To the people or persons that were upset regarding the Owasco Field Days: I'm sorry first off that you were upset at the lack of “entertainment” this year.

As with any other form of entertainment, those things come with a price. The rides, insurance, bands and alcohol tip the “wallet” at thousands of dollars. Although the Owasco Fire Department has many members, there are very few that offer to help if it's not going to help them directly. It is usually left up to the hardworking members that are 60+ years old or 30 and younger.

And those numbers only top about 30 people that are willing to work. Well, I'm not sure how they expect anyone to enjoy the 4th barbecue when they themselves refuse to do any of the work. Also, the fire department welcomes any neighborhood volunteers, as well, so if you want to see more things at the 4th, volunteer! It won't kill you, I promise.

As far as the rides go, the insurance for such items is expensive. And to rent them isn't cheap either. For example one of the “bounce houses” is about $1,500 to rent, and that's not even with insurance.

So in order to break even, we would have to charge an arm and a leg, and sometimes that doesn't even help.

And this year with the rain, it wouldn't have done any good anyway, they would have shut them down because they can't run them while it's raining.

And as far as the alcohol goes, this poses another issue.

First off, there were patrons that were smuggling alcohol to underage kids. And who do you think would get blamed for that? Not to mention people were bringing their own in, which reduces our profits and also poses the underage drinking problems. Also, where there is alcohol, there are people who aren't responsible with it.

This is not about the profits or money in any way, as you said it is about tradition. And it would be lovely to uphold that tradition if there was more help, less complaining and more pro-activity, and a lot more communication.

But don't expect there to be change if there aren't any more volunteers. Because as the volunteers dwindle, so do the number of people that are willing to pick up the slack of these 60+ year-old members that have been hauling chicken racks and serving the patrons of Owasco for 40 years.

Frank Rizzo

Auburn