ECVFD to Host 125th Anniversary Parade

The Ellicott City Volunteer Fire Department will host a Main Street parade with marching bands, singers, stilt walkers and fire trucks on Saturday morning to celebrate the department’s 125th anniversary.

“We’re excited,” said John Meitl, president of the volunteer department, “We’ll have everything that makes a parade a parade.”

The festivities will close Main Street to vehicles from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. The parade begins at Main Street and Ellicott Mills Drive then winds down the Historic District until it ends at Main and Maryland Avenue near the B&O Railroad Museum.

Parade participants include the Mount Hebron and Howard High School marching bands, singers from Hollifield Station Elementary and Patapsco Middle School, local scout troops, the department’s drum and bagpipe core as well as 25 pieces of fire and rescue apparatus.

Meitl said when the department began discussing what to do to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the department, volunteers asked him ‘why celebrate, this is what we do.’

“I said the celebration is for the community, not for the department,” recalled Meitl. “It’s to celebrate the community that has been supporting us for 125 years.”

Meitl added, “On the other side the fire department has been supporting the community from anything from delivering babies, to cutting kids out of cars and rescuing cats from trees. From floods to fires, we’ve been there.”

He said the department got its start in 1888 with two buckets and blankets that they’d run down to soak in the river.

Now they have multiple fire and rescue apparatus, 120 volunteers on the rolls, and 40 to 60 highly active members.

“We’ve come a long way,” said Meitl. “We have a lot to celebrate.”

The festivities will continue on Saturday evening when the fire department hosts a Fire & Ice celebration gala. The event features dinner from Carrabba’s Italian Grill, beer and wine, an ice sculpture and a DJ spinning tracks. Tickets for the event are $50 and can be purchased at the volunteer fire department’s website.

“We’re calling it a gala, not a high-saluting fancy gala, it’s a fire department gala,” said Meitl.

Meitl said tickets for the gala are almost sold out, but encouraged everyone to come out for the parade.

“It has been an honor and privilege to serve,” said Meitl. “We’d like to thank everyone for their support.”