Miles Mayhem: Fishing Tournament Saturday

For the past ten years I have wanted to share my love for the Pennsylvania State Championship Fishing Tournament, with Dave. This may sounds ridiculous, but if you grew up in Tidioute, PA (Tid-e-yute), you would completely understand. Really, you would! Since we spent the first nine years of our marriage in New York it never worked out to be in PA for tournament weekend. But, this year it did!

Now, mind you, if you did not grow up with this tradition you may not understand. The fishing tournament is a 3-day event (Thursday through Saturday), and Sunday the winner is announced/awarded for the winning fish he/she caught. The town has a small (by small I mean small) fair throughtout the weekend and a nice parade on Saturday.

So, this past Saturday we loaded up the minivan, packed our lunches, and made the one hour and fifteen minute trek to Tidioute (in case you didn't catch the pronunciation the first time, that's Tid-e-yute). I grew up in this town. I was born in Erie, and at age 10 my parents moved us to this small (by small I mean small) town. I graduated from high school here. I have wonderful memories of people, activities, and mischief here. Yes, I said mischief....I'm not perfect, ya know!

The kids loved the parade. They each filled a quart size freezer bag with candy. The kids seemed to enjoy the fair. It's not the same as it was when I was a kid, and I'm pretty sure after being at Waldameer this summer....well, who can top Waldameer? It's almost as big as Disney....ahem...okay, not really...

I was happy to share this experience with my family for the first time. Dave was happy to know that next year he will fish the tournament and not have to go to the parade or fair. Oh well, I tried.