IFA Convention in Manchester Sept. 9-12
Greetings fellow Firefighters hope it’s been a fun summer enjoying family and friends. Hope you have all been finding time to enjoy community summer events as it seems there is one every weekend.
Well as mentioned in the July issue we had another successful memorial weekend honoring our fellow Firefighters and their families. I want to invite you all to mark your Calander for next year as we will hold the 32nd Memorial weekend on June 12-13, 2027. Since the Memorial Committee looked to the future, it is exciting that the site is now under construction and should be completed for the next ceremony. Those of you who have been to the Memorial will see the new look on your next visit. Those of you who have never been to the Memorial should try and plan a visit to the site, it is an uplifting and inspiring tribute to our firefighters of Iowa. The site can be visited anytime and is conveniently located right off of I80 in Coralville.
So, I know I have mentioned this in previous articles, but it is needed that we support our booth at the Iowa State Fair it’s an opportunity to educate families as they visit the State Fair. To do this we need volunteers to support the booth, if you volunteer, you will receive a ticket for a day at so beside the 4 hours shift you can see the fair and you will get a t-shirt. Please contact Ashley Whitson at alhockman@gmail.com to get a time so you can help us in educating the families of our state.
The board visited the host city for convention at the Manchester Fire Department. We had a grand tour of all the event centers in the town. We visited the bowling alley and golf course; both venues are looking forward to hosting the convention and are looking forward to seeing all of us that want a place to relax. Also, the Fire Department Coffee Company will be at the campsite on Thursday and Friday this community focused company is owned by veteran firefighters, please make a point to visit them. Manchester is doing a great job planning for the 2026 convention!
The Wednesday drill events will be east of the camp site, the easy access to the drills will make it convenient to go and watch the competitions. We will then move downtown in the vicinity of the fire department on Friday for the main drill competitions. So as mentioned in previous months; we need judges and Drill officials for the convention drills. If you have an interest in helping with this, please send me a message to kbrix@iafireassn.org giving me your name and phone number and if you had a specific drill you would like to help with and I will do my best to honor your request. Please get signed up as this is we can pull off the drills smoothly. At Convention I am also going to hold a party at the Grand Mound Camp site a president’s party in junction with Don Scott’s Past Presidents party support for the Cliff Renslow Scholarship, there will be food and refreshment Tuesday night Sept 8, 2026, please come and enjoy.
As I close, I would like to encourage you to talk and listen to each other as we need to stay strong physically and mentally to provide outstanding service to protect our communities. So please take care of each other, if you have a concern for someone talk and listen to them and point it out to your department leadership, as we are strongest when we take care of our brothers and sisters in the service.
Kent Brix, IFA President