Cherry Fire wins Corn Festival water fights

The Cherry Fire Department took the No. 1 spot for the second year in a row in the annual Grundy County Corn Festival water fights hosted by the Morris Fire Protection and Ambulance District.

On Sept. 27, Day One of the Corn Festival, Washington Street between Liberty and Wauponsee streets was blocked off as hundreds of spectators filed onto the street. Morris firefighters hooked up hoses to the hydrants along Washington Street and tested water pressure as kids sat on the curbs and adults stood behind to watch the battle of the yellow barrel.

Five minutes before the first duel, firefighters pulled on their uniform pants, coat, helmet and boots to prepare for the wet and cooler conditions, which was a far cry from the 90 degree temperatures 24 hours before.

The tradition of the fire department water fights dates back as far as any firefighter in attendance could remember. Monty Serena, South Wilmington Fire Department chief said he can remember at least 40-plus years and was pretty sure this event began when Corn Festival began, which celebrates 69 years this year.

“This was a lot of fun. It gave us practice and the camaraderie among the firefighters you can’t get anywhere else. We are competitive, but a fun competitive. Our strategy was to beat Morris. We only have one trophy, but we have beat Morris in the past,” Serena said.

Morris firefighter and event organizer Jake Niewinski said he sent invitations to departments all over the area, and this year ended up with nine teams from eight departments. Departments who represented at the annual water fights were South Wilmington, Lisle-Woodridge (team 1 and team 2), Morris, Montgomery, Mazon, Chatsworth, Cherry and Lisbon.

Predetermined start spots were marked on the road, as well as a center point. A rope and small yellow barrel were placed in the air, with the barrel midline and when Morris firefighter Scott Swanson said “Go,” the two opposing teams would try to spray water from the hoses onto the barrel to get it over on the opponent’s side.

“It’s like a game of tug of war,” Niewinski said.

The original date of the first water fight was not available, but Niewinski said it started small, when volunteer fire departments had independent water fights and teams would go festival to festival doing water fights. Morris began to take part in this during Corn Festival, and the rest was history.

Niewinski said he loves to see the kids jump around in the water on the sidelines as the fights occur and enjoys the camaraderie between each department.

“We do it for the pride to see who can take home the bragging rights for the rest of the year,” Niewinski said.

After the first battle between Mazon and Montgomery, Mazon firefighter Mark Brookman II said he had been doing this for 16 years as a firefighter and even before as a cadet. He said the wind played a huge factor in his team’s demise, as it was hard to see between the wind and high pressure water, but the experience was what mattered.

“I absolutely love this. I remember coming here as a kid when my dad did this, and now I bring my three little boys here,” Brookman said.

Cherry Fire took first place, while Montgomery Fire took second place and Lisle-Woodridge Fire Team 1 took third place.

The champions, Cherry Fire Department crew of Brad Keutzer, Cory Blair and Jared Hoscheid, grew up together, and Keutzer and Hoscheid had fathers on the fire department as well. Blair said he was the “brother” of the two who would hang out with the firefighters.

Keutzer said he had goose bumps when he thought about this event because his grandfather, who just passed away in December, participated in the Grundy County Corn Festival water fights, as well as his father and now him.

“I was 6 weeks old when I went to my first water fight, so it’s in my blood. I have pictures and videos from the 1980s of them doing it. It means a lot to me, I can’t really put it into words,” Keutzer said.