The weather was perfect and the crowd exceeded expectations. The Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce did an outstanding job of organizing the festival. A special thank you goes to the corporate sponsor, Blue Ridge Paper Products.

The Trout Festival has remained true to its initial mission of promoting water quality education and awareness. In addition to the financial benefits for local businesses, the festival encourages local organizations to conduct educational programs and display educational exhibits. HWA and Haywood Community College students helped Dave Dudek conduct the CATCH program (Caring for Aquatics Through Conservation Habits). The youth learned about water quality, water safety and fishing. Dave stocked a section of Jonathan Creek with some dandy brook trout. The children hauled them out as they learned the fine art of fishing. Now that is reel hands-on learning.

This year Dave added two of the Kids in the Creek stations to the CATCH program, water chemistry and benthic investigation (creek bottom bugs). Children learned how these two methods of assessment are used to evaluate water quality. As it turned out, catching critters was almost as much fun as catching fish.

The Trout Race was the climax of the day. Our President, Bill Eaker, sold one of the winning tickets. In addition to the race winners, HWA and the CATCH program were big winners. The Maggie Valley Chamber donated $250 to the CATCH program and $750 to our Kids in the Creek program. The Chamber has been a loyal supporter of both of these programs. We sincerely thank the Trout Festival Committee for their donation and all the HWA members that sold and purchased Trout Race tickets. Ticket proceeds ensure the future of the Trout Festival and help fund Kids in the Creek and the CATCH program.