Wawa Ice Fishing Derby – Thanks to our volunteers & donors

Willing volunteers form the backbone of many successful endeavours, and the 27th annual Wawa ice Fishing Derby is no exception to that rule.  Without volunteers, the Derby simply could not happen!

For Thursday night night’s set-up, the Derby Board members were joined by a great team – Mason, Trevor, Alexa, Nikki and Sebastien – who willingly packed, lifted or moved whatever we asked.  Thank you!

Friday’s Registration “marathon” would not have happened without the participation of Judy and Claudette, Diane and Claire, Marg and Michael, Lesley and Roberta, Ann, Mary and Holly, Pauline and John, Sandra and Jayne, Mark and Bev, Rob and Gregoire, Michelle and Wendy. To register 1,312 participants is a huge job, and to quote one volunteer, “the line didn’t end – people  just kept coming!”

Fortunately, Mason, Allison, Michelle, Trevor, Alex, Nikki and Matt were there to act as “runners and helpers”, finding tickets, stocking mugs, supplying hot coffee, and whatever else could be done to keep things going smoothly.  The Derby is fortunate to have such an amazing group, and we give them heartfelt thanks.

And where would the fish weighing table be, without the “weigher emeritus”, Louis??  Louis arrived early on both Saturday and Sunday, and worked through both days washing and weighing fish.  Thank you, Louis!

At this time, we must also thank Sheila, our computer expert, who kept records of all the fish, the participants who caught them, the correct weights, lakes and times, and did her best to coerce a sometimes awkward computer to behave!  Thanks also to Dave, our webmaster, who stepped up when the computer became too awkward!  And thank you to Gregoire Mazal, Wawa’s 2017/2018 Rotary Exchange student from France, who was our draw master for some Early Bird prizes and most importantly, draw master for the $30,000 Registration draw.

Thanks also go to Chayse, the best fish-cleaner ever, and his partner Julia.  Derby rules require that each fish is gutted, but Chayse went “above and beyond”, not only gutting fish but filleting them if the participant requested.   And on the topic of “fish”, we would be remiss if we did not thank all those participants who donated their fish to the Wawa Food Bank.

In addition to the scheduled volunteers, two others stand out.  Many, many thanks go to Richie and family, who stepped up to solve a music problem, and to Robert, who spent a few minutes on Sunday to clear up confusion.

Thanks go to Jody for her work at the dance, and thanks go to our contractual partners, Wawa Volunteer Firefighters, for their work in setting up and tearing down, and to Wawa SnoRiders, for trail grooming, ice huts and patrollers.

Finally, thanks to Marla and Mandy, Alex and Brian, and the staff of MMCC, who have given the Derby Board so much assistance over the past 6 months.

There is an old proverb, “many hands make light work”,  and the 2018 Wawa Ice Fishing Derby certainly proved that.  Without so much help, we couldn’t have succeeded.  Thank you.

Editor’s Note – This article was corrected on March 20, 2018. The spelling of RD Yard Care was corrected.