Ginny Heltsley of Saxonburg holds her 22-year-old snake, Trump, before the 2011 Saxonburg pet parade along Main Street. The pet parade will help kick off this year's Saxonburg Fireman's Carnival at 7 p.m. Monday.

SAXONBURG — The perennial favorite Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company Carnival begins Monday and continues throughout the week.

The 81st annual event runs through June 16.

Activities will include the popular pet parade, water battle among fire companies, pageants and carnival rides.

The carnival will be open from 6 to 11 p.m. each evening and also from 1 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday and June 16 for the “kiddee” matinee hours.

Carnival admission is $2, with the option of a ride-all-day pass for $15.

Until Sunday night, pre-sale passes are available for $10 at the fire department on Horne Avenue near its intersection with Pittsburgh Street. The building is usually staffed from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and whenever crew members are there on weekends.

Ride-all-matinee passes for the “kiddee” matinees are $10 as well.

The carnival rides are by Bates Brothers Amusement.

The daily schedule is:

• Pet parade, 7 p.m. Monday. Registration is free and begins at 6 p.m. and runs until 6:55 p.m. parade night, although no poisonous or dangerous pets are allowed. Pets must be on a leash or in a cage or otherwise contained.

• Water battle, 7 p.m. Tuesday, two teams of four to five firefighters each spray a high pressure jet of water at a barrel that's attached to an overhead wire in a contest that's a cross between a squirt gun battle and a tug-of-war.

• Little Miss Saxonburg pageant, 7 p.m. Tuesday

• Kiddee matinee, 1 to 6 p.m. Wednesday and June 16

• Junior Miss Saxonburg pageant, 7 p.m. Wednesday

• Fireman's Parade, the largest such event east of the Mississippi, 6 p.m. June 14. Some fire companies scheduled to participate include Saxonburg, West Deer, Fairview, Sarver, Lower Burrell, North Washington, Herman and New Kensington and the townships of Buffalo, Fawn, Manor, South Buffalo, Cranberry, Penn, Middlesex and Winfield.

• Miss Saxonburg pageant, 7 p.m. June 15

• Raffles for a 2011 Ford Ranger pickup, a 2012 Polaris Sportsman 500 and $1,000 will be drawn June 16.

All money raised benefits the Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company.

For more information, visit svfc.com.