Optimist Club of Brunswick hosts its first fishing derby in two years

BRUNSWICK — More than 70 children attended the fishing derby that the Optimist Club of Brunswick hosted in North Park on May 14. This is the first year since the start of the pandemic that the club had the opportunity to host its annual fishing derby, Brunswick City Councilman Tim Smith said. The event originally was supposed to take place May 7 but was postponed a week due to the weather. The Optimist Club of Brunswick has put on fishing derbies for about 20 years, Smith said. In previous years, the derby had up to 200 kids at the event. "We didn't know what to expect this year, so we kind of scaled everything back," he said. "But now we're going to scale it back up again." At the event, almost every child caught a fish, Smith said. The club purchased a few hundred dollars' worth of fish and put them into the pond at North Park ahead of time. Raffle tickets were given out for about 30 prizes such as fishing poles and lures. Smith is the former president of the Optimist Club and is a current member. He said the purpose of the organization is to advocate for positivity. "We want to bring out the best in kids, so that's why it was formed," he said. "We just promote positive attitudes." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.