During my time spent as a child in Pittsfield,Illinois, I had a ton of fun, and when the Pittsfield Fall Festival was held in town, all of us would ride the fire engine.

My dad was a volunteer fireman, so as a youngster, I got to ride on top of the fire engine. Back then that was some high honor. What topped it off was if you were one of the lucky boys who got to ride inside the cab of the fire truck. You were treated like a king because you could blow the fire siren that was on top of the fire engine. That was what all the boys wanted to do, get inside the cab and get to push the button that would make the fire siren blow. And it was loud. That was a blast!

The fire engine would go around the block in Pittsfield and drop us off for the next kids to ride. It was cool.

The Pittsfield Fire Department is still giving kids fire truck rides. The Pittsfield Fall Festival is still going strong and will be held on the Pittsfield square August 29 - 31st, 2014. The Grand Parade will be on Saturday, August 30.

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