AULDS COVE, N.S. — A celebration 50 years in the making took place in Auld’s Cove Aug. 18, as the community’s volunteer fire department recognized its golden anniversary with live music, a barbecue and fun activities for children, such as face-painting and a bouncy castle.
To invite the community and “let them know we’re here and what we’re doing … and that we’re still growing,” Chief Danny MacEachern said amidst the indoor and outdoor celebration, which dealt with a little rain that was no match for the enthusiasm on the day.
MacEachern said it’s important to keep growing because standing still is akin to going away.
“You have to be growing as a fire department; you can’t stay still,” he stressed. “If you do, and there are not new members and activities, it’s going to die. [It’s about] new blood, new equipment, looking after our stuff and spending our money right.”
An investment of $10,500 on the day from Rolf Bouman, of Canadian Pioneer Estates, added to the celebratory mood.
MacEachern noted that to reach the milestone, it takes a lot of dedicated people and that is what the department has enjoyed over the years.
“And especially now with the population getting older; there are not too many young people who want to join, want to commit to this,” he said. “People will say we’re too busy, but we’re all busy. I could be busy today, could find something else to do, but the community needs people to be able to respond and do something; fight that fire, save those people, [respond to] a motor vehicle accident … we’re there to help all those people.”
MacEachern, who has been with the department for 16 years, said being a firefighter changed him as a person.
“It helped me to look at things totally different; it’s about commitment to the community,” he said.
“Once I became a volunteer firefighter; I always cared for the community before, but I became way more committed to it … to caring.”
Asked about the department’s origins, MacEachern noted they started up around the same time fellow Antigonish County communities, such as Tracadie and Pomquet, began.
“In 1969 they formed a committee and talked to the fire marshall of Nova Scotia because there wasn’t too many fire departments around anywhere; Antigonish County fire department was the only fire department outside of Antigonish town,” he said. “And then Tracadie, us, and Pomquet all started around the same time, within a year of each other.”
