Each year, on the Friday before Christmas, the West Grove Fire Company throws a holiday dinner for first responders -- fire, police, EMS -- and friends and family at the fire station in West Grove. The annual tradition, started 23 years ago, was held this year on Friday, December 19 and was a tremendous success.

More than 250 people attended the event, which featured 32 deep friend turkeys, 90 pounds of pulled pork, numerous choices of sausages and sides, and freshly cooked French fries. Food was served from 2pm until approximately 8pm in a continuous celebration of the emergency services community that is what southern Chester County emergency services is known for.

The day begins with the event team serving breakfast for the fire house and friends, including 30 sandwiches for our brothers and sisters at the PA State Police in Avondale. The crew then begins the process of transforming the ladder bay into a place where dozens of people can sit and eat and gather. The outside cooking crew sets up the five deep fryers -- this year challenged by strong winds -- fryers that will stay busy from 11am until after 8pm cooking turkeys and 50 pounds of fries. Inside, the kitchen team prepares the turkeys for cooking, switching from seasoning operations to slicing a record number of turkeys this year. And in the ladder bay, a third team works to keep the food line refreshed all afternoon long.

A big thank you to everyone who volunteered to make the event a success, including the fryer chefs -- Mike Predmore and Billy Wohl, to the kitchen crew -- Kim Miller, Craig Miller, Steve Flegal, Bill Wohl, Lorna Wohl, Bob Guiney, and Guy Swift, and the food line team -- including Lisa, Matt and Tom Glass, and many, many more who helped all day long including the engine and ambulance crews who were availability for emergencies but worked hard to set up the ladder bay, run the trash, and make supplies runs to area stores. We'd also thank those that brought desserts for the gathering.

During the event, visitors were encourage to donate items for an area food bank that is run by the West Grove United Methodist Church. And, on Sunday, Diane and Justin Gattorno continued another WGFC tradition, holding a Christmas party for the children of WGFC first responders, complete with presents for the children, and a visit to the firehouse by none other than Santa himself.

Happy Holidays to all.