By Kerry Rahm
krahm@wbcowqel.com
The third and final First Friday event brought the community together to recognize its very own hometown heroes – emergency medical technicians, fire and police departments, the Crawford County Sheriff’s office and the State Highway Patrol.
Promotion of local businesses is the core of what the First Friday concept is about. The previous two had the themes of Health and Fitness in June and Art in July; this third Friday was about honoring our everyday, small town heroes.
Downtown was the place to be Friday night, from Mary Street south down to Charles, where plenty of food, live music, freebies, and games gave way to neighbors, acquaintances and visitors thanking our first responders.
Marci Teynor, an independent vendor from New Washington, offered a variety of baked goods for sale.
“[I] also did it in June and July. This is my third one. I enjoyed it so much I came back out.”
She plans on coming back next year. “This has been a great experience, wonderful.” She said her most popular items were “My fresh berry pies and the caramel corn.”
The State Line Sinners, a two-man band consisting of John Schnabel and Al Frazier, played live music in front of the Bucyrus Tourism and Visitor’s Bureau. Schnabel said they played the first First Friday in June, and were stationed in front of the mural.
“They needed some entertainment, and they were kind enough to ask us,” said Schnabel, who currently makes Mount Vernon his hometown.
Floridians Sherry and Paul Panaccione, who were visiting Bucyrus, related that they were impressed by the downtown scene. “Very nice,” Sherry said. When asked if she came out for the heroes, she answered, “Yes, that’s why we’re here today.”
Crystle Taylor Stephenson, who was the event organizer for this August First Friday, said that these Fridays have been in planning since May.
“So far, we’ve had an outstanding turnout every Friday,” she said.
There were five different stations where the heroes were positioned for the night. Firefighters were at the Arts Park, EMT’s at Family Video, the Sheriff’s department near Kennedy Layne salon, police at the mural, and the Ohio State Highway Patrol at the FC Bank parking lot.
“Finding the right people in our community to be the leaders in each station, people who had a passion for thanking the law enforcement, city officials, judges, fire department, EMT’s… those people in our community, we found some really great people to be leaders of each station,” explained Stephenson.
“We’re real excited because we feel like, considering the events in the world today, even in our own country, the shootings and things, this is just a prime time to really show our local law enforcement, city officials, fire department, and EMT’s how thankful and grateful we are for [them] basically doing all that they can to save our lives and also to make our community a better place to work and live.”
Bucyrus City Fire Department firefighter Steve Sargel was asked what it feels like to be called a hero.
“It feels nice, it’s an honor, it feels good. Yeah, it’s nice, we like to come out here and be able to see the public, they are welcome to stop by, but most of the time we don’t get them, so we have to come out to them a lot of times,” he said.
Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper Michael Whiley, originally from Sandusky, enjoyed Bucyrus hosting its heroes for the night.
“I think it’s great, you know, the community gets to come out and meet us, and see us, and interact, and it’s not a negative – it’s a positive for the community. I really like that.”
Crawford County Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Martin was on hand at the Sheriff’s station on Mary Street. He explained how it felt to be considered a hero.
“Overwhelming… Sometimes when you see the kids, and they come up to you, you feel like a hero – you feel like Superman, or you feel like Batman, sometimes it’s shocking how responsive the kids are to you,” he said.
“It’s very rewarding.”
Crawford County Sheriff Scott Kent praised the city by saying, “It feels good. I like the tightness of the community, and I like the support that they give us in return.”
Bucyrus Police Chief David Koepke chose to give recognition to those he personally felt deserved support in his eyes.
“I don’t feel like a hometown hero. I think somebody like Bill Denton, my friend, is a hometown hero… Out of nothing, organizing a men’s prayer breakfast that happens every month, with these celebrities coming to Bucyrus, who’d have thought that?
“John Kime, this past week, with the back to school supply carnival… Just a tremendous program. We have hundreds of bikes that are abandoned, that otherwise are useless, and he came up to the police station with his friends, and sorted through all of those bikes, found 55 bikes that were reparable, and him and his friends repaired them, and now they are in the hands of 55 kids who didn’t have bicycles.
“That’s a hometown hero,” he said. “That’s amazing.”
PHOTO GALLERY: First Friday August