Peters Township Fishing Derby provides fun morning for families
Hannah Julius enjoys a morning of fishing at Peters Lake Park.
Brayden Guarino celebrates a catch.
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From left, Laci and Lexi Vance hope for catches.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Rhett Gregory shows his catch.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Taylor Julius keeps watch for a fish.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Stella Andreyo’s shirt says it all.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Alex Campbell and his father, Nick, try their luck.
Brayden Butler celebrates his big catch with grandfather Scott McKinney.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Josh Tynes waits for a catch.
Emilie and Don Angel wrap up a morning of fishing.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Members of the Makrinos family get reading from some fishing. From left are Sophia, Alexis, Suzie and Anthony.
Gracie Galbraith takes a brief mask break to show her smile.
Colton and Merrick Sarles wait for a bite.
Brayden Sowa takes a snack break with McMurray Rotary Club member Greg Incardona, his grandfather.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
From left are McMurray Rotary Club members Jesse Pettit, Roy Crumrine, David Wylie and Romain Frieden.
Periods of precipitation did little to dampen the spirit of participants in the 21st annual Peters Township Fishing Derby.
Actually, the weather on the morning of Aug. 15 was welcomed by many of those in attendance as a break from what has shaped up as an atypical hot, dry summer in Western Pennsylvania.
Whatever the case, everyone seemed to enjoy an opportunity to get out and about amid the limitations caused by COVID-10.
The Peters Township Parks and Recreation Department, which presents the derby each August along with McMurray Rotary Club, took measures to ensure safety by limiting the number of registrants and changing the format for award prizes.
Each of the children was given a door prize when he or she arrived at Peters Lake Park, instead of the traditional announcing of recipients throughout the two-hour event. And winners of the four main prizes – first fish caught, longest fish, shortest fish and most fish caught – picked them up at the Community Recreation Center rather than gathering together at the derby’s conclusion.
The event started in 2000 at the suggestion of Mike Silvestri, then township manager and a McMurray Rotarian, as a way to promote activities at Peters Lake Park. In the years since, it has grown into a highly anticipated morning together for children and their families.
And the weather tends not to matter.