We shoot video of the awards ceremony and post it on YouTube and on the marina's website. The Gouin family, who own the marina and originally came up with the idea for this event, are all old friends and we're glad to be able to be part of it.
Portland's First Selectwoman, Susan Bransfield, always attends and this year, took it upon herself to create an official town proclamation honoring Ken Gouin and his late wife, Elsie. Ken, who wants nothing to do with cameras, speeches and presentations was forced to stand there and accept the proclamation. To watch him take the praise was priceless.
All the fish that are caught are eventually released but in the meantime are kept in a highly engineered rowboat filled with circulating river water.
Barry Gouin with one of the fish. Barry doesn't fish but is good at displaying a big one.
There's a big picnic in the afternoon so those sides of beef have to cook for quite a while.
At noon on Sunday, the official end-of-fishing is marked by the firing of a cannon. This has to be loudest ceremonial cannon we've ever heard. We tried to photograph it up close one year and came away stone-deaf for the rest of the afternoon.
It's really nice to see the little fishermen (and fisherwomen) get their awards. Often they don't know what to say but that doesn't matter.
This is a really nice family event that makes us smile every time we look at these pictures and video. Nothing fancy, no dress code and no RSVP. Just show up and enjoy seeing your friends and neighbors.
Check out the video, if you like. It's only 12 minutes long but gives and idea how a small community on the Connecticut river lives.
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