Local youth join Baker Fireman Fountain restoration effort

A contest at Owego Elementary School (OES) was recently held with 4th and 5th grade students to raise funds for the Baker Fireman’s Fountain restoration project. Students submitted drawings of the statue featuring a fireman holding a child in the Village of Owego’s Courthouse Square. The winning drawing will be featured on a tee shirt that will be sold at area events and at The Goat Boy on Front Street to raise funds for the restoration.

The tee shirt contest was the product of 4th grader Grayden Stanton, his mother Betsi, grandmother Kelly Dennis, and OES Librarian Alicia Sherman. Stanton is no stranger to helping preserve the fountain. In 2015 he and eight other classmates volunteered to clean the fountain recognizing the fountain’s significance to Owego’s image and history. 

Grayden reached out the Owego Hose Teams, Inc., the local not for profit spearheading the restoration effort, who were more than happy to have him join the 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 are hosting a memorial golf tournament to support the cause. 

Judging the drawing entries were David Ostrander, husband of local artist and business owner Carol Livermore, Village of Owego Trustee Ken Henson and hose team members. The winner was 4th grader Kaelyn Katchuk. All contestants were treated to ice cream at Ice Cream Works, with Kaelyn receiving an official hose team shirt and hat, and a ride in the Owego Hose Team’s 1969 Mack fire truck. The tee shirts will be on sale at the Goat Boy, the Owego Hose Team Memorial Golf Tournament at Tioga Golf Club on June 3, and other local events. 

Frank M. Baker was instrumental in organizing the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY), of which he was secretary from 1874 to 1884, inclusive, and president in 1884 and 1885. He was president of the Central New York Firemen’s Association (CNYFA) in 1893. The Baker Fireman’s Fountain, depicting a firefighter holding a child, is often described as the symbol of Owego and its community minded residents standing for the spirit of volunteerism that makes Owego great.

Incorporated as a not for profit in 2015 the Owego Hose Teams, Inc. have been competing in firematics since 1951. The year 2016 marked their 65th anniversary season. Hose races are timed events where firefighters test their skills. Teams of five members must connect nozzles to hoses, hoses to hoses, and hoses to the fire hydrant, and knock down targets in the quickest time in the ladder, wye, and straight lay competitions. Hose races improve basic firefighting skills.