Friendship Firehouse Museum to Partner with Port City Brewery

From Friendship Firehouse Museum:

“FIRE! FIRE!”

You used to have to run through the streets yelling that word to get someone to help battle a blaze. In most towns before the 20th century, the first-responders would have been volunteers, dragging their equipment by hand from their firehouse to your fire. In Alexandria, those volunteers were often members of the Friendship Fire Company, the first and oldest such company in the city, founded in 1774. Today, Friendship Firehouse is the only fire museum in Alexandria, and their collection includes two of their original pieces of historic fire vehicles. Both were built for the company in the 1850’s , one of them right here in Alexandria, and both are showing their age. Historic paint finishes are flaking away on one, while the other shows the cracks and peeling paint of decades of hard service saving lives and property all over town.

But you can help.

On Wednesday, July 20, Port City Brewing Co. and the Friendship Veterans Fire Engine Association will present a “Community Give-Back Night” to raise money for the restoration of these two historic fire vehicles, artifacts from the city’s past. Come join the fun, with icy cool brews from Port City, hot food from Rocklands BBQ Food Truck, unique silent auction items to bid on, a raffle for a hand-painted fire bucket, photo ops and more, all for a very worthy cause. The alarm will sound at Port City Brewing Co., located at 3950 Wheeler Ave., at 4 p.m. (in firefighter parlance, that’s 1600 hours) with the last call for “help” at 8:30 p.m. (2030 hours). Everyone who attends the event will receive an official Friendship Firehouse hat and become an honorary member of “George Washington’s fire company” for the day! Ten percent of sales from the event will benefit the Friendship Conservation Fund to conserve the historic fire vehicles.

Won’t you answer our call?

The City of Alexandria is committed to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended. To request a reasonable accommodation, e-mail Gretchen.Bulova@alexandriava.gov or call (703) 746-4554, Virginia Relay 711. Further information is available through the Friendship Firehouse Museum webpage.