The Cochranville Carnival, offering food, games, rides, live music and prizes, is being presented again this year in the lot next to the firehouse, 3135 Limestone Road, Cochranville. The carnival opened on Aug. 2 and will run through Saturday, Aug. 6, from 6 to 10 p.m. each day.

Multiple games with prizes will be offered throughout the carnival grounds, and a wide variety of rides will be provided by Houghton Enterprises, a Cochranville-based business. The carnival kitchen will serve chicken salad sandwiches and chicken corn soup and has added roast beef and barbecue pulled pork sandwiches to the menu this year. Visitors may also play bingo under a large canopy.

"It's (a) huge event," said fire company member Wanda Lapp, who also volunteers at the carnival. "We have people (attend) from out of state, including Maryland and Delaware. People come every year just for the chicken salad or the chicken corn soup to take home with them. And the children love the rides."

Music entertainment during the carnival will include the following: Wednesday, Aug. 3, Summit Hill Bluegrass; Thursday, Aug. 4, Lucky Penguin; Friday, Aug. 5, country singer Sam Schmidthuber; and Aug. 6, Yesterday's News Band.

Attendees will also have a chance to win prizes. Winners will be announced on the last night of carnival. Prizes will include a chest freezer donated by Martin Appliance in Quarryville. "With the freezer they will get a gift card to buy meat to go into the freezer," noted Lapp.

Other prizes include $500 donated by Null's Towing in Cochranville; a generator or $1,000 cash donated by Leroy's Inc. of Cochranville; a flat-top gas grill donated by Kauffman Gas of Atglen; and a Cub Cadet 42-inch lawn tractor donated by Stoltzfus Farm Service of Cochranville. Also being given away are a storage shed and a large-screen smart TV. The grand prize drawing will be for $15,000.

"We are so blessed. They are all local businesses and they all donate," said Lapp. "In the past we (gave away) a car or motorcycle. This is the first year we are (offering) cash because right now people need the money."

While the carnival has grown and changed since it first took place in 1946, Lapp said that the focus of providing family fun remains the same. "Growing up, (people) couldn't wait for the Cochranville Carnival," she said. "We are one of the last carnivals still in the area that is still up and running. Cochranville Fire Company has such strong community support. We have a lot of community (members) come out and work the stands."

Proceeds will benefit the Cochranville Fire Company, an all-volunteer organization that provides fire protection for the village of Cochranville and the surrounding communities.

Admission to the carnival is free. Octorara Football Club members will help with parking, which will be by donation. For more information about the carnival, visit http://www.facebook.com/cochranvillefire or http://www.facebook.com/CFCCarnival. In the event of inclement weather, carnival cancellation information will be posted on the Facebook pages.