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Ice cream and the Fourth

JEFF BAUGHAN The Marietta Times Three-year-old Axton Pifer watches fire trucks roll by as the trucks tossed candy to young children during the Little Hocking Fourth of July parade.

LITTLE HOCKING — Little Hocking Volunteer Fire Department Chief Mike Chevalier stood near a long line of the department’s fire and rescue vehicles Wednesday in the sweltering heat.

“If this is not the hottest Fourth of July we’ve had since I have been chief, it’s got to be one of the hottest,” Chevalier said

Chevalier has been fire chief since 1991.

The hottest of the hot was recorded shortly after the parade as the heat index at the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport registered 105 degrees at 4:53 p.m. It didn’t stop people from downing the hot foods, like hot dogs and popcorn, at the Little Hocking VFD’s Ice Cream Social but it was a race between that and ice cream to see what disappeared the fastest.

“The ice cream social has been part of Little Hocking since the early 1970s and it’s always been here at the grade school,” Chevalier said. “We’ve got 11 vehicles, a dive trailer and some response vehicles. All the money from today goes to buy equipment and pay for training. We’ve also got a gun raffle going on and they can contact the fire department for info on that.”

Chevalier said the event is always a good time in Little Hocking. “We’ve got local businesses putting floats in the parade; this year we have a lot of political candidates making their way along the route and we’ve got some miniature horses,” he said. “Sometimes when you think you’ve seen it all, you haven’t.”

He added “at least the sun is out this year. Years past some really heavy rain has put a damper on the fun and festivities here. But aside from the heat, it is really a beautiful day.”

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