Palomar Mountain News

FRIDAY:  We started the weekend with the Friday evening Volunteer
Appreciation/Awards Dinner and very special guests Fire Chief Karl
Bauer, his wife Debbie, and Belinda Schrader, the daughter of past
Fire Chief Harry Schrader (Harry passed away earlier this year.)

Earl Walls and crew served up a wonderful roast pork dinner with the
entire community invited.   Guests brought appetizers and desserts to
compliment the meal. Debbie Thicksten contributed a batch of beans
cooked using Harry Schrader’s secret recipe.  This was most
appropriate, because a special tribute was given by Chief Karl Bauer
and Chief George Lucia in honor of Harry Schrader, which included a
fire service color guard and fire bell ceremony.

The firefighters received their year pins and promotion badges.  Capt.
Jason Baum was awarded “Firefighter of the Year”.  Congratulations,
Capt. Baum!

SATURDAY:  The BBQ was a big success with Lt. Kym McClary in charge.
Many members of the public and the other fire stations complimented
PMVFD on a well run event.  This year the public got to enter the
event by walking under a big red, white and blue balloon arch
(procured by Kimber Platt).  The arch really jazzed up the entrance.
Vintage fire engines shuttled guests from the parking area at the
Summit Landing Zone to the event, with beautiful views of Palomar
Mountain along the way.

Announcing Raffle Prize Winners!  The blue ticket GRAND PRIZE winner
of the JetBlue airline tickets was Mike Stevens.  Congratulations!
The yellow ticket GRAND PRIZE winner of $500 cash was Christiane
Rockwell.  Congratulations!

MANY THANKS to JetBlue, Pala Casino, Rincon Casino and Viejas Casino
for their generous donations for the raffle prizes.

PLANNING COMMITTEE:  BIG THANK YOU to the planning committee members,
headed by Kym, who worked for months to organize the event.  Kym, Mary
Burdick and Cecilia Borland did an awesome job in prize procurement.
Cecilia also organized the craft booths and arranged for the
musicians.   Mary saw that the event was well advertised.  Capt. Greg
van Idsinga and Kym handled most of the logistics.

Tracey and Mike Chesney, Deb Goycochea and crew did an outstanding job
with the food service again this year.  Sharon Dahl and Mike Pique
shared the food cashiering position, greeting all with a friendly
welcome.  Jeanine Barrows and Diana and Drew Roderick joined members
of Tracey’s team to serve up the delicious pulled pork sandwiches,
hamburgers, veggie burgers and hot dogs.

BIG hug and thanks to Bernadette Madison for transforming the fire
station with colorful decorations which added to the fun ambiance of
the weekend events.

Tom Fortney and Jerry Johnson and their team ran the beverage booth
and beer garden.  Beer this year was donated by Lost Abbey Brewery.
John Lesac did an outstanding job taking care of sound.  Terri Sproul
organized the kid’s booth.  Kathy and Paul Fitzgerald worked the busy
auction and raffle displays. Vicki Prentiss and Kathleen were
recruited to run the Fire Department Store AND sell raffle tickets!
The Valley Center beauty queens and princesses really helped boost the
raffle ticket sales with their pretty smiles.

Bonnie Phelps helped sell raffle tickets, too, although she could not
be present at the event this year due to illness.  Thank you, Bonnie,
and hope you are feeling much better!

Special thanks to Jim Walls for the invaluable ice truck, and to
Elizabeth La Plante her great can-do attitude and for donations of
water, traffic cones and baked potatoes!

Thank you to the musicians!  First up was our own Dutch Bergman, then
the James Rust bluegrass group, and last but not least was Jake’s
Mountain.  Music is such an important part of the event.  We will
continue to work to make it a better venue for the musicians.

Battalion Chief Kellogg was available throughout the event planning
and day of event and was somehow able to make just about any request
happen, including taking the Alcohol Servers class so we could get our
event permit!

Capt. Jason Baum put together a detailed plan and schedule for the
day, with a contingency plan for medical or other emergencies.  THANK
YOU all you firefighters and others for the hard work of set-up and
take-down.  And thank you for the great entertainment and learning
experience of the firefighter contests.

Fire Board members Keith Ronchetti, Bruce Graves, Dave Robarts (and
his wife Nancy), and myself did whatever we could to help the event
run smoothly.  Keith’s job of handling the BBQ finances starts well
before the event and continues on for some time after.

Many businesses donated to the event, including our own General Store,
thanks to Francisco and Pascal.  Brad Bailey generously donated
proceeds from his book sales.  Don’s Market and Julian Pies always
come through for us year after year, as well as Ramona Disposal.
Businesses in Valley Center, Wynola, Julian, Santa Ysabel and
Escondido, too many to name here, all contribute to the success of our
fundraiser.

SUNDAY:  PMVFD Annual Board Meeting and Election.  The 2011-2012 Board
Members are Dave Robarts, President; Bruce Graves, Vice President;
Keith Ronchetti, Treasurer; Brett Michael Hauser, Secretary; and Doug
Lande, Member-at-Large.

Palomar Mountain Volunteer Fire Department
21610 Crestline Road
Palomar Mountain, CA, 92060