The Owego Hose Teams, Inc. will hold a “fill the fountain” campaign at the June 17 Owego Strawberry Festival and will be collecting donations for the Baker Fireman’s Fountain Restoration.
Members of the hose team will be on hand at the iconic fireman’s fountain in the Village of Owego’s Courthouse Square from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Festival goers are encouraged to bring their loose change to “fill the fountain.” Electronic contributions via PayPal will also be accepted.
Grayden Stanton will be on hand selling t-shirts supporting the cause. He organized a contest at Owego Elementary School (OES) with 4th and 5th grade students who submitted drawings of the statute featuring a fireman holding a child. The winning drawing by Kaelyn Katchuk is featured on a t-shirt that is being sold at area events, The Goat Boy on Front Street, and Harris’ Diner on North Avenue to raise funds for the restoration.
Owego Hose Teams, Inc., is the local not for profit spearheading the restoration effort. The overall cost estimate for the restoration is $60,000. Repairs include cement and concrete replacement, repainting, pipe, plumbing and pump work, basin liner repair and updated landscaping.
The hose teams recently secured grants from the Mildred Faulkner Truman Foundation and the Fannie C. Hyde Charitable Trust for the restoration and held a memorial golf tournament to support the cause, with 65 teams participating with 260 golfers. The hose team hopes to have the restoration complete this year.
The 103-year-old fountain was given to the Village of Owego and its firefighters in 1914 by Frank M. Baker as a memorial to his son, George Hobart Baker, who was killed in an automobile accident in 1913. Both men had been members and chief engineers of the Owego Fire Department. The fountain was last restored in 2000 and has again fallen into disrepair.
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