It’s Saturday morning in a quiet Cromwell neighborhood when suddenly, the sound of fire engine sirens rings through the street. Parents and children come running out of their houses but there’s no fire or smoke to be seen. The children are jumping up and down with excitement and the adults are outside with their digital cameras. A fire engine pulls up to the house and Santa Claus waves from atop the engine. What’s going on here? It’s that time of year again – time for the Cromwell Fire Department’s Annual Santa Run, which collects donations for Cromwell Human Services, and this writer was fortunate enough to come along for the ride. I arrived at the Department at 9:30 am to witness all the pre-Santa planning. After their morning coffee, the fire department employees get to serious work, which includes decorating the trucks, loading the huge boxes of candy canes that will be distributed during the day onto the trucks, designating Santa roles and handing out the routes which the engines will follow. Some of the engines also need to be on-call for any emergencies that should arise during the Run. Luckily, the weather was clear and uncharacteristically warm, unlike last year, when the Department had to contend with snowy road conditions, in addition to the ensuring that the Santa Run could still take place. In the staff truck with Assistant Chief Donald Quick, I was able to get a good feel of the hectic pace of this special day. It involved a lot of driving around, looking for houses that may have been missed and unloading the fire trucks to make room for more donations (after only an hour, the staff truck was already filled to the brim), not to mention responding to the little incidents that occur during the day. After dropping off some toys at the Coles Road station, Quick had to stop at Town Hall to re-set their security alarm and then to catch up with the Santa and the engines again. And if this wasn’t enough, after the Santa Run (which lasted from 11 am until 3 pm), the Department is off to deliver a Christmas tree and presents to a needy family for their Adopt-a-Family program, followed by a children’s Christmas party before they could relax at another party for the adults. Besides the cheer that Santa in his upgraded sleigh brought to the local kids, all of whom were elated at the sight of him in front of their house, the Santa Run also showcased the generosity of the Cromwell community. Residents who wouldn’t be around for the Run dropped their gifts off. Those residents who missed the sirens’ warning sounds announcing their presence would call the station to arrange for another Santa drive-by. This year, the support of the Santa Run grew so much that two places warranted special stops because of the amount of donations collected. The Rook Retirement Community, which had two large tables filled with toys and Rookies Sports Bar and Grille. After one of Rookies’ owners, Annette Polizonis, read about the Run in last month’s Chronicle, she, along with co-owners Bill Fox, Tim Howley and Jeff Boynton, wanted to do something to help. Polizonis realized that with Rookies’ sixty-odd employees, they had the ability to make a significant donation. “Everyone brought something in,” she said. “[The employees] definitely shined.” With each employee bringing two gifts a piece, Rookies was able to collect an impressive 120 donations, helping to make this year’s Santa Run the most successful yet.
