Let the fundraising begin

It was all about softball for the west end of the county as the Noxon Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD) hosted their annual three-day softball tournament.

It was all about softball for the west end of the county as the Noxon Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD) hosted their annual three-day softball tournament.

Twelve teams from Noxon, Troy, Sandpoint, Coeur d'Alene and Thompson Falls gathered at the softball field in Noxon on Friday ready for a weekend long tournament. This is the third year the NVFD hosted the tournament in order to raise money for the fireman's association fund.

The park was littered with tents, belonging mostly to visitors from Sandpoint, who look forward to the softball tournament as a nice weekend getaway. Despite the strong winds and brief bought of bad weather that blew a couple of tents out of their stakes after two games played on Friday night, the softball players donned their uniforms for two days of tournament play on Saturday and Sunday.

The softball tournament had been an annual event for the fire department for years. However, the NVFD took a brief hiatus from hosting the event and three years ago the current team of volunteers decided to bring it back as an annual event.

The fundraiser usually brings in around $700 for the fire department. In years past, the money raised would go towards offsetting the cost of the annual Fourth of July fireworks display put on by the fire department. Last year, however, one of the firefighters was severally wounded from a firework that exploded in its container and the money raised at the softball tournament went to help the wounded firefighter.

The money is raised through team entry fees and donations.

"We used to use [the money raised] for the fireworks, but since the accident we are shifting away from that and we will try and do a scholarship this year for one of the junior firefighters," said Travis Wilson, Fire Chief for the NVFD.

Wilson said the reason they decided to put on a softball tournament as one of their main fundraisers throughout the year was because a lot of the firefighters are avid softball players. Although Wilson sat the tournament out to help organize and see that the event ran smoothly, many of the Noxon volunteers participated in the games over the weekend.

Winning team members were awarded t-shirts and MVP's were give sand-blasted glasses with MVP written on them. Wilson said each team is guaranteed at least three games during the tournament. The losing teams play in the Toilet Bowl Tournament and the winner of the Toilet Bowl was awarded a toilet seat.