Highland Village’s police and fire departments will put aside their differences and come together to put on an event to benefit Special Olympics Texas at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 14 at Doubletree Ranch Park.
The opening ceremonies for the event will start at 11:30 a.m. and the actual pull starting at noon. All proceeds will go to sponsoring Special Olympics athletes for a full season of competition.
“At Special Olympics events, the faces of everyone are lit with happiness,” said Highland Village Police Chief Doug Reim. “The main goal is fundraising for the organization, but it’s also to raise awareness of people with disabilities and increase inclusion and unity.”
The event will feature teams of 10 people that will pull a fire truck for a short duration of time to see which team can pull it the furthest.
The police and fire departments will have their own teams and have invited other Denton County public safety departments to create teams of their own. Any public service teams will need at least six first responders to be an official Public Safety team.
Each team will pay a registration fee of $300 for 10 people, or $30 per individual registration.
If a team does not have 10 people sign up, individual registrations will be distributed to teams needing spots filled.
Each team will have to have a Special Olympics Texas athlete who will be automatically assigned to a team by the organization if a team doesn’t already have someone.
The event will be part of Celebrate Highland Village, which will start at 7 a.m. with the 5k Fun Run and the Highland Village Lions Club Fishing Derby at 8 a.m.
“All of the planning has been a total team effort,” said Highland Village Fire Chief Scott Green. “This is a whole city thing.”
Later events will start at 5:30 p.m. with a concert at 6:30 p.m. by Escape and a fireworks show to end the night.
There is always a playful rivalry between police and fire departments, but the Public Safety departments are coming together to fundraise for a good cause… and some bragging rights.
“This city’s departments, even though we jab at each other, we really do get along very well, so it was a no-brainer to have fire and police both involved in running the event” said Reim. “Plus, whoever wins will own the other department until the next event.”
One of the police and fire teams is already being sponsored by Pro-Tow Wrecking and Roadside Assistance Service in Lewisville. Chiefs Reim and Scott were excited to shout them out and thankful for their early contribution to the event.
This is the first time the departments have put on a fire truck pull, but Reim said Special Olympics Texas has relied a lot on law enforcement for its fundraising events.
Previously, Reim had helped put on Steaks and Stetsons to benefit the organization. After COVID-19 prevented them from hosting for a couple of years and a surprise trip to Ireland busied up Reim, the department took a year off before planning out what would become the Fire Truck Pull with Green and the City.
Teams or individuals can register here and get more information on the event. The deadline for registration is May 16. For more information, contact Jordan Baccus at [email protected] or Fire Chief Scott Green at [email protected].
The address for Doubletree Ranch Park where all of the Celebrate Highland Village events will happen is 310 Highland Village Road.
