Organisers Adrian Wareham and Terry Cheater, both 73, were left battered and bruised when the four youths punched them in the face and kicked them on the ground.
The two volunteers were clearing up after Flameburst, a family firework display held annually in Verwood, Dorset, at 11.10pm on Saturday when the group tried to gain access to the privately-owned land.
The pensioners tried to close the gates on them only for Mr Wareham to be punched in the eye.
Mr Cheater then goes out the gate and is punched in the head by two of the yobs, sending him flying back into the metal gate.
Mr Wareham tried to intervene only to be punched to the ground and then kicked twice.
Luckily, the men who run the fairground at the event saw the attack and chased the gang away.
Mr Wareham suffered a black eye and Mr Cheater was bleeding from his ear. They were both checked out at hospital but decided not to stay overnight despite concerns about concussion.
Bizarrely, Dorset Police have since posted on Facebook about how two community support officers attended the event and helped find a lost child and push a van out of the mud but made no mention of the savage attack.
The community stalwarts have organised the event in Verwood for the last 30 years and Mr Wareham was even made an honorary town freeman in the summer for his services to the community.
Mr Wareham said: “It was two hours after the event finished and we were clearing up when these lads turned up at the gate and laid into us.
“It came from nowhere and was really vicious.
“I told them it was all closed and one of them punched me in the eye. They then punched my mate and knocked him on the ground. I went out to help him up and they started punching me and got me on the floor too.
“Fortunately the fairground boys were just packing up and leaving and they got out their trucks and chased them off.
“There were four of them and they were just up for a fight, looking for trouble.
“It was all over in about ten seconds but I think we would have been in a very poor state if it wasn’t for the fairground lads as they had started kicking us on the ground.
“We’ve been doing the event for 30 years and we are all volunteers and do it for nothing so this did really get to us.
“We were taken to hospital and they wanted to keep us in overnight, I think they were worried about concussion and Terry has got a pacemaker and was hit quite hard in the ear and had blood coming out.
“But we’d had a really long day and just wanted to get home to our own beds.
“We can’t let thugs like these get away with it.
“It isn’t a reflection on the event, it’s a good family night. We ban alcohol and we have a fairground, fireworks, a band on stage, jugglers.
“We had 1,000 people, it’s normally about 3,000 but that was good support considering how bad the weather was.
“There were police at the event, but they had gone by the time we were attacked. Some officers did come back out.”
Police are now investigating the attack which was caught on CCTV.
A spokesperson for Dorset Police said: “We received a report at 11.14pm on Saturday of an assault in Crane Drive in Verwood.
“Two men sustained injuries that are not believed to be serious and attended hospital for treatment. Officers attended and carried out enquiries at the scene.
“An investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made.”
