Kevin Boozer
Staff Writer
JENKINSVILLE — At first light Saturday, a new chapter begins for the Town of Jenkinsville. The five-year-old municipality hosts its first ever Small mouth Bass Open Team Tournament and Family Day.
The bass tournament, held in conjunction with Tri-State Bass Fishing Club is part of the town’s growth process.
Jenkinsville Mayor Gregory Ginyard said the town aspires to have an event on par with Ridgeway’s Pig on the Ridge and Winnsboro’s Rock Around the Clock. Admission is free for the public.
“The Town of Jenkinsville thanks the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce, Terry Vickers and their staff for their tremendous help in our planning this event. Tri-State has been a huge help, too, since this is a first for us,” Ginyard said.
The tournament registration begins at 5 a.m., with rules being read to anglers at 4:30 a.m. Saturday. At that time live wells will be inspected as well.
As of press time 20 boats had entered the event, but Ginyard said that event organizers learned many anglers wait until the morning of the tournament to register.
Teams are limited to two people per boat. Several employees at the V.C. Summer Nuclear plant signed up and a good many of the early registrations had ties to the Tri-State club. Registered teams pay $100 to compete in the tournament.
Prizes will be awarded for the heaviest string of five bass with $450 going to first place, $300 to second, $200 to third and $100 to fourth. The largest small mouth bass will earn the angler who catches it a cool $300. If no small mouth bass are caught, then the prize will go the person catching the largest large mouth bass.
At 3 p.m. the fishermen will come back to shore and there will be a weigh-in of their catches. They will bring their boats to Monticello Park at the baseball field there where prizes will be awarded. Prior to the awards, the anglers agreed to display their boats for a boat show.
Ginyard said that the bulk of the event will be at Monticello Park. Because of parking restrictions there, the fishing contestants launch from the 99 Boat Ramp off of Meadow Lake Road in Blair. At the park, the family day events begin at noon and continue until 6 p.m.
“We scheduled the family festival day to be geared to kids with free giveaways every 30 to 45 minutes for children under 16,” Ginyard said.
The family day includes six food vendors, nine arts and craft vendors and 14 exhibitors. Exhibitors include Midlands Technical College, Clemson Extension, 4-H, the Fairfield Chapter of the NAACP, the Fairfield Bookmobile, The Fairfield Fatherhood Coalition, Carolina Personal Protection on Guard, Fairfield Memorial Hospital, Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital’s health and wellness programming, the Fairfield County Democratic Party, and CTC Construction Training Center, among others.
Event organizers expect the weather to be good and for all who attend to have a great time promoting family and fellowship in Jenkinsville.
The bulk of events take place off S.C. 215 at Lake Monticello Park at 75 Baltic Circle in Jenkinsville.
Contact Kevin Boozer at 635-4016 ext. 14 or kboozer@civitasmedia.com and follow him on Twitter at @kevinboozer.
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