BALTIMORE COUNTY — The Bowleys Quarters Volunteer Fire Department is raising money for a new firehouse with help from a massive community concert on Aug. 16, featuring headliner Niko Moon.
Tucked away in eastern Baltimore County, the aging firehouse has the department looking to upgrade its facilities.
Bill Enfield, vice president of finance for the department, said the current building no longer meets their needs.
Volunteer Fire Department hopes fundraiser will pay for new firehouse
"This facility we have completely outgrown. I mean whether it's from the live-ins that we have, whether it's from the people that we have that still respond from home, we've just outgrown this facility," Enfield said.
Bowleys Quarters is not a typical volunteer fire department. The coastal community means the department also responds to calls on the water, an added expense.
"Most people when they have boats you have break-in periods where you go out, easy throttle to get out. When we hop on a boat there's no easy throttle, right? It's gonna go, and to repower that boat this year was $45,000 and that happened the week before Fourth of July," Enfield said.
This year, the department is adding a new fundraising strategy partnering with the Tarr Family Farm for a large-scale community concert.
"We all sat in a meeting together and said how do we make money and it was really like teeming with people like the Tarr Family Farm when the Tarr Family Farm came to us and said we would love to do this," Enfield said.
The Tarr Family has been involved in several fundraising efforts, but this is their first time hosting a concert.
Samantha Tarr said the scale of the event was important from the start.
"When we were first approached with the idea, we were a little bit hesitant, but then we agreed that if we're gonna do this, it's gotta be to the moon, bigger than anything else. It's gonna be an epic event," Tarr said.
Niko Moon is best known for his single 'Good Time' which went triple platinum. The Aug. 16 event will also feature local acts, a VIP section, bars and a food truck village.
Volunteer Amanda Armacost encouraged people to buy tickets soon.
"We do a lot of our promoting mainly through Facebook. Our link is pinned at the top. It's through Eventbrite, so you can also go to Eventbrite if you would like. I try to post almost every other day with our event link. They are selling quickly, so make sure that you're going to grab them before prices go up in August, and then we expect to be sold out hopefully before the event," Armacost said.
The fire department has not hosted an event like this before and has not projected how much money it expects to raise.
Tickets are available through Eventbrite.
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