JVFD preparing for Santa’s visit

The Jacksboro Volunteer Fire Department is getting ready for its annual Christmas Eve tradition of partnering with Santa Claus to hand out stockings to the residents of Jacksboro.

JVFD Company 2 Captain Jason Jennings said 1948 is the earliest record Jacksboro Volunteer Fire Department has of the department handing out the stockings.

“I believe they gave out 152 sacks of fruit, maybe some toys and stuff,” Jennings said. “Never have found any newspaper or any other evidence that we did anything in 1949, but from 1950 on there is really pretty good record of us doing this on a regular basis. As earlier as the mid ‘50s, they were passing out 1,200 of these socks every Christmas Eve.”

He said the department produces around 3,400 to 3,700 stockings each year which consists of peanuts, gum, mints, apples and oranges.

According to the firefighter, Santa’s stocking route for 2019 will remain mostly the same as last year except they will not be stopping at Jacksboro Elementary School’s parking lot this year. The only other change for this year’s route is the start time.

“We are going to start about an hour earlier this year, (at 10 a.m.) than we normally do on our route,” Jennings said. “The reason is, is over the years it has taken longer and longer to make the route (…) We are trying to get done before dark because it gets dangerous once the sun goes down.”

The Jacksboro Fire Department is encouraging the public to be aware of Santa’s route and not approach the convoy from behind, but instead try to meet them at their next major intersection.

“We always have these people that run up behind us and they are trying to get their kids up there to see Santa,” Jennings said. “We want everybody to see Santa, but that is really kind of dangerous coming up from the back.”

Jennings said the department will also be posting route updates the day of at www.facebook.com/JacksboroFD.

“This is a passion of ours we enjoy doing this more than you can believe,” Jennings wrote in an email. “To our department this is what Christmas Eve is all about.”

For the full story, see the Wednesday, Dec. 18, edition of the Jacksboro Herald-Gazette.