FORESTBURGH – Arriving in a heavy fog with occasional rain, well before 7:00 pm, the parking lot was full and there were two long lines of folks dressed in green or jeans with suspenders waiting patiently for seating at the table (a long line) or for take outs (an even longer line).

Inside the firehouse was friendly, neighborly, bedlam, one grey-haired lady with a green top hat smiled and said, “it happens every year.” “The secret is in the cooking and the food,” said Millie Hogue, the concierge of the dessert table. “The cabbage is cooked in the brine of the corned beef.”

The food line, separate and distant from the takeout line, was buffet style with firemen and ladies’ auxiliary ladling out portions of small potatoes, cooked carrots, steamed cabbage and finally generous slices of steamed corned beef, followed by fresh rye bread.

One fireman, wearing a green apron with a leprechaun patch, while slicing the corned beef said, “It's a good thing we decided to over order.” At a second long table was the spicy mustard, soda, coffee and tea, At the end were four (4) sheet cakes with white and green icing and carrot cake generously contributed by ShopRite. According to the feisty Millie Hogue, all four (4) sheets of thinly sliced cakes and the carrot cake were gone before the evening was over.

I was told several take outs were delivered to the 911 staff on duty. Seemed like all the politicians, including Sheriff Mike Schiff and District Attorney Brian P. Conaty were more interested in eating than politicking.

The waitresses, young and old, male and female were rushing around the overcrowded meeting hall, cleaning up and setting up tables with placemats and silverware. According to Ms. Hogue, the crowd must have been, including 180 take outs, over 300 people. However, at around 10:00 pm, at the end of the cabbage and corned beef dinner, a happily exhausted and frazzled fireman, Al Devlin, who was one of those in charge, said there were about 250 take outs, and over 400 people came. And some even had “seconds.”

Mr. Devlin described the planning for this simple neighborly dinner. Besides all the prep work, there were 4 rotated firemen in the kitchen and 4 serving. The members of the Forestburgh Fire Department are deeply appreciative of the enthusiastic assistance of the Boy Scouts and the many senior students from Monticello Central High School and students from Port Jervis High School, most of whom were working on their community projects.

This was a fun, but exhausting community effort that everyone can be proud of. This writer's own Grahamsville and Neversink Fire Departments are having their annual Pancake Breakfast at the Neversink Fire House on March 22nd from 7:00 am until Noon.

And the Claryville Fire Department up the hill has a delicious Pancake and Sausage Breakfast the 3rd Sunday of each month.