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Scaled-back Brown Trout Festival kicks off Saturday

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Michigan Brown Trout Festival Assistant Tournament Director Dick Cadarette hangs the registration sign on the registration trailer on Thursday. The 2020 festival is scaled back this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but organizers hope the number of people entered into the tournament is equal to last year.

ALPENA — Big Brownie, the prize fish planted in Lake Huron in the days leading up to the Michigan Brown Trout Festival, is worth only $2,000 this year if he’s caught during the tournament.

That $23,000 cut from last year’s Big Brownie prize is just one of many ways the 2020 festival, which commences Saturday morning, has been scaled back amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

There will be no big tent or nightly entertainment, no hoopla during weigh-in, no dancing, and no alcohol. Picnic tables have been strategically placed to meet social distancing guidelines.

The festival this year will focus squarely on fishing, which was the intent many years ago when the event was born.

Brown Trout President Peggy Donakowski said the festival board is forced to pay out prize money from registration fees this year because of a decline in sponsorship attributed to the coronavirus. She said the board hopes to bump the prize money up next year, but it is unlikely the $25,000 Big Brownie bounty will return anytime soon because of the insurance fees associated with the prize money.

The only time Big Brownie has been caught during the tournament was in 2017.

Donakowski said it is sad that so much needed to be removed from the festival. She said the board considered long and hard whether to cancel it, as most other Northeast Michigan summer festivals were, but state pandemic rules became loose enough to make hosting a scaled-back festival possible.

“For the longest time, people weren’t even allowed to fish, so we had to wait and see about that, and then there was a limit on outdoor gatherings to worry about,” Donakowski said. “Once we received the information we needed, we decided to move forward with the festival, with limited gathering and social distancing. The decision wasn’t an easy one, but we needed to do this, and the public wanted it.”

The main tournament begins Saturday and wraps up on July 26. The Thunder Bay Bass Classic is Sunday, while the Ladies Tournament is Thursday. The Walleye Extravaganza is slated for July 25 and the Kids Tournament will run concurrent with the main tournament.

Registration for the Brown Trout Tournament, which also pays out prizes for steelhead, salmon, lake trout, and walleye, is already underway and will continue today. Donakowski said that, since the news broke that the tournaments were a go, she has heard from many people who say they are going to participate.

“It would be great if we could meet what we had last year, or maybe get a few more boats,” she said. “Things sound good, from what I’m hearing, and we’re hopeful numbers are good, but it is what it is and we really don’t know what to expect.”

Donakowski said people who visit the festival grounds can bring their own water or soda but are not permitted to bring alcohol. She said people who do so risk the festival losing its liquor license.

Although this year may be a downer for those who enjoy all of the aspects of the festival, Donakowski said she is confident the festival will return to normal in 2021.

“Hopefully, we will have a vaccine by then and things will be back to normal,” she said. “I am already working with our sponsors and I have high hopes we will be able to hold the events that people look forward to.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.

Michigan Brown Trout Festival fishing schedule

Brown Trout Tournament: Saturday through July 26

Thunder Bay Bass Classic: Sunday

Ladies Tournament: Thursday

Walleye Extravaganza: July 25

Super Tournament: July 26

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