Festival a good place to share, make memories
ALPENA — Since 1975, the Michigan Brown Trout Festival has been a popular gathering place for Northeast Michiganders to enjoy concerts, vendors, and multiple fishing tournaments.
As the festival approaches its 50-year milestone and is still attended by hundreds of people each year, festival goers say the chance to share new memories with old friends is what keeps them coming back.
Gerald Lucas, a volunteer that’s worked the drink tent for 30 years, says that old friends are what makes the Brown Trout Festival such a great event.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Lucas said. “I get to meet people that I only get to see once a year. It brings a lot of the community together.”
Another frequent Brown Trout Festival-goer, Lloyd Barres, started going as a young kid.
“I used to work at the weigh station,” Barres said. “I was kind of a bad kid when I was young, so this is where I went to stay out of trouble. This was my happy place when I was getting to stand up there on the podium and hold up and put them on the scale. [It] kept me out of trouble.”
Barres reminisced about the large number of boats that came out to compete in the fishing competitions, years ago.
He said the competition went down, but the festival is great for Alpena and its residents.
“The Brown Trout [Festival] brings so much business and fun. For a small town like this, it’s everything. I’m just grateful that it’s still going,” Barres said.
The Alpena event continues its 10-day festivities this week and ends on July 24.