running. You know, it's pretty incredible when you think about it, right? We ask these men and women to volunteer their time to respond to fires, vehicle accidents, and medical emergencies. Then we ask them to volunteer even more of their time, raising the funds to continue to do so. We'll talk about the realities of volunteer firefighting, why community support is so important, and everything you can look forward to at this year's McSummer Fest. Phil and Maura Boggs when we come back. Guys, thanks so much for ⁓ for taking the time to come out today. I know you're probably right in the middle of planning and you know, putting those final touches on the event this year, but ⁓ tell us a little bit about yourselves and your roles with the McDonald Volunteer Fire Department. speaker-1: Sure. ⁓ my name's Philip Boggs. ⁓ I've the chief of the fire department. This has been about two and a half years since I've ⁓ taken over the chief reigns. last or this last March I ⁓ marked my twenty sixth year with the fire department. So I joined at age fourteen. ⁓ started helping at Mix Summerfest at age ten, ⁓ 'cause both of my brothers were members already. So, ⁓ it's been, you know, going along. It's a it's a family tradition at this point. So I'll ⁓ Go ahead there. speaker-2: And ⁓ I'm Mara Boggs. ⁓ I've been with the department for a few years. ⁓ I'm the ⁓ acting finance chair. ⁓ I've been this is my third year, I believe, ⁓ in doing this. ⁓ also an EMT with the department. speaker-0: Okay. What drew you guys initially to to join the department? What was the draw? speaker-2: Yeah. I mean for me, ⁓ you know, he he was already well involved and and ready to go and you know, I was just looking for you know, to help out. You know, there's a lot of fundraising that goes on and at at first I wasn't necessarily looking to, you know, run those fire calls and help out with the emergencies and things like that. I was just more looking to help raise raise the money for the department, but then I ended up getting into the role of ⁓ EMS and and doing all that. So speaker-0: You Phil? speaker-1: So I remember pretty vividly I was about six years old and my oldest brother joined the department with a friend from school and then my second older brother, we ⁓ they both were involved and they'd take me to the station every so often and I'd climb all over the trucks and you know, it just kinda gets in your blood at that point. speaker-0: Now you're you're a Canomac guy and you're a Fort Cherry Gal, right? Yeah. So this is this event's been in your blood for quite a while. Yeah. Let's talk about the reality of of running a volunteer fire department. I don't think many people understand what it means to volunteer. ⁓ talk to us a little bit about, you know, what it means today to be a volunteer firefighter. speaker-1: Sure. ⁓ it's it's it's more than just running the calls. ⁓ there's a lot that goes on in the background, including the fundraising. But you know, we have a monthly business meeting that happens ⁓ where we conduct our business, we talk about what's going on. ⁓ things are ever changing in the public safety scene, especially from our perspective in the volunteer world, especially here in Washington County where we're expecting a new radio system in the next year. ⁓ So you're constantly adapting, constantly and then, you know, when the when the pager trips, it's time to go. speaker-0: What kind of calls are you responding to when that pager does go off? speaker-1: ⁓ we respond to all kinds of calls these days. It's it's far beyond just fires, ⁓ brush fires, vehicle fires. ⁓ we actually have a thermal drone now. ⁓ wow. ⁓ we've conducted searches with it, both people lost, or you know, someone ⁓ not able to find their way back from some somewhere on a hike or something like that. ⁓ but also we've been requested by the police. You know, we'll come out and help with the drone for the police looking for suspects that are on the run. ⁓ But rescue rescue calls, we have ⁓ a plethora of rope equipment as well as a new ladder truck that allows us to operate off of it. ⁓ vehicle accidents, ⁓ you name it, you know. speaker-0: We'll talk a bit about the y what it takes from a training perspective, both ⁓ to become a volunteer and be able to respond to those calls and then maybe the ongoing training that each of the firefighters and EMTs go through on a yearly basis. speaker-1: Yeah, over the last thirty years, the training requirements have become so drastically more involved and demanding. ⁓ you know, we talked today about the reduction in numbers of volunteers available out there and a lot of it is attributed to the number of hours that are required. You know, prior to when I joined in March of 2000, there was a ten or twelve hour course that took a weekend. And by the time you completed that, you were good to go. ⁓ when I joined in 2000, there was a class, it was an 88-hour class and it spanned a couple evenings for a few months. Now it's it's blown up into, you know, there's a whole new curriculum that's actually getting pushed out. That's called EL26. It's the essentials for ⁓ firefighting. It's basically the the you have to have this to proceed along with anything in the volunteer or career world. speaker-0: Okay. speaker-1: So it's it's upwards of it it's well over a hundred and fifty hours, I believe, at this point. speaker-0: Now, I can only imagine what it takes to balance your volunteer service, family, full time jobs. I mean, h what does that look like for you guys? speaker-1: ⁓ it's difficult. Thankfully we're you know, we're both involved. Our oldest daughter's involved. Our youngest daughter is anxiously awaiting age fourteen so that she can become involved. ⁓ you know, it's a family it's a family thing for us, but you know, I had a I had a guy just recently joined that has a young child and he gets up for work three o'clock in the morning and he just finished up the first level of that, you know, hundred and fifty plus hour training ⁓ curriculum. So You know, we everyone's we we all have different careers, we all have different ⁓ obligations to family or whatnot, but thankfully everyone makes it work. We try to make it a family environment and like tonight we have our monthly training, ⁓ monthly Tuesday training. And, you know, people can make it if they can. If not, you know, we understand that. It people's lives have to come first. speaker-0: What do you think, you know, I generally know that it takes a an awful lot of money to operate a volunteer fire department, but what are some of the things that ⁓ maybe the public doesn't know about or or ⁓ I guess what are the questions that you get the most or what surprises people the most when they find out how much this costs or that costs? speaker-1: ⁓ I got a couple numbers right off the top of my head. ⁓ you know, the costs of apparatus, number one, they just continue to increase. ⁓ we signed paperwork back in June of 2021 for a new ladder truck for it was just shy of 1.2 million dollars. Wow. If we would order that same truck today, we're just shy of two million dollars just in a five year span. ⁓ we got a new pumper we took delivery of last year, signed for it in 2024, and the price of one of those has already gone up over a quarter million dollars. ⁓ we just ordered turnout gear, which is the coat and the pants and the helmet for some of our members. That's forty five hundred dollars right there just between, you know, the bare minimum ⁓ protective equipment. Yeah, ten years. Ten years. So we we have a good cycle going, you know, we keep very close track of ⁓ speaker-0: They have a lifespan, right? ⁓ yeah. speaker-1: how old someone's gear is or after a a fire, you know, we'll look for discoloration or any kind of damage ⁓ because that needs to be replaced. And then the air packs that you wear into a a fire, those have a lifespan too. And for a air pack with an air cylinder and a spare cylinder, you're looking at ten thousand dollars a piece. speaker-0: So I think needless to say, without fundraising, ⁓ our community could look a lot different. You know, w without the support ⁓ to keep you guys going, I mean, what could we be facing? I mean, no fire department. ⁓ I'm sure there's a lot of communities that are facing that today. speaker-1: Yeah, there's a lot of regional fire departments coming together in some places the merging, you know, merging is happening. But a lot of those departments don't necessarily rely so much on the fundraising. They're relying on the tax base. ⁓ you know, we we do get some money from tax ⁓ income, but a lot of it comes from the blood, sweat and tears that happens with the fundraising. Honestly, you know, ⁓ nearby departments that we work with on a regular basis, Oakdale Hose Company, ⁓ they're a small borough. They have their street fair coming up, I think, next week. I'm not sure of the dates exactly. ⁓ right after McSummerfest, the Midway Fire Department has their cash bash. ⁓ that's their big annual fundraiser. And then Mount Pleasant Township that we operate with all the time too. ⁓ they have two events, a Sportsman's Bash and an Apple Festival in the fall. You know, we're all kind of facing the the rising costs, the rising demands, as well as the falling funds. You know, so but we're all we're all working together. It's all, you know, we have a we're very fortunate where we're at ⁓ because we have great community support. We have a lot of dedicated volunteers and ⁓ I I don't take it for granted for a moment, you know, how special and strong our team is. speaker-0: And when you say you guys work together, I know that you borrow Oakdale's stage, right? And that's that's always a big piece to to McSummerfest. Yeah. So speaking of, let's let's talk about your biggest fundraiser. ⁓ and thankfully that's a very fun topic to talk about. So McSummerFest is coming up July twenty fifth through August first, and it will be open on Sunday, and that's at Heritage Park and McDonald. So Maura, tell us a little bit, like how long has McSummerFest been running? speaker-2: We're in our thirty fourth year of this. ⁓ so running strong for thirty-four years now. ⁓ it's become the community looks forward to this event every year. You know, come come January we're getting messages on the McSummerfest page and, you know, the fire department page. When's McSummerfest coming this year? You know, are we having it this year? We need to plan our vacations, but we won't wanna miss the fr we don't wanna miss the carnival. So we're we're constantly answering questions on what we're doing, who we're having and speaker-0: Mm. Well walk us through it a little bit. What is it, you know, if I'm gonna bring my family, what should I expect to see and the smells and the foods, you know, what's speaker-2: So so obviously Mixed Summerfest is always free admission, free parking, free admission. ⁓ but you know, the second you walk in f for me, the ⁓ the first thing I always smell was that funnel cakes and Oreos. That's those are always the those fried foods or what you know what sell speaker-0: So ⁓ how have you guys, you know, you both been around the area, this particular event, how have you seen the event evolve over the years? speaker-2: Yeah, we've both ⁓ we both grew up in McDonald. ⁓ so we've been attending this event since we've since we were little, you know. So ⁓ it it's It's gotten bigger, I think. It's gotten more efficient. ⁓ we've introduced some new food vendors and things like that. You know, we're bringing more people in to kinda, you know, help us out with that. And ⁓ this year, you know, we we do have bingo coming back this year. ⁓ that's actually a big ⁓ fundraiser that Meals on Wheels is having. Okay. so Meals on Wheels, they are providing, you know speaker-0: What night is that? speaker-2: meals for those elder elderly folks in the area. ⁓ they help take care of them. ⁓ and they're they will be hosting bingo every evening. ⁓ wow. ⁓ for for the week. speaker-0: So I don't know w I I moved out here in twenty ten, ⁓ to Washington County and then at some point twenty twenty I believe we moved to McDonald's. So we're just right outside of the area. ⁓ nice. ⁓ and I remember going to McSummerfest one year, we a great time, but then I missed it for a couple of years. Vacation, whatever. But then the next time I came back, I don't know if it was just me or I had forgotten. It seemed like it had multiplied. It just seemed so much bigger. And I've talked to a lot of people that compare it to a small fair. It's just it's a really big footprint and I think you guys do an awful lot of work to put on a really great event. So the two of you met at McSummer Fest, right? speaker-2: Yeah. Yeah, we so I I went with some family friends of mine when I was fourteen down to help paint the sun on the parking lot ⁓ at McSummerfest and that's where I met Philip and kinda the rest is kinda history from there, you know. We've been we've been married we've been married seventeen years now, together twenty. So yeah. speaker-1: I haven't been right since I'm not sure. speaker-0: Yeah. W what are some of those let's call them crowd favorite attractions that people just rave about from year to year? speaker-2: Well, I know on the way over here we were talking with our our youngest, you know, asking her, you know, what her favorite things about McSummerfest are. She loves the rides. so she always looks forward to that. I know Tropical Amusements brings a ton of fun with them. ⁓ they are a great partner. in this whole we couldn't I mean, we honestly couldn't do it without them. So they they always bring a lot of fun fun with them. They I know they are bringing a couple new rides this year. so we don't really know what those are yet. We'll see whenever they roll into the park. speaker-0: We talked about food and food's a huge draw, right? So give us the inside scoop. If if more if you could choose one food from McSummer Fest and Phil, if you could choose one thing that you're most looking forward to, what would that be? Nice. Fresh. speaker-2: Cut fries. speaker-1: It's gotta be the fresh cut fries. Yeah. It's they're they're fantastic. The crowd. ⁓ speaker-0: Fleaser. All right, let's roll on. So you guys have done a tremendous job of booking bands most nights, maybe every night, I don't know, most nights. ⁓ let's take a look at that graphic and see who you have coming this year and just kinda walk us through that schedule. And ⁓ for those that aren't familiar with these bands, maybe give us an idea of ⁓ what genre of music they're bringing to McSummerfest. speaker-2: Yes. course. Arena Days, ⁓ they've kind of become one of our, you know, opening staples. ⁓ their their drummer is a McDonald boy, Justin Walker. ⁓ he's a good friend of the part the department and loves to, you know, provide back to the community. So we love having him ⁓ and his band there. ⁓ Rust Valley Revival is a ⁓ newcomer this year. We have a couple newcomers this year. We're super excited for all of them, but ⁓ yeah we have Rust Valley Revival on Sunday. ⁓ they are I think countr I think they're more like a rustic kind of country band jacked. ⁓ they are also a new new band. Their singer is also from McDonald. So ⁓ we love having the you know, the musicians from McDonald come in. ⁓ the Eldorado band, they are they've been ⁓ at McSummer Fest before. They're not so they're not necessarily newcomers, but a couple of years ago they've played for us. speaker-0: Okay. speaker-2: Casual players. We're super excited for casual players. The drummer ⁓ in that band is actually one of our guys. So so Chris is Chris is coming to play for us. The Delaneys. ⁓ the next is a staple also, and so is Timothy Earl band. ⁓ so we have different the the genres are kind of vast. You know, we have some rock, we have some country, we have some oldies, we have some classic rock and and all that. So I think fun for everybody. speaker-0: I heard the Timothy Earl band for the first time at McSummerfest last year and you know, just with the nature of the business that we're in, we talked to a lot of different event operators and oftentimes they're saying, Hey, ⁓ do you have any recommendations for good local bands? And I've recommended them two or three times ⁓ just here in the last couple of months. So ⁓ definitely a good show. Now, besides the food, the rides, carnival games, do you guys have other vendors there as well? speaker-2: Yeah, we have some food vendors that come in. we have one guy that comes in, it's a barb it's a barbecue R and G smokes ⁓ smoke shack. they have fantastic food. We have a gyro vendor that's there. ⁓ he's been with us for probably thirty four years. they come in every year. ⁓ Michael's Tavern, ⁓ they come in and they cook wings and things like that. That is yes, their wings are yes. They their fundraiser, they basically help ⁓ raise money for the ⁓ football boosters. So obviously, you know, we're in McDonald. Fort Cherry football is a huge staple in in the town and they've been doing fantastic for the last couple of years and whip wheel champions and things like that. So we're always excited to have those those vendors come in and help us out. speaker-0: ⁓ we've talked a lot about volunteering today and ⁓ no event can be successful without volunteers. I'm sure you're still looking for volunteers and if someone's interested, how could they get in touch with you guys to do this? speaker-2: They can reach out to us on Facebook ⁓ through our ⁓ our messaging. They can reach out there. Y they can call the station, leave a message for me and and I can give them a call back. But yeah, I know a lot of the schools are you know, require a certain amount of volunteer hours for graduations and things like that. So, you know, we always like to extend that out to the local schools that if anybody needs volunteer hours, things like that, that they can reach out to us and we'd love to have we'd love to help. speaker-0: Well let's talk about one of your volunteers. So give give Eddie a shout out. Yes. Who comes up from Ocean City over speaker-2: Right. My right hand. speaker-0: And he takes what, two to three weeks to come up help put this on. speaker-2: Yep, yep. He comes up right before the start, right before we ⁓ start set up. We start set up on the eighteenth, so he'll be up here the sixteenth or the seventeenth and and he's down there all day. All day, every day. Everybody knows everybody knows Hard Hat Eddie. ⁓ but yeah, we ⁓ Eddie is is an unbelievable resource that we have, ⁓ that comes up every year. He's a he's a McDonald boy as well, so speaker-0: Everybody. speaker-2: We love having Eddie and and he's my like I said, he's my right hand and we couldn't do it without Eddie. speaker-0: So let let's talk about throughout the course of the year you've got some other fundraisers. What are some of the other things that you guys do to help fund the the fire department? speaker-2: We have our ⁓ annual fish fry that we have ⁓ on Good Friday every year. our ladies' night out, which is has quickly over the last four years become the second favorite, maybe even the favorite, ⁓ fundraiser of the year where we bring in close to two hundred and fifty ladies from the community. They come in and sit in our garage and we have lots of fun raffling off designer purses and jewelry and things like that. So they That's become a a huge huge stable for us and a lot of fun. And then we do we do a breakfast with Santa ⁓ in December and you know, that that one really we don't really make any any money off of. That's more of a just a fun community thing. You know, allow the kids come in, see Santa, have some breakfast with us and trucks and see all the apparatus and gear and everything. speaker-0: Hang out around the trucks. speaker-1: And for all of these events, if I can jump in real quick. You know, we we we said we're always still looking for volunteers, but a huge shout out to everyone that does come out and volunteer. You know, we've had ⁓ members of the community, people you just, you know, you know they live in town but you don't exactly see ⁓ every single day. ⁓ we've had judges come down, ⁓ they'll come down and work the registers, they'll come help, members from other fire departments, you know, Midway and Hickory especially, or Mount Pleasant Township. ⁓ You know, we will send some guys and gals over to help with their events. They send them to us. So it's th there's a nice ecosystem of people helping people at any given time. So I'm gonna make sure we give a good shout out to everyone who still comes out and speaker-2: Our our volunteer our just our our volunteers from, you know, the department, they're bringing in their families for the week too and you know, they have nothing to do with the fire department. They really have no, you know, s stake you know, there and they but they love coming down and they love helping us and we've we very much appreciate the the amount of help that they that they give. speaker-0: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Truly a community event. I can't thank you guys enough for giving up some time today to come and talk about McSummer Fest again between your full time jobs and the Volunteer Fire Department, and now this giant event coming up. ⁓ so go out, support the fi ⁓ the McDonald Volunteer Fire Department July twenty fifth through August first, Heritage Park and McDonald. Thank you guys. I will see you both there. speaker-1: Absolutely.