Dracut Old Home Day & Firefighters Activity Day
Daoulas School Complex ~ 1580 Lakeview Ave ~ Dracut, MA
September 6, 2025
9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Dracut Fire Department Accepts Donation from Dracut Old Home Day!
Click HERE for Details
Food Tent
Children's Rides
Vendors
Food Booths
and
Firefighters Activity Day
Saturday, September 6, 2025
9:00 am to 5:00 pm
School Complex, Lakeview Ave
Entertainment
Carriage House Tours
@ Basement of Harmony Hall
Dracut Road Runner's Car Show
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5K Run/Walk
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Dracut Old Home Day
PO Box 217
Dracut, MA 01826
Contacts:
Dan Croce - chairman@dracutoldhomeday.com
Lyndie Shaw - lyndie@dracutoldhomeday.com
Dave Paquin - paquindd@aol.com
Thank you to our sponsors.
"Make It Dracut"
The 23st Annual Dracut Old Home Day was a HUGE success! Thank you to all of our vendors, attendees and volunteers.
The 24th Annual Dracut Old Home Day is now on its way! Dracut Old Home Day is our community's largest event. As we celebrate our 24th anniversary we hope our 2025 event will be bigger than ever!
This all day event takes place on Saturday, September 6, 2025 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, rain or shine.
If you would like to help make Dracut Old Home Day a success this year and in future years, please consider becoming a committee member. If you have any questions or would like more information, please email:
Dan Croce, Chairman - chairman@dracutoldhomeday.com
Lyndie Shaw - lyndie@dracutoldhomeday.com
Dave Paquin, Vice Chairman - paquindd@aol.com
Dracut Fire Department Accepts Donation of Forcible Entry Training Door from Old Home Day Committee
DRACUT — Chief Michael Cunha is pleased to report that the Dracut Fire Department is already using a forcible entry training door that was donated to the department by the Old Home Day Committee.
In a tradition that dates back years, the Old Home Day Committee uses part of the funds raised by each year's Old Home Day and Firefighter Activity Day to benefit non-profits, community groups, and other organizations across the town. Past purchases the committee has made for the Dracut Fire Department include thermal imaging cameras, gas meters, and boats that the department now uses for water rescues.
This year, the Old Home Day Committee donated $8,965 to purchase a forcible entry door prop from Fire House Innovations. The nearly indestructible steel door fits wooden rods that enable firefighters to simulate forcing their way through wooden doors, a skill they typically could only practice on real doors. The training tool enables firefighters to repeatedly practice their forcible entry skills, at virtually no cost and without destroying actual doors.
The training tool is similar to one that has been in use for years at the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy, and it is expected to last the department for several decades.
"As a fire department, we do a lot of training. However, there are a few things that just aren't possible without specialized training props, such as training to make forcible entry on doors," said Chief Cunha. "The door prop is an inward and outward swinging door and also left and right hinged. It gives firefighters the opportunity to practice the basics as well as advanced forcible entry. This specialized training and practice was never available to us daily, and every day since the door arrived, members are honing their skills and practicing different techniques. I would like to thank the Old Home Day Committee for their generosity and for always giving back to the town!"
On Tuesday evening, members of the Old Home Day Committee were invited to the fire station to view a demonstration of firefighters training with the new tool.
Dracut Firefighters and Members of the Old Home Day Committee stand together with a new forcible entry training door that the Old Home Day Committee purchased for the fire department using funds raised at Old Home Day. The committee has made it a tradition to make a major donation to the fire department annually after Old Home Day. This donation is just the latest of many. (Courtesy Dracut Fire Department).
Firefighters Tom Joyce and Nehemiah Carter force open the steel training door during a demonstration for the Old Home Day Committee on Tuesday night. (Photo Courtesy Dracut Fire Department)
Dracut Firefighters Gage Brouillette and Sean Russe work together to force open the forcible entry training door during training last week. Firefighters put the new door to use for training as soon as it was received from the Old Home Day Committee. (Photo Courtesy Dracut Fire Department)
Fire Chief Michael Cunha, at center, explains the function of the new forcible entry training door to the Old Home Day Committee, which donated almost $9,000 to purchase the training tool for the fire department. (Photo Courtesy Dracut Fire Department)
While most of the training door is made of virtually indestructible steel, wooden dowels in the door frame simulate breaking through a wooden door for firefighters. The wood can be replaced to facilitate repeated training with the door, which is expected to last the department for decades. (Photo Courtesy Dracut Fire Department)
Dracut Firefighters demonstrate how they use a new steel training door to train for making forcible entry.
(Video Courtesy John Guilfoil Public Relations)
Media Contact: Robert Mills
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: robert@jgpr.net
Dracut Fire Department Thanks Old Home Day Committee
for Donation of Equipment for Marine Units
DRACUT — Chief Richard Patterson and the Dracut Fire Department would like to thank the Old Home Day Committee for funding the purchase of safety equipment, rescue equipment and waterproof portable radios to equip the department's new Marine Units.
April 25, 2023 Robert Mills
Fire Chief Richard Patterson, at right, points out safety and rescue equipment to Dan Croce, a member of the Old Home Day Committee, which funded the purchase of the equipment. (Courtesy Dracut Fire Department)
DRACUT — Chief Richard Patterson and the Dracut Fire Department would like to thank the Old Home Day Committee for funding the purchase of safety equipment, rescue equipment and waterproof portable radios to equip the department’s new Marine Units.
Earlier this year, the Town of Dracut purchased two new rescue boats for the Fire Department — a 16-foot One Boat rescue craft with a 40-horsepower Mercury motor, and a 14-foot One Boat inflatable boat with a 25-horsepower Mercury motor.
The boats replace an old boat that suffered an engine failure, and an old ice rescue boat that suffered a cracked hull.
Marine 1, the larger 16-foot rescue craft, will be kept in Station 3 on Nashua Road, and used primarily for rescues and calls for service on Lake Mascuppic.
Marine 2, the 14-foot inflatable boat, will be kept in the Jones Avenue station, and used primarily for rescues and calls for service on the Merrimack River.
Grant funding did not include money to fully equip the boats, however, the Old Home Day Committee donated approximately $5,000 from the proceeds collected during last year’s Old Home Day to fund the purchase of all of the remaining equipment needed for the boats.
The funds were used to purchase waterproof portable radios, throw lines for rescues, helmets and personal flotation devices.
“Dracut Old Home Day’s mantra is to give back to the community, and we were fortunate enough this year to raise enough money from our event to give back $31,000 to the community,” said Old Home Day Committee Vice Chairman Dave Paquin. “Part of the money we gave back was this grant for the Fire Department to buy all the equipment they needed to outfit these boats. Anything the chief needed that wasn’t included in the grant to buy the boats, we provided funds for.”
Old Home Day was established in 2001 in connection with the Town of Dracut’s tricentennial celebration, and has since raised well over $500,000 that was given back to the community. The event had just 18 booths when it was started in 2001, and last year featured 185 booths.
This year’s Old Home Day is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 9, in the yard at the Englesby Elementary School.
“We were fortunate to be able to replace our boat with two state-of-the-art rescue vessels,” said Chief Patterson. “The generosity of the Old Home Day Committee gave us the opportunity to equip both boats with new personal flotation devices, throw ropes and rescue equipment as well as communication equipment that we otherwise would not have been able to purchase. We can’t thank them enough.”
Dracut Firefighters and members of the Old Home Day Committee stand together for a group photo with the Fire Department’s new fully equipped boats. (Courtesy Dracut Fire Department)
The Dracut Fire Department’s Marine 1 boat — a 16-foot One Boat rescue craft with a 40-horsepower Mercury motor — will be housed in Station 3 on Nashua Road, and used primarily for rescues and calls for service on Lake Mascuppic. (Courtesy Dracut Fire Department)
The Dracut Fire Department’s Marine 2 boat — a 14-foot One Boat inflatable boat with a 25-horsepower Mercury motor — will be kept in the Jones Avenue station, and used primarily for rescues and calls for service on the Merrimack River. (Courtesy Dracut Fire Department)
