For generations of Rockville residents, summer once meant carnival time. Each year, the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department Carnival transformed its grounds along Rockville Pike into a gathering place filled with rides, games, music, food, and crowds of families and friends.

But in August 1956, the excitement reached another level.

During the final three nights of that year’s carnival, three brand-new automobiles were given away, one each night.

And one of them came from Reed Brothers Dodge.

The Rockville Volunteer Fire Department Carnival midway along Rockville Pike was a familiar summer gathering place for generations of local residents.

The Rockville Volunteer Fire Department had been holding its annual carnival since 1932. What began as a fundraiser grew into a Rockville tradition, eventually occupying approximately ten acres along Rockville Pike, directly across the highway from Reed Brothers Dodge.

Unlike a traveling carnival, much of the Rockville operation was permanent. Fire department members constructed and maintained the familiar red-and-white buildings on the grounds, along with a large dance pavilion built in 1947. For most of the year the property stood quiet. When carnival week arrived, the lights came on and the grounds were transformed.

Carnival entrance from the Pike, c. 1950. Photo credit: RVFD Photo Archives.

Reed Brothers was more than simply a neighbor across the Pike. The Reed family’s connection with the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department dated to the department’s organization in 1921. Edgar Reed and his brother Philip were among its original members, establishing a relationship between the Reed family and the fire department that continued for decades.

By then, Lewis Reed and Edgar Reed were operating Reed Brothers Dodge just across the road. The dealership had been selling Dodge automobiles in Rockville since 1915, and the two institutions would become familiar landmarks along Rockville Pike as the town grew around them.

Closer view of the carnival grounds reveals Reed Brothers Dodge directly across Rockville Pike. The dealership and carnival were longtime neighbors, while the Reed family’s connection with the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department dated to its organization in 1921.

By the 1950s, the automobile giveaway had become one of the most anticipated traditions of the Rockville VFD Carnival. A brand-new car was a spectacular grand prize, and local automobile dealers helped keep the tradition going over the years.

Few carnivals, however, could have matched what happened in 1956.

On August 16, the Montgomery County Sentinel announced the carnival’s final three nights with a headline certain to attract attention:

“Three Cars Given Away At Rockville Carnival.”

The Montgomery County Sentinel reported on August 16, 1956, that three new automobiles would be given away during the carnival’s final three nights.

Montgomery County was expanding rapidly, new neighborhoods were appearing, and the family automobile was becoming an essential part of everyday life.

A new car wasn’t simply another carnival prize. It was the grand prize.

For Reed Brothers, participating in the automobile giveaway was a natural extension of its longstanding connection to the fire department and the community. By 1956, the dealership had been selling Dodge automobiles in Rockville for more than forty years, and its buildings, signs, and rows of new cars were a familiar sight directly across the Pike from the carnival grounds.

The three automobiles were not the only attractions. The 1956 carnival offered rides, games, dancing, live entertainment, food, and prizes ranging from cooking utensils to stuffed bears. Admission was just 20 cents for adults, while children were admitted free.

Behind all the festivities was an important purpose. The Sentinel described the carnival as the culmination of a year’s work by members of the fire department and its principal source of financial support. At the time, the department received no tax money for its services.

Every admission, meal, game, and prize ticket helped support the firefighters who served the community.

A new Dodge offered as a grand prize at a later Rockville VFD Carnival. Automobile giveaways were a popular carnival tradition for many years. Photo credit: RVFD Photo Archives.

New automobiles would continue to be among the carnival’s most exciting prizes in the years that followed.

The Rockville VFD Carnival eventually disappeared as the community and the demands upon the fire department changed. Reed Brothers Dodge remained across the Pike for decades longer.

Today, photographs and newspaper accounts preserve a glimpse of an earlier Rockville, when the annual firemen’s carnival brought the community together and buying a carnival ticket might result in considerably more than a stuffed bear.

You might just drive home in a brand-new Dodge.

Sources:
Montgomery County Sentinel, August 16, 1956
Rockville Volunteer Fire Department historical archives
Reed Brothers Dodge History archives