In previous years, one lucky raffle winner was selected to win a restored Corvette.

For more than 70 years, the Stafford Volunteer Fire Department in Stafford, New York has hosted an annual car raffle to raise money to serve it’s local community. Sadly, this harmless event, that was set to raffle off a beautiful restored Corvette, will not be taking place this year as a result of running afoul of the New York Gaming Commission.

As the grand prize, fire department officials purchased a meticulously restored 1965 convertible ‘Vette for for a whopping $120,000 and sold thousands of tickets that now will have to be refunded. Whats worse, they’ll have to pay return postage.

The raffle was founded when a group of Stafford residents wanted to raise money to open a fire department after World War II, and now draws contributors from all over the U.S. But recently,the New York Gaming Commission informed the fire department that it could’nt sell raffle tickets to anyone outside its county line.

The community tradition grew from that first raffle and has offered motorcycles and pickup trucks, and later ’55-’57 Chevys. During the early ’80s someone came up with the bright idea to raffle off a Corvette – the first being a 1957 C1, and was a huge fundraising success.

Stanley Gere is a long-time member of the department and stated that this wouldn’t just be a loss of tradition but a loss for the community as well.

“Everything was so expensive and the town’s 1,200 families didn’t have the money to fund us,” Gere said. “So, we started putting ads in magazines to sell raffle tickets. We formed a Corvette Committee to handle ticket sales and advertising, and we decided to coincide the annual raffle drawing with our carnival.

“Whoever turned us into (the Gaming Commission) didn’t think about the $5,000 we gave to Mercy Flight each year, the equipment it enabled us to purchase to protect the community, or support the children from the State School for the Blind, or the carnival itself, which was supported by the raffle each year,” Gere stated. “Now those nonprofit organizations are all going to lose out. Even our local insurance company, who insured us, will take a big hit this year, as will Sterling Tent who provided all our tents.”

The fire department must now rely solely on tax revenue to survive. Previously, the event also funded the Emery Park Project and later the baseball fields behind the park, which were handed over to the city after the fire department purchased the land and developed it.

“Our carnival is one of the best around, but in itself was not a money maker,” Gere said. “The car raffle supported the carnival, and brought hundreds more to the area for the event on the last night. Many people got together only once a year – meeting at the Stafford Carnival.”

The carnival, which includes a local marching bands that perform for prizes, also brought money into the community by allowing local vendors to supply the food and drinks festivities. This turn of events will clearly dampen the efforts to raise a significant amount of funding to assist others in need.

The loss of this event greatly impacts the community of Stafford, and we hope that the planers of the raffle find a way to gain compliance with the state and carry on this long time tradition.