I spent a good chunk of Saturday outdoors. First, it was off to the 61st annual Southside Virginia Volunteer Firefighters Association competition held right here in Farmville.

Firefighters from 12 departments competed in seven different competitions. In addition to Farmville, firefighters and rescue workers and their families came out in force from Meherrin, Victoria, Boydton, South Hill, Prospect, Blackstone, Clarksville, Lacrosse, Lawrenceville, Chase City and Keysville.

Farmville, by the way, took first place in a four-person ladder competition with an incredible time of 7.58 seconds. They had to run from a considerable distance, pick up the ladder, whack it against a backstop and have one of the members reach a certain height up the ladder. They had only been practicing since that Wednesday. Wow!

Several hours later, after resting for a bit, I headed out again, this time to Riverside Park on North Main Street just before the Appomattox River bridge. The Farmville Jaycees, with help from various sponsors, were closing out their free outdoor movie series for 2016 with Captain America: Civil War, one of the biggest movies of the year. Lots of families showed up, using blankets, folding chairs or nothing at all to sit in front of a large inflatable screen to watch the movie. Free popcorn was available, plus other food and drinks were offered for sale.

Civil War is another great entry in the Marvel film franchise, with a lot of (mostly hilarious) nods to longtime fans. If you haven’t seen it yet, I won’t spoil too much except to say “Underoos!” (Trust me, you’ll get it when you see it.)

All in all, these two events — along with a good many others I couldn’t get to — were part of another great example of a great day in Farmville.

Martin Cahn is managing editor of The Farmville Herald. His email address is martin.cahn@farmvilleherald.com.