350+ pounds of fish and returning local artist headline Firemen's Fall Fest

BLUE RAPIDS, KS — This weekend’s big event is a fish fry organized by firefighters raising funds for a fireworks show.

There’s no shortage of alliteration at this Saturday’s Firemen’s Fall Fest in Blue Rapids, KS, and there’s no shortage of activities.  The beer garden opens at 4:00, the fish fry starts at 5:00 and there’s live music the rest of the night.

Marshall County Arts Cooperative President Wayne Kruse says the event started as a way for the fire department to honor retiring firefighters, but it’s grown to mean more over the years.

“The fire department turned to the Marshall County Arts Cooperative and said, ‘hey what if we partner. You guys do the entertainment, we’ll take care of the food, let’s use our strengths, and bring an even bigger group of people together to celebrate,’” Kruse said.

And he’s not joking about the firemen taking care of the food.

“The firemen are the ones who catch the fish," Kruse said. "I’m not exaggerating when I say, they spend (all year) fishing so they have enough fish for this fish fry. So we serve well over 400 people so that means we need at least 350 pounds of fish.”

The Rewind Band plays through the fish fry until 8:00 when Gabe Walsh takes over. Walsh is a Marshall County native who now lives and performs country music in Nashville.

“It’s always a little bit more special when we’re able to bring back one of our local artists like Gabe Walsh,” Kruse said.

Kruse says it will be easy to stay socially distant at the event because of the size of the Marshall County Fairgrounds. The firemen are accepting freewill donations to go towards their annual 4th of July fireworks display.