Despite cloudy weather this past weekend, the Parryville Fire Company’s food truck event had a great turnout.

Although they have hosted similar, smaller food truck events like this in the past, Parryville Mayor and fire company Lt. Tom Kobal said they tried to expand the event further this time around.

“We decided to go a little bit bigger because the pandemic is easing up with the vaccine shots going out,” Kobal said.

Not only did the event include five local food trucks, but also 14 vendors, a chance auction and a meat raffle.

Food trucks were all from surrounding areas and included Chicken or the Egg, PFG Pizza, Caribbean Island Cuisine, Parryville Fire Co. Funnel Cake and Tripp’s BBQ.

Vendors sold a large variety of goods ranging from decorative crafts, homemade dog treats, jewelry and crocheted items as well.

The chance auction offered 27 prizes which were donated by members of the Parryville community.

The meat raffle was sponsored by Thomson’s Meat Market in Walnutport with 15 different prizes available. Some included T-bone steaks, chicken fingers, pork, sausage and many more, accommodating a variety of preferences.

Money raised from the event will go toward the fire company including equipment, building/firetruck maintenance and bills.

“It costs a lot of money to run a fire company and we have to raise money to keep our heads above water for public safety,” Kobal said.

One attendee was Pat Wayne, a resident of Jim Thorpe.

Wayne said that earlier that day she had also attended a fire company fundraising event for Lynnport Fire Company as well.

When asked about why she attended both fire company events, Wayne explained that firefighters are heroes and that supporting local fire companies is important during this time due to the impact of COVID-19.

“Because they could do their fundraisers, I thought I would come out and do the ... auction and just support them as best I could,” Wayne said.

Although the weather was not the best, Wayne expressed simple appreciation for just being able to go out and travel in general.

“Even though it’s not a nice day, the trees are beautiful and it’s nice to get out and see towns that you’ve never been to before.”

Aside from the auction, Wayne also took part in the meat raffle and also bought food from Tripp’s BBQ, noting that the barbecue and baked beans were “fantastic.”

Jackie Tripp of Tripp’s BBQ said the business has been around for three years.

Although they had never been to Parryville before this event, they usually sell in the Lehighton area, cover some events in the Hazleton area and also have a stand at the Hometown Farmers Market every Wednesday.

Tripp said, “A new thing that we started this year is BBQ bowls where you choose your meat and you get all the different sides with it. Everybody seems to really be loving those.”

For more information on Tripp’s BBQ, visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/trippsBBQ.

With the success of the event, it is possible that the Parryville Fire Company will make it an annual occasion moving forward.

Fundraiser Chairman and fire police Capt. Sue Homm said, “We thank everyone for coming out. It’s great to see a good turnout when we haven’t been able to do as many events as we’d like to since we had so many canceled events last year.”

For more information on future Parryville Fire Company events, visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/parryvillevolfireco2.