Catching Fish with Cops a success in Gananoque
The Gananoque Police Service, along with many other agencies, like the Gananoque Fire Department, Oceans, Fisheries, Ministry of Natural Resources, Coast Guard, Parks Canada, Canada Boarder Services, O.P.P R.C.M.P., all joined forces on Aug. 11 at Joel Stone Heritage Park for the Fishing with Cops event. Keith Dempsey/Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
August 11 was a day for fishing, face-painting and a whole lot more fun at the waterfront in Gananoque.
That’s thanks to the Catching Fish with Cops event hosted by the Gananoque Police Service.
“The event had a great showing, with over 200 kids up to the age of 17,” said Sgt. Mike Driscoll, of the Gananoque Police Service, who helped organize the event. “We had multiple agencies involved from Oceans and Fisheries, Ministry of Natural Resources, Coast Guard, Parks Canada, Canada Border Services, OPP and RCMP, and members from Gananoque Police Service.”
Most of the organizations had their own vessels at hand, for children and adults to board and learn what roles each of them fills.
The Gananoque Fire Department was present, too, cooking up a feast for those in attendance. The Thousand Islands Boat Museum offered free rides on an antique tugboat and allowed the use of their docks for the kids to fish.
The worm donation was made by The Worm Guy. And Canadian Tire provided a large bouncy castle for the children to enjoy.
“On top of the prizes obtained for the event we had a large donation from WamBaits Canada as well as Limestone Lures,” said Driscoll. “We had the privilege of having Christine Lapeer of Mindful Fishing out helping wherever she could. And of course, you cannot have a local fishing event without Big Jim McLaughlin.”
Participants learned how to fish with lures, learned to clean fish, fished with law enforcement and took part in boat rides. The event wrapped up in the early afternoon.
Driscoll was happy with the level of participation from the local youth and thankful for the community support.
“As this event continues, I can only imagine it will keep growing,” he said.