Mark your calendars for the unofficial end of summer, The Kent Volunteer Fire Departments 2010 Firemen’s Fair will be held the last weekend in August.

Here is the schedule of events:

Thursday, August 26: Family Fun Night

Ride carnival rides all night for $20.00

6:00 pm …………Fair Opens

7:00 pm………….Frog Jumping Contest

7:00 pm………….Lumberjack Demonstration

10:00 pm ………..Fair Closes

Friday, August 27: Parade Night

6:00 pm…………Fair Opens

6:45 pm……….. Parade on Main Street

7:00 pm…………Lumberjack Demonstration

10:00 pm……….Parade trophy awards

11:00 pm……….Fair Closes

Saturday, August 28: Fireworks Night

Ride carnival rides all night for $20.00

5:00 pm…………Fair Opens, Dog Show

7:00 pm…………Lumberjack Demonstration

9:00 pm……….. Raffle drawing

9:15 pm……….. Fireworks

11:00pm………..Fair Closes

The Kent Firemen’s Fair will offer attendees a last chance to celebrate summer before children head back to school. The fair will be held Aug. 26-28 at the fairgrounds off South Main Street in Kent.

The Kent Volunteer Fire Department offers its annual fair for a number of reasons. The event is a fundraiser, but it is also a community event and is designed for family fun. In light of this and ever-increasing costs that families these days are facing, KVFD is bringing back its multi-day discounted admission prices to the fair. Attendees over 12 years old will only pay for one night of admission. Anyone who enters on Thursday evening will be charged $5, but will be able to attend Friday and Saturday for free. Those who attend Friday pay $4 and Saturday is free. Those who attend Saturday will pay $3.

On both Thursday, Aug. 26 and Saturday, Aug. 28 a special Family Night fare for the amusement rides will be offered. Bracelets for rides will be sold for $20 each at the ticket booth. The Fire Department likes to be able to provide this to families, especially those with several children, to allow them to ride for one relatively inexpensive price.

Many of the familiar favorites will be back with a great selection of carnival rides, children’s games, white elephant tent treasures, live music and the ever-popular Cake Booth, with numbers drawn for those lucky winners to select their favorite homemade goodies to take home. Bingo returns to the fairgrounds each evening with cash prizes.

A Dog Show is being held Aug. 28 at 5 p.m. There are three divisions of entry for dogs – Grooming, Obedience, and an Agility Course for large and small dogs. There will also be a freestyle section to offer dogs a chance to demonstrate a particular talent. The dog show entrance fee is $5 per dog.

Volunteers Needed

Anyone interested in being a volunteer worker at the fair is welcome to join the fun. Contact Fair Co-chair Will Gawel and let him know what area you’d like to work at.

Bakers Needed

The Kent Volunteer Fire Department is looking for baked goods to fill the cake booth. This is one of the most profitable booths raising more than $2,500 some years.

Baked goods may be brought to the cake booth anytime during the fair.

Booth workers need not be members of the KVFD, because there will always be a member around. Any assistance is appreciated.

Anyone interested in working the booth or baking an item, is asked to contact member Aimee Ballard, at 203-887-9424, or e-mail her at aimeehartnett@yahoo.com .

Eight Raffle Prized Offered

The Kent Volunteer Fire Department is offering a raffle with eight different prizes this year. The winning tickets will be drawn on the last day of the annual Kent Firemen’s Fair, Aug. 28.

Tickets cost $2 each and are being sold at a variety of venues during the next two months, including Kent Fabrics, Kent Wine and Spirit, Backcountry Outfitters, The Villager and Kent Hair Studio. Proceeds from the raffle will benefit the fire department’s annual operating budget.

A number of the prizes were donated by local merchants, Gawel noted.

The top prize was donated by a local family – a trip for up to six people to Sebastian, FL, which includes seven days and six nights of accommodation at a two-bedroom house with a heated pool and a $500 Visa gift card. There are restrictions with this prize.

The other prizes are:

Second prize: an outdoor gas grill with a value of $175;

Third prize: $100 Mobil gas station gift card

Fourth prize: $50 gift certificate from Backcountry Outfitters

Fifth prize: $50 gift certificate from Fife ‘n Drum Restaurant

Sixth prize: $50 gift certificate from Kent Pizza Garden restaurant

Seventh prize: $50 gift certificate from Doc’s Trattoria restaurant

Eighth prize: $25 gift certificate from the House of Books

The raffle drawing will be held Aug. 28 at 9 p.m. at the fairgrounds located on South Main Street. Prizes are not redeemable for cash and exclude alcoholic beverages.