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Monday, 22 June 2009 |
By KELLY BYER
Staff Writer
ST. MARYS — The third annual Father’s Day Weekend at Grand Lake St. Marys State Park attracted families and fathers with a variety of activities.
The state park hosted a fishing derby, a cooking contest and a movie on Saturday. The activities were enjoyed by families from all around.
“We do an annual Father’s Day camping trip,” Jason Hood of Waterville said.
While they usually stay at state parks, Hood said it was the first time he and his family had been to the St. Marys campgrounds.
“So far we’ve had a good time,” Hood said. “The weather blew by us, so that was nice.”
While at the park, Hood said his family had spent time fishing and visiting the nature center.
“I think attendance is just down a little bit, but it’s because of what the weather forecast was,” Grand Lake St. Marys Park Manager Craig Morton said. “Going into this weekend it looked very bad, and it’s actually turned out to be better weather than what we expected.”
Morton said the campground had approximately 68 reservations along with some walk-ins, making the event’s attendance near 100.
There were also 45 participants registered for the fishing derby. Volunteers measured the fish, and Morton distributed prizes such as fishing rods, plaques and gift certificates to the winners.
Spencer Ciccarelli, who tied for largest fish in the kids’ category with a 14.5 inch catfish, was spending the Father’s Day weekend at the lake with his parents.
“He caught his first fish today,” Lisa Ciccarelli said.
And the bait he used to catch that fish was Corn Pops cereal, Chris Ciccarelli said, adding that they didn’t have any other bait.
Lisa Ciccarelli said it was also her family’s first time visiting the St. Marys campgrounds and that they were unaware of the Father’s Day weekend when they made reservations.
“We actually had this reserved not even knowing it’s Father’s Day,” she said. “So it’s kind of a nice surprise they had the fishing derby.”
In the kids’ fishing category, Hunter Newlin also won for biggest fish, and Alex Dircksen caught 20 to win for most fish.
In the Dads’ category, Dale Hawkins came in first for biggest fish with an 18 inch catfish, and Earl Solloman caught the most with eight fish.
The cooking contest held later in the afternoon also produced a few prize-winning participants. Gordon Seyler’s pork dish won first place in the meat category while Joe Bruns’ pineapple upside-down cake won for best dessert.
“It’s been very well organized and they do a good job here,” Jerry Bertke of Coldwater said about the event.
Bertke said three generations of his family participated in the weekend events and his grandkids had fun.
For about the last 25 years, Bertke said his family has gone camping for the holiday and has attended the St. Marys event in the past.
“We’ve always camped on Father’s Day for my dad,” he said.
Morton said the weekend began as a brainstorming session with volunteers on how to bring more popularity to the campgrounds and give campers more to do.
“Since we already had a Mother’s Day weekend event, we thought we’d do a Father’s Day weekend event,” he said.
Morton said he hopes events like these help people experience the outdoors and enjoy themselves.
“We’d really like people to just be able to come out on these weekends and have dads and kids enjoy fishing together,” he said. “We just want the public to get out and enjoy the park.”
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 July 2009 )
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