Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company Open House

As Bel Air and Harford County evolves, there are a few reminders that remain to show us a bit of what Bel Air used to be like and where it has come from. For me, one of those reminders is the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company. Formally founded in 1890, it currently consists of an all volunteer fire service and auxiliary and a combination of volunteer/paid emergency medical service. All together BAVFC has over 175 members and responds to over 8,000 calls for service each year. (You can find more statistics and interesting facts here.) Volunteer firefighting is a long tradition in the US with some 70% of all fire services being volunteer. That tradition is alive and carried on in Bel Air.

My initial idea for this post was to write some history of the department, but there is a tremendous writeup of the history of BAVFC on the website at www.BAVFC.org. It is a great read when you have the time and also tells a lot of the history of both the town of Bel Air and of BAVFC.

This Saturday, October 3rd from 10-3 at the main station in Bel Air (109 S. Hickory Ave.) is the annual open house for BAVFC. It is a great time to casually tour the fire house, let your kids climb through the trucks, look at the tools used and see several demonstrations during the day. It is a very family friendly day and there are typically refreshments available. There will be plenty of members on hand to answer questions. Your kid can even take a turn manning a fire hose on the front ramp.

6 Events in 6 Weeks (read now and get a bonus event FREE)

It is Fall festival time and even though I doubt I will make a lot of blog posts about what's going on every weekend I wanted to list some of the stuff happening over the next 6 weeks or so. Some of it is pretty cool and a lot of it is family oriented. Most of it is a great excuse to get outside and do something.

Starting out this weekend, on Sunday 9/13/09 from 12-4 (coinciding with the Raven's game) is Music in the Vineyard at Fiore Winery. You can bring a picnic lunch and enjoy music with the family. Tasting and a glass cost $5.

Also this weekend is the Darlington Gun Show. Both Saturday and Sunday 9/12-13/09 at the Darlington VFW. Hunting season is right around the corner.

On Sunday, September 20th is the Annual Bel Air Festival of the Arts in Shamrock Park. Lots of local artists and vendors.

The same weekend is also the Maryland Wine Festival at Timonium Fairgrounds both Saturday and Sunday 9/19-20/09.

The following weekend is the Harford County Wine Festival at Rockfield Manor, Saturday and Sunday 9/26-27/09, Saturday 12-7 and Sunday 12-5. Normally I would direct you to Rockfield Manor's website for more information but apparently their website is down due to non-payment. Tsk-tsk. It's http://www.rockfieldmanor.com/ if you want to give it a try.

I'm not sure why we have so many wine related things to do and we don't have a half decent Oktoberfest. I'm really bummed they don't do the traditional Oktoberfest at the Baltimore Armory any more. That used to be really cool. I'd love to see an Oktoberfest come to Bel Air...not a cheap imitation at one of the bars, but the real deal at the Bel Air Armory or something. I know there is the supposed Oktoberfest at Timonium Fairgrounds on Saturday, October 10th, but that's more like a preakness drunkfest than a real Oktoberfest. Not that I have anything against preakness or drunkfests mind you. They're just not Oktoberfest.

Anyway...on Saturday October 3rd is one of my favorites...the Darlington Apple Festival 10-5 in downtown Darlington. You should make this trek at least once in your life. As you may have guessed, there are lots of apples, and apple pies, but there's also a lot of other fun fall festival stuff including tractor rides and vendors.

On Saturday, October 17th is the Harford Fall Festival at the Equestrian Center. Lots of fall fest and family centered fun that all benefits the Harford County's food bank and homeless shelter.

If I missed something (I'm sure I did) leave it in the comments or shoot me an e-mail @ belairlife @ gmail.com and I will add it in.

Why Bel Air is a healthy town

With burger joints on every corner, candy shops in town and now a Vaccarro’s coming to Harford Mall, you may not think of Bel Air being the healthiest of towns. But Bel Air has plenty of opportunities to be healthy and I’d say it is a pretty fit town compared to a lot of places. I’ve broken it down by access, support and eating. More of the many reasons I love Bel Air.

To be a fit town, you need a combination of affordable and free access to activities, both indoor and out. And Bel Air (and the surrounding county) abounds with opportunities to be active year round. We have a couple of mega gyms and national chains if going to a gym is your thing. There are even 24 hour gyms popping up and most importantly, successful local gyms. The Ma & Pa Trail is an awesome destination for a walk, run or bike ride covering 5 miles of total trails. Many roads, like Route 1 north of town, have wide shoulders for biking or running. Communities boast miles of sidewalks. And it is encouraging to see projects like Southampton Road being planned with wide lanes and sidewalks to provide access to the school and the miles of sidewalks in town. We also have access to the many trails at Rocks, Susquehanna and Gunpowder State Parks for hiking, running and cycling.

Bel Air also offers local access to canoeing and kayaking in local creeks, rivers and the bay. You can go rock climbing at Rocks State Park. There are even both indoor and outdoor skate parks in or near Bel Air now (yes, skateboarding is a legitimate sport). There’s a gymnastics center. Throughout the year there are also many organized runs and races including the Bel Air Town Run which boasted 1,400 runners this year! And, Bel Air has insanely organized and popular both youth and adult rec leagues for just about every sport.

This isn’t the place to advertise or recommend one business over another, but Bel Air business offers tons of support to help us get and stay fit. There is a running store on Main Street that organizes frequent runs and training programs. On South Main you can find a shop specializing in nothing but lacrosse. We have access to several local bike shops that are a wealth of information and organized rides. There are local pools and swim clubs offering lessons, fitness classes and competitive swimming. There is a skate shop (at least for now) on Bond Street (okay, say it with me this time, skateboarding is a legitimate sport). And, of course, there’s always the big box stores.

Access to healthy foods is another area Bel Air excels, but it’s a choice, because there is also plenty of access to unhealthy foods here too. In the summer we are fortunate to have a wide variety of fresh and local foods available through the multiple farmers markets and road side stands. We have a nearby whole foods market and all of the grocery stores have increased their organic selections with several offering local options. Most of the restaurants in town offer healthy food options and salads. There is also no denying our access to fresh seafood and fish, too many options to even begin to list them. Bel Air can even boast both a smoothie and a yogurt shop.

So what’s your favorite place, activity or way to be fit in Bel Air? Share it in the comments section.

BBQ Heaven in Bel Air

We took the BelAirLife family to the Maryland State BBQ Bash in Bel Air Friday and Saturday nights this weekend. There is no place else I know of where you can celebrate the wonders of BBQ and the art of grill cooking as well as you can here. We went both Friday and Saturday nights. After years of convincing, we also took my Dad (aka Master Griller) with us. The main event was spread throughout the State Courthouse parking lot with overflow for contestants and exhibitors in surrounding parking lots.

While Mrs. BelAirLife took the kids to walk over to the kids section my Dad and I wandered around the contestant areas admiring all the varying setups for cooking. Now my Dad and I can do some grilling, but the full trailer setups with multiple smokers and cookers were definitely out of our league. We learned a lot from walking around and asking different contestants about their cooking methods.

Over the two days, we had ribs, pulled pork and brisket that were all fantastic. Hess’s BBQ piled the pulled pork on so high you had to eat it with a fork before you could make it into a sandwich! The crazy thin sliced and deep fried potato thing was awesome. The only complaints I heard all weekend was about the beer prices. I have to agree $4 for a 12 ounce draft is certainly on the steep side although it didn’t appear to make the lines for beer any shorter.
It’s great to have a statewide event that is so family friendly here in Bel Air. Thanks to all the sponsors and the board that worked so hard to make the Bash happen and for keeping it in Bel Air!