Algonac Pickerel Tournament has plenty for kids

Children’s parade, games and fishing contests

By Barb Pert Templeton

It’s great to be a kid at the annual Algonac Pickerel Tournament.

A four-day schedule of fun and activities for the younger set provides a nice backdrop to the midway, live entertainment, beer tent and Walleye Fishing Tournament for adults.

Opening Day, today, Thursday June 29 will include a Children and Pet Parade with registration beginning at 4 p.m. and the parade stepping off at 5:30 p.m. 

One of the highlights of the weekend for kids is the children’s parade which brings out dozens of kids on board bikes or in wagons plus many in costumes. Pickerel Tournament Sponsor Chair Wendy Wojtas said each child gets a candy bag with a raffle ticket inside and if their number is called at the end of the parade, they can win a free bicycle. In all five lucky boys and five lucky girls will go home with the new set of wheels.

Then on Friday, Saturday and Sunday there will be donut, watermelon, pie and hot dog eating contests on the schedule. A children’s fishing contest is set for Sunday, July 2 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Riverfront Boardwalk.

Photo contests remain a staple

Algonac High School Varsity Track Coach Jack Treppa is in charge of both the baby and pet photo contests, which are popular draws during the tournament weekend. He said he’s been fortunate to run the cutest baby contest the last six years and cutest pet contests for the last four years. 

Treppa explained that the rules are straight forward, participants are asked to submit a photo to his email address along with contact information. He then creates a copy of the photo, so each entry is the same size and printed on the same quality of paper, before displaying them downtown.

For the pet contest he’s welcomed everything from horses, cows, chickens, bunnies, cats, dogs, monkeys, birds, and a hedgehog to the contest over the years. There’s no fee for entering the contests and he received somewhere between 20 and 40 photos each year.

The cutest baby photo contest is also a big draw.

“We usually average about 50 entries,” Treppa said. “And one year we had close to 75 entries.”

The rules for the baby photos are pretty simple. Participants just send in a photo and then allow organizers to display it and put it into the running for the award. 

“I’ve never established an age limit for the contest, but I usually try to keep it under school age,” Treppa said. “If somebody’s going to nominate their child, I’m not going to tell them know.”

All the photos submitted are displayed under the big top at the pickerel tournament. Voting is done by donation in honor of that pet or baby. For example, if Sadie, the German Shepherd is number 20, you would put your donation in the slot for number 20, Treppa said.

“Because we run this as a fundraiser for the Algonac track and field program, votes are tallied by donation towards your favorite child,” Treppa added. “We award three prizes each year for the top three cutest pets and three cutest babies,”

Proceeds from the contests go towards Algonac Community Schools and the track and field programs there.

Treppa said proceeds from this year’s contest will be added to other funds raised this year to purchase a timing system. An automated timing system cost roughly $5,000 to purchase, including all the equipment for it, and that’s for just an entry level model, they get much more expensive. 

“To keep with the times, it is almost a necessity,” Treppa said. “It will benefit our program as well as benefit all those who come out to run against us. Automated timing has become the standard and it’s something that takes away user error from the person running the stopwatch.” 

To see the full schedule of the weekend’s activities, go to algonaclionsclub.com or visit the Facebook page, Algonac Lions Club and 85^th Pickerel Tournament.