Riverhead hosts Suffolk County’s biggest fire department parade

For the first time in memory — perhaps the first time ever — a parade marched up Route 58 in Riverhead, shutting down the new five-lane county roadway for more than two hours on Saturday.

More than 50 fire departments from all over Suffolk County descended on Riverhead for the 138th Annual Suffolk County Volunteer Fireman’s Motorized Drill and Parade, hosted by the Riverhead Fire Department for the first time in 25 years. 

Hundreds of people lined up along the parade route, which started on Roanoke Avenue and Cranberry Street, ran north to the traffic circle and then west to the fire department’s drill track, where two dozen fire department drill teams spent the day in contests testing their speed, agility, strength and efficiency. 

County Legislator Ed Romaine and the Riverhead Town Board marched at the front of the parade, behind a 1903 horse-drawn steam engine pulled by a pair of Clydesdales on loan from Martha Clara Vineyards.  The Grand Marshal of the parade, ex-Captain Harold “Smoky” Schaefer, who joined the department in 1936, rode behind the steam engine in the Cutchogue Fire Department’s 1952 Ford fire engine.

The parade lasted nearly two hours, with departments, equipment and marching bands processing past a reviewing stand set up across from Apple Honda, next to the drill track where the parade concluded.  Its start was delayed by the late conclusion of the drill meet, which was interrupted by rain several times throughout the day and could not be finished Saturday; the two final contests were rescheduled for Sunday morning.

After the parade, the firefighters and their families held a giant cookout under canopies set up alongside the drill track.

The fire department’s Ironmen Drill Team celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. The last time the department hosted the countywide drill and parade was 25 years ago, when the Ironmen turned 50.

Fire police units from neighboring districts handled traffic control for the event. Eastbound traffic on Route 58 was diverted north at Mill Road and then east on Middle Road, beginning at about 6 p.m. Westbound traffic on 58 was diverted to Middle Road at Ostrander Avenue. Roanoke Avenue was shut down at Pulaski Street. 

Riverhead Fire Chief Nick Luparella said Sunday he had not had any complaints about traffic jams resulting from the shutdowns.

“It’s hard to believe they actually got away with shutting down a highway this big,” mused Al Galinelli, fire chief of the Warren, Rhode Island fire department, who came with his family to view the Suffolk County parade. “We have parades,” he said, “but nothing nowhere near this big.”