On Saturday, October 7 Besadny held its third annual open house. Beautiful weather and TV coverage by a local morning show helped boost attendance to record numbers--over 2,400 visitors!
The week prior to the open house, I was hoping the salmon would return by the next weeks end. With cooler temperatures and measurable rainfall, 2 days before our open house all 6 ponds were brimming with salmon and the place was really jumping.
We could not have done the open house without the help of many great people and organizations including volunteers from the Algoma Kewaunee Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club (AKGL), the Kewaunee Rotary Club, Luxemburg-Casco and Southwest High Schools and DNR employees.
Saturday morning started off with beautiful weather, gorgeous fall colors and lots of salmon. By 9 AM everyone was in place -- the fish crew was crowding salmon, the fish printers were inking their paint brushes, the wrestling club had the coffee brewing at the food tent and the parking attendants were ready for cars—all we needed were visitors. By 9:30 over 85 visitors were exploring Besadny and at 10 AM I could hear the clopping of horses bringing a wagon full of visitors in from the parking lots.
We had over 2,400 visitors in 6 hours. The AKGL sport fishermen and the Kewaunee Rotary Club directed cars, filling up two parking lots and using creativity to fill in other vacant areas. The women of the AKGL, Carrol Toneys, L-C and Southwest High School students were busy fish printing through out the day and sold out of kids t-shirts before noon. The Classic Anglers of Wisconsin taught visitors how to tie a fly and cast. A special thank you to DNR staff who came from Langlade, Mishicot, Sturgeon Bay and Green Bay to help out.
A few highlights from the day:
This year Paul Peeters took over fish dissection. Instead of the ever popular give a kid an egg campaign; it was let a kid hold an organ. According to internet reports one visitor deflated a swim bladder and was told he had to blow it back up. A big thank you to Nan Jameson for handing out 800 goody bags, Michelle Farley for greeting hundreds of cars and George Boronow for answering all sorts of questions during egg collection demos.
Of note, one of our fish crew volunteers came from Oconomowoc to help for the day. On guided tours, I had visitors from as far away as Chicago, Madison, Wausau (they heard about us through friends) and New Zealand. The day before the open house, I received a call from a trucker that heard the FOX 11 morning show broadcast on Satellite radio! He wanted to call saying he wouldn’t make it to the open house but was out to see the salmon earlier in the week when his travels took him through the area. The Kewaunee Wrestling Club sold over 100 lbs of hamburgers and raised hundreds of dollars for their club. We sold over 90 fish printed t-shirts and had approx. 400 visitors an hour come through our facility.
What a truly successful open house. The weather cooperated, the fall colors were in full force and the salmon were jumping. Our sincere appreciation to everyone who took part; we could not have done it without your help.
"In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we have been taught." - Baba Dioum.
Maybe, a few of those 2,400 visitors walked away with a better understanding. Thank you again and hope to see you next year, October 6, 2007.
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