Thousands of well-groomed, neatly uniformed firefighters will march through the streets of Cortlandt Sept. 15 in a competition parade in honor of the Mohegan Volunteer Fire Association’s 90th Anniversary.
Mohegan volunteer firefighters have been holding fundraisers, organizing and planning for the last year to hold the parade, which will feature 30 fire departments, bands, classic cars from and others, and to have the honor of hosting the Westchester County Volunteer Fireman’s Association Convention on its 106th Anniversary.
“They have really done a fabulous job,” said Chairman of the Parade, Mohegan Deputy Chief James Seymour, of the volunteers. The co-chairmen of the parade are 2nd Lt. Christopher Gravius and firefighter Philip Guglielimini.
A competition parade is one in which all the groups compete against each other for 62 different awards based on their appearance, condition of their apparatus and other categories that will be presented at the end of the parade, Seymour said. The Westchester county Judges Association will judge the parade.
The Mohegan Association decided to host the event after attending the Hudson Valley Convention at Lake George last summer. They have not hosted a parade of this scale since its 75th anniversary, 15 years ago.
“Since I have done it in the past as the Peekskill Fire Chief, I said there is no reason why we can’t do it. It just takes a big commitment and a lot of work to put it on,” Seymore said. “They made the commitment and have been fantastic.”
The 130 volunteer firefighters raised $30,000 to hold the three days of events.
Seymour also saw this as training for the younger volunteers who will be planning the 100th anniversary event in ten years.
The parade route is going west on Route 6 to Westbrook Drive and following that to Oregon Road to the circle and then east on Oregon Road and ending at Hollow Brook Fire Station. The line up is at 1 p.m. at Van Cortlandtville Elementary School and the parade starts at 2 p.m.
“We hope people come out to watch and support us,” Seymour said. “We do this for the public.”
A couple hundred firefighters will attend the Westchester County Firefighters Association Convention to be held at The Mansion at Colonial Terrace on Sept. 13. At the Convention new officers are installed, awards are given, deceased members are honored and local and county officials attend as well, Seymour said.
The Mohegan Fire Association will also be holding a fundraiser at in Shrub Oak on Sept. 25.
For their full schedule of events on Sept. 13-15, click here.
