For the second year in a row, the Palmyra Police Officers Association hosted and sponsored its Back-to-School Bash on Sept. 3, as hundreds of people came out to enjoy live music and food.
There were activities set up for children in front of borough hall, including inflatable slides and a booth testing basketball shooting skills.
“It’s bigger this year,” said the event’s organizer, Sgt. Tim Leusner. He pointed out that the town’s National Night Out celebration scheduled for Aug. 6 had been canceled, so police decided on a larger Back-to-School Bash.
The event’s partners included the Independence Fire Company and Palmyra EMS, according to Leusner. His department gave out 100 free backpacks full of school supplies to current Palmyra students from pre-K to sixth grade. The event was a chance for residents and students to interact and connect with emergency responders in a festive atmosphere.
“It lets them come out here and meet with our patrolmen, our firefighters and our EMS personnel,” Leusner noted.
Children got their faces painted, ate water ice, played carnival-like games and enjoyed inflatable slides. Parents enjoyed listening to the Big Country and the Finger Pick’n Good Band at the Bandshell adjacent to borough hall.
Entertaining the crowd at the bash were members of the Big Country and the Finger Pick’n Good Band.
One of the highlights of the event was a live demonstration conducted by volunteer firefighters John Hickey, Sabestien Orozco, Cliff Depew, Scott Clemmer and John Skowronski, who demonstrated how they extract a human being trapped in a car after a motor vehicle accident with the “jaws of life.”
“It gave residents a chance to see the firefighters in action and possibly interest some of them in joining the all-volunteer Independence Fire Company,” Fire Chief Michael R. Stokes said. “We’re low on manpower. We’re always looking for new recruits.”
The fire company hosts various fundraisers each year – including the Fisherman’s Flea Market at Charles Street School and an annual golf tournament – to maintain fire trucks and the fire hall on Broad Street. Since many of its volunteers have day jobs, the Palmyra Fire Department pays certified firefighters $150 a day.
Stokes explained that new volunteers receive free training, and “it can be a stepping stone to a professional career.”
“We are a close-knit community,” he emphasized, “and we watch out for each other.”
Residents interested in becoming firefighters can apply on the website or simply go to the fire hall any Monday after 7 p.m. The first and third Mondays of the month are for drills, the second Monday is for an officers’ meeting and the fourth Monday is a general session.
