Father-Child Fishing Event This Weekend

On the heels of last month’s Father/Daughter Dance, another event which encourages and enhances stronger father and family connections is scheduled for this weekend.

“Hello, my name is Beth Armstrong. I’m the Children Services Act coordinator for Highland County. I also work in coordination with the Family Assessment and Planning Team, the Community Management and Policy team and the local Department of Social Services.”

“We’re having a really fun thing to do with your child/children and your father, or father figure. We’re having a free, fun filled fishing experience open to any child in Highland County at Hinertown Trout Fishing – that’s located on 833 Potomac River Road in Monterey. We’re having this event Saturday, May 17th, from 8:00 am until 7:00 pm. And then, if you weren’t lucky or you filled your bag, you can come back again on Sunday, May 18th, from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. There’s absolutely no cost to participate. All the fish caught are covered through the fatherhood incentive funding.”

“This is the funding that Emily Malcolm spoke about a few weeks ago. We planned and coordinated a Father/Daughter Dance at The Barn, and it was a huge success, so we wanted to continue to enhance the fatherhood-child relationship in our locality. So we were trying to think of something different, so we went from dresses and heels to fishing poles and dirt, and worms, if you will, for these kids to fish with their father or their father figure, grandfather, brother, whatever. It’ll give them the opportunity to come and just have some fun at no charge, and locally. There’s no pre registration required, there is no cost again, it’s just all fun. And if it rains, they’ll still have it. I think the only time they don’t fish is if they have lightning.”

She noted that local resources were used to facilitate the events made possible by the funding.

“The funding for this is a one-time grant, and the intent of the money is to promote fatherhood. And so in order to do that here locally, we’ve tried to utilize local services, local vendors, and I think we’ve been really successful at doing that. Our hope is that either Hiner Trout runs out of fish or we run out of money by the end of the two days, and that in the meantime, wonderful memories are made and a lot of fun was had.”

“If anyone should have any further questions, they can contact the Highland County Department of Social Services at 540-468-2199.”