‘No Need To Duck Now, Dale’

Dale Earhart was one of those guys who would do anything for you. And if you were with the Raphine Volunteer Fire Department, that meant a lot.

Earhart, who lived in southern Augusta County with his wife Mary and daughter Josie, volunteered with fundraisers and other activities of the fire department for about 15 years.

He was perhaps best known for his help whenever the department cooked barbecue chicken.

E.R. Brooks, a lifetime member of the department, recalled that he would show up at early in the morning and work until the evening on barbecue chicken days. Unfortunately, at a height of 6 foot 3 inches, he would often hit his head on the corner of the small pavilion that sheltered the chicken fryer as he helped carry in racks of chicken – and, Brooks said, he took a lot of ribbing from other volunteers for that.

“It was a laugh thing every year. ‘When are you going to hit it?’ Because he would hit it sooner or later,” Brooks said.

Besides helping with the chicken, Earhart would also be frequently seen manning the dime toss game at the fire department’s annual carnival and doing just about anything else fire department members said they needed done.

In fact, in the months before the 2022 carnival, he and a carpenter friend, Jay Zwart, had built a new dime toss game that was made of oak and designed to cause dimes to fall through thin slats and drain from a fabric funnel into a collection pan underneath.

“Dale was so proud of this creation and was thrilled to see it in use at the carnival,” said Dale’s wife, Mary.

It would, however, be his last carnival.

Dale Earhart, age 58, was killed July 16, 2022, while helping a friend cut down some trees.

When his obituary was published, it listed the Raphine Volunteer Fire Department as one of the agencies to which friends could donate money. Over $5,000 eventually made its way to the coffers of the department in his memory.

“He had a lot of friends,” said Brooks.

Several of those friends came through in another, big way this year.

Brooks said the department had decided that it was time to replace the pavilion over the barbecue chicken fryer that dated back at least five or more decades. The structure was small and, yes, the bottom of the roof was only 6 feet tall.

It was also located close to the road across from the fire department, which wasn’t an issue when firetrucks were shorter but as they became bigger, it was harder to navigate the trucks in and out of the bays, said Brooks. At least one time, a truck hit the corner post of the pavilion.

Brooks approached Greg Phillips, a good friend of Earhart, for an estimate on constructing new pavilion. Phillips, who works for contractor Paul Bradley, responded that they would donate their labor for the project. With additional help from Jeremy Groah and John Earhart, they were able to build the new pavilion in just over three days, just a week before this year’s carnival.

Funding for the materials came from the memorial funds the fire department had received in Earhart’s memory, with the remainder coming from the general coffers of the department.

The pavilion is dedicated to Earhart’s memory, and a banner put up on the side facing the road denoted it as the “Dale Earhart Memorial Barbecue Pit.” A smaller sign calls it “Dale’s Chicken Shack.” The professional signs, some even showing Dale’s signature bib overalls, were created by E.R. Brooks’ daughter, Jennifer Kennedy.

The new pavilion measures 32 by 32 feet and is used not only to cover the chicken fryer but picnic tables as well. It is also 12 feet farther away from the road, so firetrucks should no longer have an issue leaving or backing back into the firehouse.

And it is 12 feet tall. Another sign on a post of the pavilion states: “No need to duck now, Dale.”

Mary Earhart said she and her daughter were “overwhelmed” when they arrived at the carnival this year to lend a hand, as they had been doing over the years, and they saw the completed pavilion.

“Every time I see it,” she said, “I think of Dale relaxing in an old folding chair, chicken smoke swirling in the air, surrounded by his equally tired and dirty friends, with a grin on his face from ear to ear.”