Staff Writer

Numerous awards were presented during the Pike County Firefighters Association’s annual Appreciation Day held Saturday at the Pioneer Museum of Alabama.

The day included firefighting competitions, cooking contests, an Easter egg hunt, bingo and plenty of food and fellowship.

Two individuals were recognized for their service to Pike County. The Ronald W. Dawkins Memorial Firefighter of the Year Award was presented to Curtis Shaver of the Goshen Volunteer Fire Department. Annie Ray Williams of Springhill was presented the J.B. Money Memorial Presidents Award.

Prior to playing bingo and clapping for the award winners, there was some stiff competition on the museum grounds.

Competition between fire departments included water on the roof, hose lay and the air pack relay. Water on the roof winners were: Pike County Forestry office, first place; Springhill-Henderson, second place and Hamilton Crossroads, third place. Winners of the hose lay were: Goshen, first place; Springhill-Henderson and Hamilton Crossroads, third place. Hamilton Crossroads won the air pack relay, followed by Springhill-Henderson in second and Goshen in third place. The overall winner was Springhill-Henderson with Hamilton Crossroads finishing in second place and Goshen coming in third.

The fire department from Springhill also won the truck competition with Hamilton Crossroads coming in second place and Banks in third place.

In the cooking competitions, Joyce Boutwell walked away with the most awards. She won first place for cake taste and cake decoration, as well as third place in the chili cookoff and second place in the stew competition.

Wayne Craft won the chili category and John Register took second place honors. Craft also won the stew competition with his special recipe he jokingly said included armadillo meat. Larry Davis, Pike County’s Emergency Management Agency director, won third place for his stew recipe.

In the cake taste, Jennifer Register won second place and Johnny Gibson won third place.

Susan Register won second place for her cake depicting a fire fighting theme.