In October, Roswell Recreation & Parks collaborated with Roswell Rotary to host a Multigenerational Fishing Derby. Bamboo fishing rods being made to the left while catch/release fishing was going on to the right.  This first-year event encouraged teams comprised of a youth, a parent-aged person and a grandparent-aged person to work together to build a bamboo fishing rod and then use in the pond at the back of the Roswell Area Park on Woodstock Road.  It was a beautiful morning for about 100 folks from all over Roswell to come together to learn how to tie knots, hold a fishing pole and laugh.

While they were fishing, the youth would receive tickets for certain activities like putting the worm on the hook, taking the fish/turtle off the hook, releasing the fish/turtle off the hook, etc.  Ideally, they would earn 8-10 tickets.  So, when the team was done fishing, they went to the Tackle Shop where the youth shopped to fill their new Tacklebox by trading in the tickets.  The Tackle Shop, staffed by members of the Roswell High School Interact Club, had fishing line, bobbers, weights, hooks, a flashlight, tweezers and an activity area for the youth to personalize their box with stickers and markers.

The bamboo used was harvested by thinning out the bamboo garden at historic Mimosa Hall.  Win Win!  Craig Fuller, a Park Supervisor with Roswell Recreation & Parks, approached Roswell Rotary hoping to create some collaborative family events by using some under-utilized City of Roswell assets like the lake at Roswell Area Park.  “The Fishing Derby really served as a ‘proof of concept’.  We needed to make sure that our community would sign-up and show up. Proudly they did!”  Roswell Rotary member, Becky Nelson, really pulled the committee and mission together.  “Our number one question of the day was ‘When is the next one?’ We had intact families fishing together and we had strangers unite to make a team.  It was truly collaborative. I’d like to think that this is the first of many highlighting underused Roswell area like the urban woods, the disk golf course, etc.”