MAYFIELD -- A summer tradition in Lackawanna County's up-valley is underway, but this year the festival to support a volunteer fire company in Mayfield is taking on a different meaning as the volunteers are adjusting after the closure of Marian Community Hospital. We stopped by the annual Corn and Clam Slam.
At the event in Mayfield the name pretty much says it all. Throughout the week, volunteer firefighters and EMTs with the William Walker Hose Company will serve up nearly 1,000 ears of corn and about just as many clams.
People look forward to the event every year.
“Saturday is going to be nuts. There will be more people than any other day, and it's just going to be nuts,” said Thomas Vinasky of Mayfield.
“I think it's like a reunion for everybody. It's all the local people who went to high school together and maybe haven't seen each other in a little while,” said Tom Jugan, William Walker Assistant Fire Chief.
The combination of food and old friends draws thousands of people to the William Walker Hose Company. The all-volunteer company responds to fires and medical emergencies around Carbondale, which is adjusting to the loss of its hospital, Marian Community Hospital which closed at the end of February.
“Our costs have definitely gone up since the closure of Marian Community. More of our calls are going to Scranton now as opposed to going to Carbondale, so our fuel costs have gone up. Our maintenance of vehicle costs have gone up,” said Jugan.
The corn and clam slam raises about $30,000 to $40,000 for the William Walker Hose Company. It's their biggest fundraiser of the year.
Volunteers said they may start up a new fundraiser to recoup some of their losses, but the corn and clam slam, that's a mainstay. The festival runs through Sunday.