Fire chief hopes for good turnout at Batavia barbecue

BATAVIA ? Most firemen will tell you that as a general rule, where there is smoke, there is fire.

That won?t be true Saturday in Batavia. There will be plenty of smoke coming from the Batavia Fire Station, but with any luck, there won?t be a fire, as fire chief Dennis McKeever needs his men at the firehouse to help with the annual Batavia Firemen?s Barbeque.

The barbecue is just one event in the weekend-long Batavia Days celebration slated for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The firemen will be serving up bratwursts, pulled-pork sandwiches and hotdogs from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. All proceeds from the cookout benefit the fire department.

?Right now, we?ve got one fire truck that the engine blew up on,? McKeever said. ?We hope to see a lot of people out Saturday; we need to get that fixed.?

McKeever doesn?t deal in exact numbers or dates. While he knows fixing the fire truck will be ?expensive,? he doesn?t yet know how much it will cost. He knows he?s been on the fire department since ?the early 1970s,? but he can?t tell you specifically when he joined. He knows he?s been fire chief since former chief Don Wells died, but he doesn?t recall definitively when that was. What he is certain of is why he likes living and working in Batavia: the people.

McKeever is originally from Agency; however, his wife, Vickie, is from Batavia.

?That?s how we wound up here,? McKeever said.

Although they have lived in four different residences both in town and in rural Batavia, one thing that has remained consistent throughout the years is that the McKeevers consider Batavia ?home.?

?I like Batavia because it is a small town,? McKeever said. ?Everybody knows everybody. Everybody takes care of each other.?

It is McKeever, said Batavia resident Tycene Weber, who takes care of the fire department.

?I?ve known Dennis my whole life, and as long as I?ve known him, he?s been on that fire department,? she said. ?He?s been very instrumental in making sure equipment is up-to-date and that firemen have the appropriate training.

?He?s a very important part of that fire department,? she said.

Part of taking care of the fire department is making sure it is adequately funded. The barbecue, McKeever said, helps do that.

Heralded by some Batavia residents as producing ?the greatest sandwiches in southeast Iowa,? the annual barbecue has been taking place for as long as McKeever can remember.

?Probably 25 years, at least,? he said.

He also can?t tell you how many people they usually serve. He just knows it is ?a lot,? ? so many, in fact, that one year they ran out of food.

?I don?t know how many people we usually have. We don?t keep track. We just go on the amount of food we serve,? McKeever said.

It?s safe to say he?s expecting a crowd this year. Two hundred brats, 100 hot dogs and 100 pounds of pork butt have been ordered, McKeever said.

McKeever said he is glad he?ll be able to cook for Batavia Days this year. Because interest in helping with Batavia Days dwindled, it was not held for a five or six year period. Weber said she believes being without the community celebration is what helped resurrect Batavia Days in 2006.

?There was a lack of volunteers so we had to stop for awhile, but now that?s improved tremendously. I think people missed it, and so there was a group of people willing to work to bring it back,? Weber said, noting the Batavia Days committee is ?strongly committed? to hosting the celebration.

?Also, other people do their own part. The Masons, the firemen, the Lions Club ? everyone pitches in,? she said.

Just like McKeever, who admits he enjoys Batavia Days.

?Batavia Days brings new people to town and gets the people who are in town together,? McKeever said. ?That?s a good thing.?

When asked what part of Batavia Days he likes best, McKeever chuckled as he said, ?When it?s over.?

?It?s a lot of work, especially because it?s going to be hot again this weekend,? he said.