FIRST FUNDRAISING EVENT FOR BLUE ISLAND FIRE MUSEUM

This weekend, the first fundraising event for the Blue Island Fire Museum and Education Center will take place at Fire Station 1, 2450 Vermont St., in Blue Island. An all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast will be held on Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon and admission is $6 per person, children under 4 years old eat for free.
This weekend, the first fundraising event for the Blue Island Fire Museum and Education Center will take place at Fire Station 1, 2450 Vermont St., in Blue Island. An all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast will be held on Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon and admission is $6 per person, children under 4 years old eat for free.

First Fundraising Event for Blue Island Fire Museum

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

This weekend, the first fundraising event for the Blue Island Fire Museum and Education Center will take place at Fire Station #1, 2450 Vermont St., in Blue Island. An all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast will be held on Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon and admission is $6 per person, children under 4 years old eat for free.

All proceeds from the event will go toward construction costs for the Blue Island Fire Museum and Education Center that will serve as the new permanent home of Old Bess, a restored 1925 Seagrave motor pumper. Old Bess was the first new motorized piece of equipment that Blue Island ever purchased, according to Joe Di Novo, retired Blue Island firefighter and chairman of the Blue Island Fire Museum and Education Center Committee.

The Blue Island Fire Department celebrated it’s 100 year anniversary in 1978 and in honor of the anniversary Old Bess was restored to its former glory. From that point on the old fire engine has been stored in the city’s garage.

“The city had taken possession of a house across the street from Fire Station #1 that was in dilapidated condition and I said ‘let’s build a museum over there and we’ll put Old Bess in there and make it an education center to teach fire prevention classes to the kids.’ A week or 10 days went by and all of a sudden that became a good idea,” said Di Novo.

In order to better house the scattered pieces of the Blue Island Fire Department’s history and to give the public access to Old Bess, the idea for the Blue Island Fire Museum and Education Center was born. While Old Bess sparked the idea to create the Museum, it will not be the only piece of history on display there.

“There are a lot of deep-rooted firemen from Blue Island that have a lot of things that they are going to be willing to put on display in the museum,” said Di Novo. “It’s going to be part of the statewide bike path there so people will be able to go by it all the time and see what it looks like and learn a little bit of Blue Islands history.”

The Blue Island Fire Museum and Education Center is currently working under the advisement of the Blue Island Historical Society and when construction on the Museum is complete it will become an asset of Blue Island and the city will own and operate it.

The tentative fundraising goal to get this project completed is $250,000. Although, Di Novo is hoping that with the help of the Blue Island Historical Society they will be able to access some grants and investors to help with the cost. There is still no timeline for construction, it will depend on how quickly the money comes in, according to Di Novo.

For more information visit the Blue Island Fire Museum’s page on Facebook.

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