GOLDEN VALLEY – The Community of Golden Valley has held a Fall Festival. Several community groups and local businesses put the fundraiser together to help guarantee continuing maintenance of Veterans’ Park. The park has seen improvements over the years and the community is planning to have a Fall Festival on a yearly basis in the future.
The marquee event this year was a dedication of the area officially as Veterans’ Park. The location is about a half mile north of Hwy. 68 on the west side of Verde Rd. In recent years, the population of Golden Valley has increased markedly and community leaders are making an effort to have events to give the area a more significant feeling of community.
Upwards of 45 vendors set up displays along with free games for the youth of the valley. Along with an official dedication of Veterans’ Park, the event was staged as a fundraiser with the proceeds being forwarded to the county for park maintenance.
Major community groups and individuals worked for more than nine months to put this event together with an eye to making this happen each year in the future. Local youngsters used the refurbished basketball court while other worked on their hoops skills on a smaller scale with a replica arcade basketball shooting location.
Several local businesses had booths set up and there were a couple of booths selling fundraising baked goods. Playground equipment got a good workout as well.
There was a park constable serving “tongue-in-cheek” arrest warrants to “lock up” unsuspecting people. He was very busy, especially when a “warrant” was issued for the entire Black Mountain Middle School cheer squad. To get out of ‘jail’ a donation needed to be made. There were concerns that some parents, short on baby-sitting money, might take advantage of the situation.
In and around all the fun and frivolity, the Golden Valley Fire Department, in a fun way had a serious message to deliver. Department spokesperson Tony DeAngelo explained why it was important for the firefighters to be present at community events such as the Fall Festival.
“Well, that gives us the opportunity to interact with the public and be involved in public events while spreading out our community risk reduction message, fire safety, and allowing participation within the public eye so they can know their firefighters and they can know that we’re here to help them.”
The department had a teaching aid for young people. DeAngelo, who is an EMT, explained its part in the GVFD message.
“It’s a two-story little house that has a living room, a kitchen, and a bedroom. The emphasis is on safety and things to look out for as we try to get the word out about avoidance, telling an adult when they see something that’s wrong. Also we talk about how to call 911, get out of a house and stay out and then have a meeting place. All of those important messages we try to convey.”
