As many of you know, we are getting ever closer to the 2025 Missouri State Fair. As time approaches, there are many individuals who have been working hard to prepare for operations. Months of planning and gathering resources will eventually come together in August, and before we know it the Fair will be over and we’ll be working on 2026.
For myself, and many of you reading this article, the state fair holds special meaning to us. Not only do we get to do a job that we love with many of our lifelong friends, but we get to do it in one of the most historically significant places in our beloved state. The Missouri State Fairgrounds. From Presidents giving speeches, to world-class livestock being placed in exposition, our historic little fairgrounds have helped shape our great state for over a century. And we have the privilege to protect it.
For all of the members of the State Fair Fire Department, I would like to remind you about our summer work weekends. Work weekends give us the opportunity to prepare the station and our operation so we are ready to roll on day one with as few hiccups as possible. These preparations include getting the station set up and cleaned, getting the kitchen ready and stocked, stocking and inventorying medical supplies and equipment, training new members and orienting them to the operation, and many other things too numerous to list. I encourage all of our staff to come to at least one of the work weekends.
The 2025 dates are: June 20-22, July 18-20, and August 1-3.
Other summer activities include the 4H and FFA Horse show that will take place July 23rd-27th. Our department provides EMS coverage for this event as well and we need volunteers to attend. If you are a member of the State Fair Fire Department and have a Missouri EMT or Paramedic license and would like to help, please contact Battalion Chief Roy Pennington.
It’s no secret that our department relies heavily on support from all of our member departments. Especially when it comes to apparatus and equipment. By the time this article comes out, we will hopefully have most of those resources lined out. If your department is sending us something this year or has ever sent us something, Thank You. We couldn’t do it without you. If your department has personnel coming to staff the department, Thank You for giving us your most valuable resource. Thank You for sacrificing a little bit of your department to make ours function. We could never do what we are able to do without our people, they are the best.
This year could potentially hold a bittersweet ending. After many years of hard work by our FFAM Committee and leadership, this may very well be the last year we operate in our current firehouse on the fairgrounds. Many of us have fond memories of that place and it will be missed, but we are excited about the future. With that said, there may be extra work coming after the fair is over. We will have to move all of the station’s contents out and into storage very quickly so work can begin on the new facility. We don’t know all of the details yet, so keep an eye on the Facebook page for more information as this project progresses. I would also ask that any of you who are available to stay after the Department goes out of service for an extra day or two please plan to do so. For everything that has to be set up and made ready, we also have to tear down and demobilize. This also takes time and manpower. More information will come on this via the member’s Facebook page and at work weekends.
I can’t wait to see all of you August 7th-17th at The Missouri State Fair. If you’re coming to work, we have lots of it. If you’re coming to visit, be sure to stop by the firehouse and say hi.
FFAM
