Photo by Amber Phipps Attendees at the Coolville Volunteer Fire Department Octoberfest enjoy a car show in the parking lot at the Coolville Elementary School on Saturday.

COOLVILLE – The village of Coolville celebrated its annual Octoberfest and 75 years of service by the Coolville Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday.

The festival kicked off with a short parade with local enforcement and firefighters who drove on Main Street and distributed candy.

The parade was shorter than usual due to an emergency the firefighters responded to the morning of the festival.

“We have done this every year for as long as I can remember and it’s our biggest fundraiser of the year,” Assistant Chief Jeremiah Cline said.

Cline, local to Coolville, has volunteered at the station for about 26 years and was recently promoted to assistant chief. He said he was captain for about four years prior.

Photo by Amber Phipps Local law enforcement drives down Main Street for the parade to commence Octoberfest in Coolville on Saturday.

“We have really good support from our community,” he said. Octoberfest was scheduled for one day and featured a variety of events like the car show at the Coolville Elementary School parking lot, raffles, local vendors and home-cooked meals.

“We have a chicken dinner, barbeque, noodles, green beans and plenty of desserts,” said Cline. Many of the festival attendees said the chicken and noodles were their favorite part about the event.

To commemorate the 75th anniversary, the fire department ordered new shirts for festival attendees to purchase at the event.

Cline said they have raffles for guns, gaming consoles and lottery tickets, among others.

He said they didn’t have anything new planned for the 75th anniversary, but Grace 4 Faith was invited to sing and entertain during the festival.

Photo by Amber Phipps The Coolville Volunteer Fire Department celebrates 75 years of service during Octoberfest on Saturday.

Grace 4 Faith is a trio that sings contemporary southern gospel music. John Coen, one of the members in the trio, said he’s been attending Octoberfest since he was a child.

“I’ve always been coming to these fundraisers because my dad had been on the fire department and we’ve always been here helping,” said Coen

Coen said his dad had served nearly 65 years with the Coolville Fire Department and the station was named after him in 2021.

“This really has evolved, there were times when I was a kid and I had set up carnival games or showed movies in the station to get the other kids involved,” he said. Coen currently resides about an hour away in Lancaster but continues to come support the fire department and remember his dad’s service to the community.

Coen said the fire department building has expanded over the years since it was a small structure.

Photo by Amber Phipps The Coolville Volunteer Fire Department drives through Main Street on Saturday morning to start Octoberfest.

He said they’ve been able to raise enough money for a full-sized station with proper equipment and trucks.

“My favorite part about Octoberfest is the homemade noodles,” he said.

Octoberfest is one of the many fundraisers the fire department has throughout the year to continue funding their services and support the community.

Cline said anyone can volunteer by contacting the department on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/p/Coolville-Volunteer-Fire-Department-100063685174692/

Amber Phipps can be reached at aphipps@newsandsentinel.com