I’ve now been involved in the Michigan Brown Trout Festival from six different perspectives.

I’ve been a fishing participant, a volunteer, a festival attendee, a board member (at large and representing a service club), and a presenter at the awards ceremony.

My first experience was as an attendee. I don’t recall attending much before I was 21, but I do recall attending plenty of entertainment events once I was old enough. From an attendee perspective, without having any other experience with the festival, my entire perspective was shortsighted. It was a fun time. I saw friends. The end.

Then, for a few years, I was able to participate as both a fishing competitor and an attendee. Adding the perspective of a fishing participant opened my eyes to the fact that there actually was a fishing tournament. I always knew that was true. It was just very foreign to me, as I had always attended after the weigh-in hours were done. The festival was suddenly bigger than I realized.

I then started getting involved as a volunteer, both as a board member and event volunteer. Volunteering (selling tickets or slinging drinks) was a lot of fun. It gave me the perspective of being on the other side of the bar when there are lines of people wanting drinks. I also got to see that organizing the bars was not a small task. It took a lot more than just selling tickets or distributing drinks to keep those areas running smoothly, especially on the busiest nights, which were my favorite ones to volunteer for.

Being on the board allowed me to see numerous details that being an attendee, bar volunteer, or even fishing participant did not show me. I saw all the work that went into planning a massive, multi-day event like the Brown Trout Festival.

There is much more to the festival than one or two perspectives would allow someone to fully understand.

Being asked to emcee the awards ceremony was my most recent new perspective of the Michigan Brown Trout Festival. I went into it knowing how much effort went into planning a 10-day festival with both a fishing competition and entertainment component, but what the ceremony taught me was the crazy amount of data and information the festival volunteers track and manage.

There have been more than 6,000 registrations in 50 years. Every day, there are multiple species of fish that are weighed, and all that information is logged. There are multiple fishing tournaments involved in the 10 days, each having data to track and record.

Many tournaments happen simultaneously (regular, kids, ladies, etc.). More than 1,000 hours of volunteer time must be scheduled and tracked. Product (beverages, cups, merchandise, trash bags, cash start-up amounts, etc.) needs to be recorded. Revenue and expenses are tracked and monitored. The list of data collected and utilized is long.

The Michigan Brown Trout Festival is a behemoth event to plan and execute. Viewing it from just one perspective certainly does not tell the whole story.

Yet, as with most things, one or maybe two of many perspectives is what most people have and use when making judgments.

Once you add perspectives, things come into better focus.

That doesn’t just apply to community festivals.

Driving by a business. Being a customer of a business. Owning a business. Starting a business.

Observing the neighbor’s kids. Babysitting kids. Raising kids. Teaching kids.

Watching someone cook with olive oil. Cooking with olive oil. Seeing how olive oil is made. Making your own olive oil. Eating olives.

Being a tenant. Being a landlord. Reading about others who are tenants or landlords.

Insert any topic.

With everything, the more perspectives we can gain, the closer we will get to truth and the greater understanding we will have of the world.

Latching on to what we learn from one angle, as if it tells the whole story, is foolish.

Welcome those perception-expanding opportunities every chance you can.