Firefighters Hit The Quarter-Century Mark

With Another Successful LobsterFest

By Shannon Hicks

Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue hosted its milestone 25th annual LobsterFest June 8–9. Despite a few showers late Friday evening and overcast temperatures on Saturday, the event was certainly a successful fundraiser for the company.

With 24 years under the company’s belt leading in to the festival, a call less than three hours prior to the opening on the second day of the event hardly created a ripple in the overall presentation on Saturday.

“At first I was concerned,” said Karin Halstead, co-chair of the LobsterFest and the EMS captain for Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue. Firefighters were sent to a location on Pole Bridge Road early Saturday afternoon when a passerby called in an excavator on fire. The call kept firefighters busy for nearly two hours.

“There was enough help on scene, so I was able to have another firefighter take over my spot and I was able to return to the firehouse to make sure things were moving along, while Anthony [Capozziello] stayed [at the scene] and waited [for the call to finish],” she continued. Mr Capozziello is Ms Halstead’s co-chair, and the company’s assistant chief.

“I was worried this was going to make us more tired at the end of the day,” Mr Capozziello said of the call.

Fortunately for the co-chairs, additional firefighters and volunteers were already at the Riverside Road firehouse well before Ms Halstead and Mr Capozziello returned from the call. Many of LobsterFest’s volunteers have been involved in the event long enough to know what needs to be done, and those who were new knew enough to look for help in setting up their stations. Some of the volunteers, including the core crew of men who have cooked the lobsters for a quarter of century — Richard Conrod, Pete Kakowski, Bill Spunt, and John Will — have been there since day one.

“Granted, members change every year, but the core firefighters who have been doing this all 25 years are experts and help keep it flowing,” Ms Halstead said, adding that keeping detailed notes about each LobsterFest makes it easy to remember what works and what does not.

“The firefighters are more proficient, and the help from family, friends, and fellow firefighters from Newtown Hook & Ladder really helps us out,” she added. “It makes a big different with all that help.”

Former Assistant Chief Kent Bonsignore previously chaired the event on his own, according to Mr Capozziello.

“We just have more people attending, and have a lot more going on behind the scenes,” he said of the decision to make the chairmanship of the event a two-person job. Mr Capozziello worked with Mr Bonsignore for a few years, and then with former company member B.J. Halstead before Ms Halstead stepped into her current role. “It’s too much. You need two people keeping an eye on everything.”

By 4 pm Saturday, when the first diners showed up for the second night of the event, the festival was ready to go. Within a few hours cars had filled the parking lot behind the company’s main station, and had lined Dickinson Drive and filled the parking lot at Sandy Hook School. Others were parked at Newtown Senior Center or across the street, lining up along Sunnyview Drive.

For those who did wanted to enjoy a steak or lobster dinner but did not want to eat at the firehouse, takeout orders were also put up for anyone who wanted them. Fire Police Captain Karl Sieling, along with Chip Carpenter, Bill Jensen. and Andrew Ryan, handled parking lot duties all weekend, and directed those who wanted takeout to the bays were Judi DeWolfe, Kari and Kelly Richardson, and Betty Stohl put together dinners to go.

Inside the bays, Fire & Rescue Junior Corps members sold glow sticks, Mardi Gras-style beaded necklaces (with lobsters, of course) and bottles of water to supplement their own budget, and Ladies Auxiliary members Judi Richardson and Joanne Thompson staffed the desserts table. The auxiliary offered homemade desserts, fresh fruit and ice cream, presenting a choice for nearly appetite while also raising funds.

Firehouse T-shirts were also offered for sale, with Cathy Sieling — whose husband and son are both members of the company — handling that table both evenings. 

Engineer Rob Sibley raffled off a pair of 10-plus-pound lobsters each night. Guests paid $1 per ticket to take a chance on the oversized crustacean, and many who did not want to take a chance on the lobster nevertheless took a moment to see up close what a 45-year-old one looked like.

While the company has in the past taken care of cooking up the raffled lobsters, Friday night’s winner reportedly donated theirs to Mystic Aquarium, according to Ms Halstead.

Music is also another highlight of LobsterFest, and this year Sandy Hook had booked Keltic Kick for Friday night and The Hollister Thompson Band for Saturday. Both bands had the crowd pumped up each night, with guests of all ages dancing or just enjoying good music for a few hours.

By the end of the two-night event, more than 1,650 lobsters had been served and 400 pounds of rib-eye steaks were consumed.

“There were definitely more lobster eaters this year” than years past, said Ms Halstead. Many guests also went with the option of hot dog or hamburger meals, and countless others visited the raw bar, where they had a choice of clams, shrimp, and steamers.

“Even with that call Saturday afternoon, everything worked out well in the end,” said Mr Capozziello. “It’s an exhausting time, but I think it’s great seeing everyone. It’s like a town reunion. We see a lot of people that we don’t always get to see around the year.”

“It was a fantastic weekend,” Ms Halstead agreed. “The weather cooperated with only some sprinkles each day. All of the weather threats seemed to miss us.

“There were a lot of first-timers this year too,” she added. “We noticed in the week before LobsterFest, people buying advanced tickets mentioned this was their first time.”

Ms Halstead and Mr Capozziello hope to see those people, and hundreds of others, next year.

The 26th Annual Sandy Hook LobsterFest is already on the calendar. The 2013 event will be presented Friday and Saturday, June 7-8.

To see dozens of photos from this year’s Sandy Hook LobsterFest, visit NewtownBee.com and click on the Features tab. This story and a slideshow have been posted there.