In the early 1980s there were no fire districts and rural fire departments did not receive funding to purchase new fire safety gear for its volunteers or to upgrade their trucks and equipment. The Ravinia Fire Department was first established in 1964. In the 1970’s the volunteers started their fundraising efforts by holding a Fireman’s Dance, but after a couple of years the department found that this particular fundraiser was hard to make money at, so it eventually died out. It was in 1981, that the Ravinia Fire Department held their first smoker to generate general operating funds. At that time, the fire department’s equipment consisted of 1-2 air tanks, not enough equipment for each volunteer so they had to share, a surplus county water truck and an old 1949/1950 ford firetruck. The Ravinia volunteer firefighters at the time were Ernie Ray Bures, Derrol Hall, Ed Bures, Doyle Reinschmidt, Dan Marrow, Harold Cavier, Dave Honomichl, Allen Soulek, Wess Novak, Eldon Ridgeway, Dean Svatos, Charlie Hyde and Harlan Petersen.

As there was no actual firehall for the Ravinia Fire Department at the time (it was just a shed with their firetruck in it), the first smokers were held in the 4-H building in Lake Andes. They served ham, potatoes, beans and homemade salads at the first smoker. In addition to the smoker, there were “Vegas Night” games offered that included poker, barn yard craps and blackjack. After that first year of the smoker, the volunteers decided to add mountain oysters to the menu. They added them to see the reaction of the attendees. At that particular time, serving mountain oysters was something of a novelty that people were not used to.

The department continued to hold their annual smoker night at the Lake Andes 4-H building until they were able to build their own firehall in the early 1990s. The fire department at the time had saved $10,000 and through the District Fire Board was able to receive the other $10,000 needed to put up the building. The firehall was completely built with 100% donated labor, with volunteers pouring the concrete, wiring and actually building the building. A year after the firehall was built, the fire department moved their smoker to Ravinia. From there the annual fundraiser took off. Over the years the name of the smoker has changed or been rebranded to jamboree, testy fest and testicle festival. Whichever name it goes by, everybody knows what special delicacy will be served each year.

Curt Soulek, who has been a member of the Ravinia Fire Department since 1990, can remember that when he began volunteering, they would cook the mountain oysters in one frying pan. At that time, the department was in total serving about 30 pounds of mountain oysters, which were all hand cut and breaded. Curt said that they would start cooking at 5 p.m. and would continue to cook in that single frying pan until 11 p.m. This is in stark contrast to the 140 pounds of mountain oysters that are now served at the smoker. They are still hand cut, but are now cooked quickly in one of the several fryers that the department now has. They used to buy the “oysters” from the Blue Bird Locker in Delmont, but have since received donations from local farmers and veterinarians. The oysters are collected and cleaned throughout the year instead of all at once as they had been in the past. This year’s tradition will be no different than last year’s with the exception of items being auctioned off throughout the evening. Ravinia Volunteer Firefighter, Tristian Scott donated a black walnut coffee table and Testy Fest t-shirts will be the featured items.

This year’s smoker will of course feature the time old tradition of mountain oysters, sliced ham, Lorretta Soulek’s potato salad, Nora Weber’s macaroni salad and Curt’s baked beans. This is definitely a chaotic week for the volunteers getting the firehall, cooking equipment and every other detail ready to go before the big annual event this Saturday April 5th. The firefighters will start their day on Saturday around 2:30 p.m. turning in their raffle tickets/money. Then they start cooking food and getting the roasters ready. From about 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. there will be a steady stream of people through the door. Usually, they are all cleaned up and out of the firehall by 4 a.m. Sunday morning. Last year’s smoker saw between 300 and 350 people attend.

This year’s smoker will hopefully be another successful year for the fire department with even more people attending and enjoying the festivities. The Ravinia Fire Department has persevered over the last 61 years continuing to contribute and dedicate their time and energy to the rural Ravinia and surrounding area, and will continue to answer those calls.