I went to what I knew best: my childhood and the best memories from that time in my life. Growing up, what my dad and I did together a lot was fish. My dad was one of the top local fisherman who could always find the fish. I thought about all the summer and winter fisheries we had been in together... and I thought, "I can do this... and make it even better." 

Every fishery I was in as a child had a fee. Even as a youth, I was smart enough to realize that where money is involved, so too is cheating. The first way to eliminate cheating was to make the event free. The second was to make the prize a prize – and not money. If I made it a family event, maybe less cheating would occur because it would be for fun instead of a monetary prize.

I had to think how to make it a family event. My thoughts were that if it was free and a cookout was involved, families would come for the fun and excitement. This could work.

I had heard of a group up north that hosted an event similar to what I was considering. I talked to them about using some of their ideas. The thing they had going for them was that they had a campground. That meant all kids could fish from the same shore as a group. They also had an overall total catch system, which wouldn’t work for my idea. A boat fisherman would almost always catch more and bigger fish because they can cover more ground faster. I had to come up with a way to make it fair to those who fish from shore. I remembered back to when I was young and a contest I was in:  They had a point system where only one fish is needed for registration. To me, this was the ultimate way to keep it fair for those not fortunate enough to have a boat. Keeping it equal for all was my biggest issue. I believe that a person fishing from shore may not catch as many fish as those in boats, but there are stray big fish near the shore in August.

I also wanted families involved for at least one day with their children. And I wanted them to be able to come from all over. So as not to discourage those who did not live close and were not familiar with Rock Lake, I opened it up to any body of water to help draw in more people.

In June 2000, I was ready to start. I planned it in August. I was only able to get the Upper Rock Lake Park, as the Lower Rock Lake Park was already reserved, so we booked it. I didn't realize that you had to pay for the rental to ensure the pavilion. But I paid it. This brought up other things that cost money though. Well, I was laid off from work so I had time, but would it be enough?  Well it was. For two months I hit the streets asking for donations – covering five cities. 

The event went off well. I had volunteers helping that day, I had door prizes, trophies and food. All donated. There were 43 kids there. Every year, I learn more about how to change things to make them better. But the first year was the most telling and why I decided to continue doing it.

The first change was the ages. One family had just had a son, 2 months old. They showed up and won some rather nice door prizes... this was embarrassing! I had many upset people. I did not know if I would do another. We cleaned up, and went home for the day, not knowing the future of the event. Many people asked about it that day, and I got e-mails and had to think long and hard.

What made me do it again, and keeps me doing it every year is this: During the preparation of the first event, I had a couple from Milwaukee contact me. Here is what they told me: They were in their early 30s and unable to have children. They did not live in the best part of town, and had a neighbor who had two kids, an older teen boy and a younger teen girl. Their mother was addicted to drugs and they were trying to help take care of the kids, kind of raising them you might say. They had asked if they could come and bring them even though they were not the parents. Enough said! How could I say no to that? That is SO much of an example of why I wanted to do this event – I had to continue. I couldn’t stop thinking about the couple from Milwaukee. I had to make it happen again.

I registered the Lower Rock Lake Park in January to make sure I got the park that was right on the lake, easy to find for others, and nice for me, as during the slow time I could watch the lake waves roll in. 

Since the first year, the donations have grown with the crowd. My family members have stepped up to help. My sister developed a program for checking that each child’s name is in the hat only once for each round of door prizes we do. My oldest daughter took that over the year my sister decided to have her baby during my event! I call it "my" event, but that is not the right word to use. I did the first year by myself, but since then I have had some awesome support, making me look good. 

I think to myself that I will not always be around, and someday I will look down and some young man or young woman who participated in the event when he/she was a child will be filling my shoes, making this possible for others. This is my dream and it is such a reward to see it happen.