REELIN ’EM IN
♦ Kids fishing rodeo sees families swarm to Kenview Farms for annual event
Hundreds of people set up along the edges of a pond along Cartersville Highway north of Rockmart on Saturday to enjoy the outdoors and try catching a whopper or two.
The annual Polk County Kids Fishing Rodeo provided kids with a chance to spend some time outside while learning about the patience of fishing at Kenview Farms. The free event, organized by local Georgia Department of Natural Resources officials, welcomed more than 500 kids.
Cpl. Chad Cox with the DNR said it was one of the biggest turnouts he could remember.
The pond is stocked with catfish each December by the DNR and fed by the property owners, C.W. Matthews Construction, with the pond only opened to the public for fishing during the fishing rodeo. Kids are allowed to keep eight fish each.
“There will be some who take them home and have fresh catfish tonight. I talked to a group today with some small kids that said they were going to learn how to clean them and cook them,” Cox said.
Kids who register when they arrive received a free shirt and were entered into drawings for everything from gift certificates to hats to bait and tackle boxes to rod and reels. Then they could pick out a spot around the pond, pick up a free hot dog or snack, or check out a helicopter.
“We start months in advance to get sponsors and volunteers lined up, along with donations. So it’s probably a sixmonth process,” Cox said.
Cox said he usually has businesses and sponsors contact him each year to make sure their donations, whether monetary or material, gets to him and is passed on to the kids so they can enjoy a free day of fishing and food.
“The only way we can do this every year is because of our local sponsors. We have some that come back every year, and then we always have some new
ones each year. It’s just been growing and growing. And we appreciate all of them,” Cox said.
This year also brought out the Polk County Fire Department to hand out coloring books and plastic fire helmets,
while State Farm agent Michelle Ruper sponsored the Snack Shack trailer for free snow cones.
Saturday marked the 24th year the
local DNR officers have organized the fishing rodeo, and Cox said it’s not uncommon to see people who came every year growing up now bring their children.
“It’s a family thing. I mean, we’re a family,” Cox said. “My wife’s here, my daughter, my son, my momma, my daddy. I’ve got friends here to put it together and everything. So that’s the only way I could do it. I couldn’t do it by myself.”
While it may be seen as just a fun event for kids fresh out of school for the summer, Cox knows the fishing rodeo is also a way to help encourage kids to go outdoors and enjoy the things he protects and manages on a daily basis.
“It’s about the future and what my job is about. If I don’t have hundreds of fishermen, I don’t have a job,” Cox said with a laugh. “But it’s something to me to know they will leave here with a T-shirt, a hot dog, and some memories of being out here with family or friends.”