Special needs children enjoy day of fishing

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

Sam Penrod reportingSome special children had a special day in the great outdoors. They all participated in this year's "Fishing Day" at Salem Pond.

"Fishing Day" organizer Kevin Pritchett can only smile when he sees all of the children and volunteers enjoying a day of fishing at Salem Pond. "This is going on 20 years. We started with 20 kids, and this year I bought 1,000 hats, and they are out of them," he said.

More than 1,000 special needs children from Utah County get together once a year for a chance to fish. "These kids are special kids. They are sort of ‘in the box' with special needs, and this is a day to take them outside of their box and experience something a little different; and they get excited about it," Pritchett said.

Special needs children enjoy day of fishing

Someone who always gets excited for fishing day is Jimmy Powell. He has been here since day one, and over the last 20 years, only missed a year or two.

Jimmy is now 58 years old, and his love of fishing goes back a long time. "My daddy taught me fishing when I was a little boy," he said.

Thanks to the volunteers who help make sure everyone catches a fish, and the businesses that donate the food and supplies to make it all happen, today is much more than a day of fishing. It's a day for making memories and putting smiles on faces.

E-mail: spenrod@ksl.com