An era is ending at the West End Fair.

Blue Ridge Hook and Ladder Fire Company announced Tuesday on social media that it is ending a 40-plus-year run at the fair, citing lack of volunteers and the rising cost of food.

The unanimous vote to pull out of the fair’s vendor lineup took place at a recent company meeting, Fire Chief Leon Clapper said.

“Years ago when we did the fair, we weren’t as busy,” Clapper said. “But times have changed. We had 59 calls last month. That’s two a day on average. People really don’t have the free time anymore to be out there for a week.”

Sausage sandwiches were a staple of the fire company’s stand. With the rising cost of meat, however, profit margin has been slashed.

‘Everything keeps going up and the impact trickles everywhere,” Clapper said. “Quite honestly, not that many people want to come out and spend $30 on sausage sandwiches for their family. It’s a week-long event and if you have one or two days of rain, your profit is almost gone.”

The news broke on Facebook on Tuesday night.

“We have made the decision to clean out our stand and move on,” the fire company posted. “We can’t offer a “Thank You!” big enough to cover everyone who has ever helped us out there. We sincerely appreciate every one of you.”

Running with a fire company is a time consuming venture, Clapper said, when you add up training hours and an ever-increasing volume of calls.

Dwindling membership numbers have forced companies to provide mutual aid to almost all surrounding communities.

“It’s not just your own territory,” Clapper said. “When you’re neighbors get a call, you’re almost always there too. The fire company is a second life for a lot of people and young families today often need to work two jobs just to have anything nice.”

There is no need to worry about fire service, however. Clapper said the company is “100 percent committed to that.”

Blue Ridge still has an archery raffle ticket going right now  and a chicken barbecue is also on tap in September.

For archery raffle tickets, call 570-620-8442.