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LEBANON, ME - On behalf of all the volunteers with the Lebanon Rescue Department, Chief Samantha Cole would like to thank all the residents, businesses, other town departments, the schools and the other agencies that participated in the second Annual Lebanon Community Festival sponsored by the Lebanon Rescue Department as part of National EMS Week.

The festival was held on Saturday, May 22, 2010 at the Hanson School on Upper Guinea Road.

This year over 1,000 people visited during the three hour festival, which actually carried over as several people showed up at the end. The raffle had about 1,046 single person entries and not everyone who attended participated.

The day had lots of great events, including a skydiving demonstration by Skydive New England, Life Flight helicopter landing, a Jaws of Life and patient removal demonstration by the Lebanon Rescue and Fire Departments, a monster truck, a race car by a local driver, lots of great really neat antique vehicles, heavy equipment displays, a petting farm, face painting, several area businesses on display, camping trailers, church groups, a fundraiser BBQ, and town departments including the Lebanon EMA, Lebanon Fire Department, Lebanon Library and Lebanon Recreation.

The event planning started in January and this year the Lebanon schools helped coordinate the event with the rescue.

The event marked the end of several community events throughout the week for National Emergency Medical Services week. Throughout the week, rescue volunteers participated in several events to help the community. The rescue volunteers were able to go into both Lebanon schools and teach safety classes to the K-5 classes, reaching about 425 students. The rescue volunteers also attended local daycares teaching injury prevention and how to dial 911. As a community service project, rescue volunteers laid about 5,000 square feet of sod at the new Civil War Memorial at the Lebanon Municipal Building. Rescue volunteers continued to work on a new garden at the rescue station that will spruce up the station and add a new flag pole and signage as well. They held the community festival on Saturday to mark the end of National EMS Week and then had a BBQ and pool party at the chiefs house to thank the volunteers.

Please visit the rescue facebook site to see over 200 more great pictures.

The weather was perfect and it was a great community event. Thank you to all the rescue volunteers who planned and coordinated the festival and to the staff at the schools for their help. Thanks to all the people who came and made the event so great!

The Lebanon Recreation Department held their second Annual Cancer Benefit 5k road race/walk in the morning. There were several runners and walkers from Lebanon and neighboring towns.

All three Lebanon Selectmen attended the festival and participated in the festivities. Chairman Robert Frizzell sent an email to the volunteers thanking them for their work on the event. “I would like to thank all the Rescue and Fire personnel and other Volunteers for making today such a huge success! It turned out to a wonderful time and a great day for Lebanon! Community spirit is definitely alive and well in Lebanon !! Thanks again!! Bob Frizzell, Chairman , Lebanon Board of Selectmen.” Selectman Patch brought an antique car to display, Chairman Frizzell brought a dump truck for children to check out and Selectman Cole was the chairman of the festival committee.

Town departments at the event included the Lebanon Emergency Management Agency, Lebanon Rescue, Lebanon Fire, Lebanon Library and Lebanon Recreation. The Lebanon Schools and Community Center helped tremendously with the event as well.

Other events included the York County Sheriff’s Department, the Maine Warden Service with a hover craft, two Maine State Fire Marshals, one with a K-9 unit, a smoke trailer from the Sanford Fire Department, several antique cars and trucks, a race car, a monster truck, a petting zoo, sky divers from Skydive New England, the Life Flight of Maine helicopter landing, the local girl scouts and several area businesses and churches on display.

“The good news was that the businesses all reported that they made sales, some a lot of sales and made great contacts with the community. It’s nice to see the community come together and see the different services in town and learn about the businesses. I know the West Lebanon church did over 250 face paintings on the children, the girl scouts also did face painting, the Little River Road church handed out lots of free popcorn and water and it was just a great community day.” Festival Committee Chairman Jason Cole added.

“We have already set Saturday, May 21, 2011 as the next festival. We are hoping to do some extra special events as this will be the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Lebanon Rescue Department. We hold events each year during National Emergency Medical Services Week, and this will continue to be the major event for us during that week. The community support has been amazing and we are so thankful to everyone who made it a huge success.” Chief Samantha Cole added.

“Just watching the kids who were amazed when the Life Flight helicopter hovered over head and then landed or seeing the children climb into the monster truck was worth every minute of planning this event. The crowd really seemed to enjoy watching the rescue and fire crews work together to remove a patient who was trapped in a car and in the jaws of life and patient extrication demonstration. The fire marshal K-9 unit was very popular and the kids were amazed that it could detect just a drop of accelerant left behind. To walk around and see community members who have not seen some of their neighbors for years meet up and just talk and the children playing on the playground equipment was amazing. We are fortunate to live in a great community.” Festival Committee Chairman Jason Cole added.

The event is sponsored by the Lebanon Rescue Corporation and no taxpayer money is used. We would also like to thank the area businesses that helped pay for the costs of the petting zoo for the children. Area residents also made several donations, including a very large cake with the rescue patch on it for the festival attendees to have.