Good fun for a good cause

It was time to pay up. Saturday morning saw a fitting finale to the wager made during the Bear City Fall Festival between local law enforcement and firefighters. During the annual festival, the two groups competed during a fundraiser sponsored by Howell County News to raise money for Bears for a Better Christmas. 

The terms of the friendly wager were simple: whoever raised less would have to wash the other group's service vehicles. 

However, as Willow Springs Fire Chief Vance Farmer put it, "We're firefighters. We had to have a trick up our sleeves!"

The morning of October 15, law enforcement lined up six service vehicles from Howell County Sheriff's Department and Willow Springs Police Department, and firefighters from Eleven Point Rural Fire and Willow Springs Fire Department hauled out firehoses and soapy buckets and fell to work.

There was surprisingly little ribbing and teasing back and forth as the firefighters scrubbed and law enforcement stood back to watch. 

Firefighters waited until law enforcement lined up for a picture to strike with a prank. As the shutter clicked, each firefighter shot glitter and confetti all over the clean (and still wet) vehicles. 

After the laughter subsided, the firefighters "did the friendly thing" as Chief Farmer put it and hosed the glitter off the cars and trucks. 

The competitors parted the same way they arrived: colleagues and brothers-in-arms with a tendency to mercilessly mock one another.