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Team Fairchild awarded for Spokane Lilac Festival support

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Janelle Patiño
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  Spokane Lilac Festival officers Cecelia Stephens, co-president, and Myron Bursell, Civic Military Affairs Committee vice president, presented the Spokane Lilac Festival Partner Award to Col. Brian Newberry, 92nd Air Refueling Wing commander, and Team Fairchild during a Wing stand up meeting Sept. 25.

The award is given once a year to organizations who have given the festival extraordinary support through the past year.

During the award ceremony, Bursell shared their mission statement, "Honor our military, recognize our youth, and showcase our community."

"The partnership we have with Team Fairchild, the 92nd Air Refueling Wing, the 141st Air National Guard, and the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School, is very important to us," Bursell said. "We want to thank them for being there to support us, and we want you to know it does not go unnoticed."

The Spokane Lilac Festival hosts and organizes the largest Armed Forces Torchlight Parade in the nation to celebrate the community, and recognize and honor all military branches, their families and the local youth.

"The Spokane community has always supported our Air Force Base and all branches of the military," Bursell said. "Our parade is the highlight of every year when people of all walks of life come together to celebrate and honor military units as they go by in the parade."

According to Bursell, Team Fairchild not only helps during the parade, but also with different community events such as luncheons and meetings. Newberry, other commanders, and all of Team Fairchild, have always gone above and beyond to help the festival stay strong as a Spokane Legacy Event.

Newberry also wants to thank the Spokane community for supporting the Fairchild mission through the years.

"The Torchlight Parade and the many other Lilac events succeed with military support, so we appreciate a Lilac team award for recognizing all the Airmen who volunteered their time and talents to support the festival," Newberry said. "We are honored by the incredible partnership where we lean on each other, making ourselves stronger and prouder."