22 • The Beacon July 10, 2025
First Responders and Military Block Party was held
By Marianne Austin The Beacon
First responders are the unsung heroes of a community, putting their lives on the line. Firefighters, paramedics, police officers and other emergency personnel are the ones who rush into situations where others rush out.
On June 28 the West Lafayette Police Department hosted the third annual First Responders and Military Block Party on the grounds of the Living Faith Nazarene Church in West Lafayette.
Families were able to come and meet the helpers in their community, see some of the heavy equipment available to the community, and enjoy games, music and food, all for free.
“ It warms my heart to see the West Lafayette Fire Department continue this,” Coshocton County Sheriff Chris Walters said.“ I started this three years ago, and now that I’ m the county sheriff, Chief Eckelberry is continuing the block party. It lets people know what resources we have. We bring the equipment so that people can see it, and
Marianne Austin
The Rhodes family from West Lafayette posed beside the fire hydrant sprinkler.
it gives them a chance to meet us.
“ A lot of times people don’ t meet their first responders unless they are in need of something. Today, we can walk around freely and talk, laugh and joke with people. They can see all of the equipment and see that those resources are there any given minute if they need it. It is there for the public, and it is an opportunity for people to come out, meet us and just fellowship with your neighbors, and it’ s a free event.” Candy Wentz is operational manager of the emergency department for Genesis Coshocton Medical Center. Genesis and the West Lafayette Rotary sponsored the event.
“ This is basically a first responder and military event, just for the community and the kids to get to know the first responders so, in case of an emergency, they are not scared of us. They see us, and it helps the first responders themselves because normally we see everyone on their bad day. So it’ s nice to see everybody on a good day,” Wentz said.“ We have the prosecutor’ s office here doing ID kits for children 12 and under, hot dogs, snow cones, ice cream, a live DJ, popcorn, a bounce house, and the West Lafayette Fire Department brought hydrant sprinklers to play in.
“ Balloon artist Aaron Melenke is coming, and Renegade Tattoo is coming for face painting. This is a day to celebrate the community and the people who work hard to keep us safe.”
Don Weaver, associate pastor at the church, said they will give away a free custom fire pit and a summer fun book for the children.
Marianne Austin The 1485th Transportation Company out of Coshocton brought some of its heavy equipment to the event.
“ We are having a lot of fun games, a tug of war, a sack race, ring toss. We’ ve had the first responders here before, but this is the first year for the church to have some activities as a church,” Weaver said.
Glenn Hill, assistant fire chief of the West Lafayette Fire department, and fire fighter Travis Webb were doing some hot dogs on the grill.
Hill said he has been a fire fighter with the West Lafayette Fire Department since 1962. He became fire chief in 2014 and stepped down to deputy chief in
2020.
“ This is the third year we have been doing it. I think it’ s really good to involve more people. We’ re going to have some demonstrations today. The sheriff’ s department is here with their dogs. We’ ve got some things for the kids. They can knock down the target with a water hose, and there are some things going on with the church,” Hill said.
West Lafayette Police Chief Morgan Eckelberry said,“ Sheriff Walters started this, and this is the third
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