It's one hot August night, y'all. | GlitznGrits.com

Aug 21, 2013

It's one hot August night, y'all.







 Did you know that almost 70% of fire departments in the United States are volunteer? 85.5% of the fire departments in Texas are manned by volunteers. Heck the fire department in the next town over from me is volunteer and that ain't even that small of a town. This past weekend I went to the 7th annual Hot August Night. It is an event put on by the town of Sulpher Springs and Hopkins County. The county houses 12 fire departments and all 12 of them are volunteer. Hopkins County is a small county of about 35,000 people about an hour from my house headed into East Texas. The majority of the population comes from the county seat of Sulpher Springs. Everything else is small unincorporated communities. Bestfran Numero Uno is a High School Agriculture Teacher in the county. The whole community shows for this event. There were firefighters, young and old, everywhere. Can we say Yum?! I went to college in East Texas so I knew quite a few volunteer firefighters. It was always humbling to sit in class with a student my age who did things like this at night.

The events starts with a Barbecue Cook-Off. All the different fire departement as well as others in the community enter to see who has the best brisket and chicken. The winner got a trophy as tall as me. Y'all that trophy has survived a few fires itself. The winning team also won a smoker that some of the local FFA kids built. The smoker was so big it had to be put on a trailer and hitched to the back of a truck. I loved how nice everyone was and all the free food we got to eat. The night ended with a benefit concert at the Civic Hall where they show animals/ have roedo's. All the money made is divided between the fire departments.

As great as the benefit was, we came for the concert and the main attraction- Colin Raye. He's a professional Country Singer who had his hay day in the 90's and early 2000's. Man, Colin still has it and can sang. When he sang Joey+ Rory's Josephine I about died. One of my all time favorite Bluegrass/Country songs. I think I was singing the loudest in the arena. Maybe because it is not that well know of a song. But the biggest surprise of the night was the opening act Jason Cassidy. He is a Texas Country singer and i'm now in love and jealous of his wife. Y'all he has a fiddle player. A flippin' fiddle player. Y'all probably didn't know that I've always wanted to learn the fiddle and banjo. Heck if I can learn to play the flute than I dang sure think I can learn that. Opps, look at me blogging out loud again. Anyways... People always ask me why I never know these new Country Artist and I'm like if y'all knew they country they played here in Texas and what I listen to you'd understand. Well, now you do.

But, all this got me thinking about the things I'm thankful for. Y'all I'm super thankful for people like the volunteer firefighters who risk their lives everyday. They run into buildings when everything else is running out, including the roaches cause the heat is so strong. They work for free and get it done with limited supplies. Thank a firefighter next time you see one.

Oh yeah, of course this is my Texas Tuesday post on a Wednesday... again. And my grateful post with Sarah

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2 comments

  1. A work with a lady whose hubby is the fire chief for a small town FD. We get all wrapped up in volunteer fire fighting - they are having a fundraiser next month. A cow drop. Ask if you don't know what it is. :)

    Looks like one heck of an awesome time - glad to see people out there supporting our FF.

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  2. Alesha, you are absolutely right- volunteer fire depts are amazing. I'm so glad you wrote this in support of them! :)

    And there's nothing I like better than a small Texas town fundraiser. :)

    Love, Joy
    Yesterfood.blogspot.com

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