Aurora Fire Museum

For anyone that doesn't know about this local Gem In Aurora, Illinois, I am sending out this notice that I got from them. I used to take my high school classes up here once a year about this time or year, but they hadn't done this before.


Aurora Regional Fire Museum's holiday exhibit opening
Sat. Nov. 29th 1-4pm
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thru' the old firehouse, Not a creature was stirring, ‘cept “Cinders” the firefighting mouse. His boots were placed by the firefighter’s bunks with care, In hopes that Santa the Fire Chief, soon would be there…

A family of festive holiday mice have invaded the Aurora Regional Fire Museum. The museum’s north bunkroom -- home to Aurora’s real “north pole” (the brass fire pole that served the north-side of the old Central Fire Station) -- has been transformed with the holiday exhibit, “All I want for Christmas… is a Fire Engine under the Tree”.
This temporary holiday exhibit includes more than five hundred (all different) firefighting Christmas ornaments, from the collection of John and Barbara Nolan, displayed on three nine-foot tall Christmas trees. Some ornaments are whimsical -- featuring cartoon characters -- while others are more realistic and boast working sirens and flashing lights. There are more than one hundred versions of Santa dressed in firefighting gear, at least fifty firefighting snowmen, and another one hundred fire engines of every size and shape. Placed beneath the trees are firefighting toys -- including a cast-iron ladder truck from the nineteenth century, a popular Tonka fire pumper from the 1960s, a contemporary Fisher-Price fire engine, and even a firefighting Barbie doll.
After Cinders and his firehouse friends put the finishing touches on the tree decorations upstairs, the firefighting mice took up residence in the museum’s ground-floor interactive exhibit "Getting There, Getting Water, Getting Rescued."
Holiday visitors to the museum are encouraged to find Cinders as he sleeps in the steam fire engine’s boiler, his friend Sparks as he tries to ring the fire bell, and their best friend Ashes as he decorates a 1948 fire engine. Please join us from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday November 29th for the FREE holiday exhibit opening and celebration. There will be a visit from Santa the Fire Chief, storytelling, a holiday mouse hunt, and more.
This holiday exhibit will run though the end of January, visit the museum website for details. The Aurora Regional Fire Museum features five pieces of fire apparatus and an award winning interactive exhibit in a fully restored vintage firehouse.
The museum is located at the corner of New York (Rt 25) and Broadway in downtown Aurora, IL. Free parking in the lot behind the museum.

For more information, hours, and directions, visit the website: http://www.auroraregionalfiremuseum.org/

Best wishes,
Debby Deborah Davis
Executive Director