An ice fishing derby to benefit the effort to raise money for a new playground at Great Salt Bay Community School will take place Saturday.
Area anglers can fish in any fresh public waters in the state and must purchase a ticket for every fish they enter in the derby. Tickets are available at local businesses for $1 apiece or five for $6.
The Damariscotta Area Teachers Association will host the event and award prizes for the top three fish overall, by weight; the top three fish in eight species categories, and the top three junior division fish in the same eight categories.
Derby prizes include an ice auger, ice fishing traps, a Jet Sled, tool sets, a two-person pop-up ice fishing shack and many gift cards for area businesses.
Door prizes will also be awarded, including 150 gallons of heating oil and a cord of seasoned firewood.
The organizers of the event have two goals – to jump-start the playground campaign and to rejuvenate the local ice fishing derby tradition.
The playground campaign has raised about $45,000 of its $85,000 goal to date, said Great Salt Bay parent and staff member Kristie Houghton, a leader and spokeswoman for the project.
The New Hampshire company Learning Structures Inc. is scheduled to submit the final blueprints for the playground, designed with input from local educators, parents and students, by the end of the week.
The design calls for a main structure in the shape of a ship. The designers call it “Tire Tannic” and it features a tire wall children can climb to access the deck. The structure also includes three slides, including a 20-foot-long “wide slide” and an “open spiral slide.”
Students can climb to the “mid deck” via climbing walls on either side and move fore or aft by way of a “wiggly” bridge or a rope net bridge.
The blueprints also show a balance beam and “wiggly walk,” a “sailboat” zip line and other unique features, as well as playground mainstays like monkey bars, a sandbox and a swingset.
The committee plans to build the playground this summer with guidance from Learning Structures and labor from a large corps of volunteers.
Meanwhile, the condition of the aging playground continues to deteriorate.
The school has removed or limited access to a rope ladder, swings, a three-lane slide, a tire swing and a zip line in recent years due to damage and decay.
Great Salt Bay students in grades 3-4 pointed out these features and others during recess Feb. 13.
The students slog through several inches of standing water around and under the main structure of the playground, an area that regularly floods due to inadequate drainage.
The playground project includes adjustments to the site to prevent drainage problems in the future.
The students are actively participating in the project, contributing their ideas during the design process and helping raise money.
The students bring spare change to school as part of the Kids Make Change fundraiser and local businesses match the students’ contributions penny for penny.
The children are also enthusiastic boosters for their bottle drive. Anyone who drops off bottles at Standpipe Redemption in Damariscotta, next to Hilltop Stop; or Newcastle, next to The Lincoln County News; can have the center contribute the proceeds to the playground.
“All of us are excited and we’re trying to raise money and everybody here is trying to pitch in and if we raise enough money we can have a new playground,” said student Kenyan Cotter.
The Community Playground Committee hopes the fishing derby will advance the campaign toward its goal and allow for construction this summer.
The event will also serve to revive the local ice fishing derby tradition. The organizers of the derby say the event will be the first of its kind in five years, since the last year of an annual derby organized by the Samoset Fish and Game Club.
Steve Peaslee, a Damariscotta resident and registered Maine guide, is helping organize the derby. His wife, Kami Peaslee, teaches at Great Salt Bay and their children, kindergartener Tanner and first-grader Annie, attend the school.
Steve Peaslee said he and his friends had talked about starting a fishing derby, but he did not start planning until his wife told him the Playground Committee needed a creative way to raise money.
Now, he wants and expects the derby to turn into an annual event, perhaps to benefit a different cause every year.
“I think people will be happy to see another local derby,” he said.
The derby, more than just raising money, serves to teach children about ice fishing, a skill Peaslee believes is not being passed down like it used to be. It also encourages kids to get outdoors during the winter.
“I love to fish with my kids, and this is a great chance for other families to fish with their kids too,” Peaslee said.
The Great Salt Bay Ice Fishing Derby will take place Saturday, Feb. 23.
Advance tickets are available at The Alna Store, Ames Supply, Hanley’s Market, Mike’s Place, Skidompha Public Library and Supplies Unlimited until Friday, Feb. 22. Tickets will be available at Great Salt Bay Community School from 2-4 p.m. the day of the event.
The species categories are largemouth and smallmouth bass; brook, brown and lake trout; and yellow and white perch.
Derby headquarters, in the Great Salt Bay Community School cafeteria, will open at 2 p.m. for sales of derby tickets and raffle tickets, as well as baked goods and hot food. The weigh-off will take place between 4-6 p.m.
Participants must follow derby rules and all state laws and regulations.
For more information about the derby, including contact information and derby rules, prizes and sponsors; or for more information about the playground campaign, visit http://gsbplaygroundproject.org.
