By Eileen Moon
When summer ripens into August, the pleasures it brings take on a special sweetness.
We know the days of bare feet and bike rides, fireworks and fairs, will soon recede like the warm tides of the summer ocean.
But before they do we have a few more weeks to savor the joys of another summer.
At the Navesink Hook & Ladder Company in Middletown, that means it’s time to get ready for the annual old-fashioned Navesink Country Fair, an event that the firehouse has been holding for 131 years.
The fire company was established in 1886, with the fair following three years later. It is believed to be the oldest fireman’s fair in New Jersey, company members said.
This year’s fair will take place for three nights, Aug. 8 through 10 from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.
But don’t expect to ride the Tilt-a-Whirl or the Ferris wheel at this fair – while there will be plenty of fun to go around, it’s a proudly old-fashioned event, says fair chairman Russell Mount, who has been volunteering at the fair since childhood. “We’ve kept it in the tradition of an old-time fair,” said Mount, who is also deputy chief of the Middletown Fire Department.
The rides the fair offers are geared to children and pre-teens, and while there are some modern touches like inflatable bouncy games and a rock climbing wall, families return year after year to let their kids ride the Old Cannonball train.
The firehouse acquired the train from an amusement park in 1968, said Navesink Hook & Ladder Company president Matt Chesek, who is a fourth generation member of the fire company. “It’s pretty unique. It’s nothing too big. The train goes around in a circle on tracks that are on the fairgrounds,” Chesek said.
The fair also features rides on the company’s antique fire truck, which was sold to another company years ago and then bought back for a dollar once its firefighting days were done. Now the fire truck bears antique plates and the fair is its time to shine.
Chesek’s son, Matt, 7, is already volunteering at the fair, helping with the many chores that go along with running a world-class fair kitchen that turns out some 300 orders a night for lobster, fried shrimp, fried clams, fried chicken, soft-shell crabs, fried eggplant, corn and all the fixings – not to mention the humbler but no less beloved fair staples like hot dogs.
Chesek, who is in charge of the kitchen operation, inherited the job from his uncle, who ran it for 30 years. He and his team of volunteers source all of the seafood from local vendors and pick up eggplants, corn and other fresh produce each day from a farm in Matawan.
Volunteers then get to work peeling the eggplant, shucking the corn and doing all the other preparations before the fair opens at 5:30. By 6 p.m., Mount said, there’s a line waiting for dinner.
Many of those who help out at the fair aren’t official members of the fire company but simply want to help an event that has become a beloved tradition. “We couldn’t do this if it wasn’t for the support of the community,” Chesek said. “It really is a group effort.”
Along with its celebration of tradition, the fair has added a few innovations, including a beer and wine garden and live bands introduced in recent years to great success. Thursday is Firemen’s Night, when local companies compete in a bucket brigade contest. “Local vendors donate $500 in fire equipment to the team that wins first place,” Mount said.
Games at the fair are a little different from the Vegas-style roulette wheels some fairs spin. As it has for generations, the fair offers a nickel toss game. And when the wheel spins at the vegetable stand, players pay 50 cents for wooden paddles that bear their numbers. The winners walk away with – yes – fresh vegetables, as well as steaks, lobster and other feastables worth taking a chance on.
The gift auction is a major part of the fair’s fundraising effort. Mount’s wife Jean and Chesek’s wife Andrea are in charge of soliciting the donations for the event and creating the gift baskets that reflect the generosity of dozens of businesses in the Middletown area. The goodies contained in the baskets run the gamut, ranging from restaurant gift certificates, tools, appliances and wines to gift cards, getaway weekends and even rum, straight from the Caribbean via the locally-based Shipwreck Rum Company.
“We rely on our donors from different businesses throughout town,” Mount said. “It’s quite a bit of work.”
There are 60 members of the fire company, including a number of life members who are no longer active. It takes about 12-18 members to set up and run the fair. Funds raised from the event help the fire company afford some extras, like keeping the Little League fields on the firehouse grounds in good condition.
“The town contributes quite a bit to what we do, but it doesn’t cover everything,” Chesek said.
Preparations for the fair got a bit of a late start this year due to the heavy rains in late July that delayed the setup by a few days. Now it’s up to the weather gods to smile on the fair’s three-day run next week.
“It’s rare that we get three perfect nights,” Chesek said. But in the unwelcome event that the weather doesn’t cooperate, the fire company knows how to go with the flow. “We’re always open for the food and the gift auction.”
