128th Upper Peninsula Volunteer Firefighters Association Firefighters Tournament begins Friday

NEGAUNEE -- The 128th annual Upper Peninsula Volunteer Firefighters Tournament kicks off on Friday.

According to the Negaunee Firefighters Association Facebook event page, fire departments from across the U.P. and northern Wisconsin will compete against each other in various races, participate in parades and celebrate each other's service at the Firefighters Ball.

Kids are able to participate in crafts and activities, learn about the fire service from current and retired firefighters and view the static parade of antique fire trucks.

The Negaunee Firefighters Association firefighter truck pull event will be held at 7:30 p.m. today.

An $80 registration fee must be submitted to register for teams in the truck pull. Registration will take place at the Negaunee Ice Arena beginning at 6:30 p.m. until the start of the event. Each team may only have four members and once teams are registered, members cannot be added or changed.

According to the Facebook event page, half of the registration money will be used as prizes.

The schedule for this year's tournament is:

Friday

≤ 7 p.m. – Dress Parade

≤ 8:30 p.m. – Street Dance at the Negaunee Ice Arena

≤ 10 p.m. – Shirttail Parade

Saturday

≤ 8 a.m. – breakfast provided by the Negaunee Elks

≤ 11 a.m. – races located on Rail Street in front of Negaunee Ice Arena

≤ 4 p.m. – Croatian Chicken Dinner begins at the conclusion of the races

≤ 8 p.m. – Firefighters Ball located at the Negaunee Ice Arena

Sunday

≤ 10 a.m. – Commercial Parade

All parades will start at the intersection of Mitchell and Brown avenues. The parade route runs along Brown Avenue to East Main Street before turning right onto South Healy Avenue and ending on Rail Street.

"We picked this route about a year ago because we weren't sure what the status of downtown projects would be. We purposely tried picking a route we knew would avoid all of that," the Negaunee Firefighters Association Facebook page says. "We also had to pick a route that wouldn't cross the M-28 business route because then we would've needed permission from (the Michigan Department of Transportation) to close those roads. The start location of Mitchell Avenue (and) Brown Avenue was picked because parade lineups will be on Mitchell."

For more information on the tournament, visit the Negaunee Firefighters Association on Facebook.