CHESTER - With two weeks to go before the annual Fall Bash, the members of the Chester Volunteer Fire Department are putting the finishing touches on the now two-day event.
The Fall Bash is Sept. 16 and 17 with cash drawings and a concert by country headliners LeAnn Rimes and Clay Walker on Friday, and the traditional Fall Bash day of drawings. The event takes place at The Harv at Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort.
The $100 tickets for the Saturday event sold out by June 1. Sellouts of the Fall Bash tickets take place earlier each year. This is the 10th annual event.
Many people bought tickets for both the Friday night concerts and drawings and the Saturday Fall Bash. The fire department has sold about three-fourths of the 10,000 tickets for Friday night. Tickets are still available and will be available at the door for the Friday night event only, said Chief John Hissam.
He said he is pleased with the response to a two-day event, and even though Clint Black, originally scheduled to perform with Rimes, had to cancel, the response to the cash-drawing and concert combination has been great. Hissam said next year's event will also be a two-day affair.
Hissam said the fire department started the Fall Bash because the firefighters wanted to make the department self-sufficient. "We didn't want to have to go to the taxpayers for money all the time," he said.
In the past 10 years, the firefighters have used the Fall Bash proceeds to replace firetrucks, purchase equipment, pay for training and make improvements to the fire station. Last year's event helped fund this year's project, purchase of land and construction of rental storage buildings that will give the firefighters steady income throughout the year.
Hissam said the fire department's dedicated Fall Bash line will begin ringing soon after this year's event is over, with people wanting to know when they can get tickets for next year. Tickets are available starting March 1 each year, and by that time, the department will already have received hundreds of request letters.
Firefighters work on the Fall Bash about 11 months out of the year, he said.
"Our ticket buyers, our customers, are great people," Hissam said. "We could never do anything we do without their support. I can never say enough about how the citizens support us. They are behind us in whatever we do."
Hissam said as a result of research about the people who attend the Fall Bash, the firefighters decided to make the Fall Bash a two-day event. He said the department sells fall bash tickets to supporters in all 50 states and three foreign countries. Since many, many people who come for the Fall Bash come into town for the entire weekend, a two-day Fall Bash was a logical move, Hissam said.
Tickets for the Friday night cash drawings and concerts are $60 per person. Food and drinks at The Harv are not included. Doors open at 1 p.m. Sept. 16 for cash drawings every 10 minutes between 3 and 7:30 p.m. The drawings end with a $30,000 drawing at 7:30 p.m. Ticket holders can win more than one time, Hissam said.
The lowest drawing for the $60 ticket event is $3,500. There will also be a special drawing at 7:10 p.m. for 10 $500 winners.
Doors will open at 9 a.m. Sept. 17 for the $100 ticket holders. Food and beverages will be available both inside The Harv and out, at no additional cost.
Drawings begin at 11 a.m. with 20 Early Bird drawings of $1,000 each and five Early Bird drawings of $2,000 each. Beginning at noon, there will be drawings every five minutes for either cash or prizes including vehicles and weapons.
Hissam said there will also be additional prizes Saturday that are not included in the Fall Bash Brochure. "Some trucks, cars four-wheelers and guns," he said.
For more information on the Fall Bash, call the fire department's Fall Bash line at 304-387-2796.
