Saturday, February 16, 2008

Wild Weekend in Walker...

Yesterday began the annual Eelpout Festival in Walker. It's one of those weekends with thousands of people in town, on the lake, on the road, in the stores, and generally in the way!

Activities such as this are good for the local economy, I know. The whole thing started as a big joke 29 years ago. Two local businessmen were talking, and they decided that there should be some kind of celebration/activity in the middle of February. We have all sorts of summer and fall celebrations, why not something in winter when people really NEED something fun?

Walker has Walleye tournaments, Bass tournaments, and Muskie tournaments all taking place during summer months. Why not a tournament to fish for the Eelpout? It is considered a 'garbage' fish, an ugly fish, something to throw away if you accidentally catch one.

So...these two businessmen proposed this idea and the response was amazing! Yes, the town needed something exciting in the middle of winter. And now we have this crazy fishing tournament/festival each February. Go figure.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Started it as a joke, huh?

Well, thank goodness for that. Otherwise, I'd be afraid to visit Walker if I thought they were serious about the whole thing. :)

Sharon said...

To me it still IS a joke! All those people freezing their butts off, getting drunk...

Loralee Choate said...

A festival to a garbage fish???

HEE! Very funny as a whole, but I imagine dealing with drunken participants is no fun at all.