MENDOCINO Co., 5/30/23 — The best fire department fundraiser with a Father’s Day chicken dinner is happening again on June 18 in Comptche: the annual Comptche Volunteer Fire Department fundraising event. First started more than 50 years ago, this year event organizers have prepared 1000 pounds of chicken and hundreds of homemade pies, along with a quilt available via raffle, to help support the local fire department.
Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for kids, with those 6 years and under free. The event take place from 12 – 4 p.m. on June 18, and will include food as well as live music, children’s activities, and more.
Here’s the announcement:
This Fathers Day, June 18 will see the resumption of the annual Chicken Dinner fundraiser for the Comptche Volunteer Fire Department. With more than 1000 pounds of chicken on the grill and hundreds of pies it’s a great way to spend the day at Firehouse Park, just south of Comptche corners on Flynn Creek Road.
Just how long these dinners have been being held goes back more than 50 years. In 1967 a fundraising dinner was held for the three year old fire department sponsored by the Comptche Area Fire Auxiliary, the Fire Ladies. The price for an oven fired chicken dinner with all the fixings and dessert was $2.50 at the Comptche Grange Hall.
By 1972 400 people showed up and ate every bit of food available. A raffle, plant sale, bake sale and a Country Store were added to the event. Attendance grew every year and the Grange Hall was crammed to capacity even with picnic tables outside and by 1998 600 people were fed in four hours. Finally in 2009 the event was moved to Firehouse Park next got the fire station on Flynn Creek Road and every year it still kept expanding.
For more than 30 years the Fire Ladies have created a quilt as the grand prize for the Chicken Dinner raffle. These quilts are consistent prize winners at the County For and quilt shows with dozens of women (and men) contributing squares. No meal on Fathers Day would be complete in Comptche would be complete without buying the one dollar lucky raffle ticket to win the handmade quilt.
The price is $20 for adults and $10 for kids and more info can be found by e-mailing [email protected] or on their Facebook page.
