Charles Dickson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A few days of cold weather ensured the ice was thick, the sun came out, and close to 80 people showed up for the first annual Beechgrove Ice Fishing Tournament held on Saturday.
Madison Latour says that holding an ice fishing derby on the Ottawa River near her home in Beechgrove was her husband Matthew Weston’s idea.
“But he’s actually not able to be here today, he had to work. So, I’m kind of helping by association,” she said with a laugh.

Ashley Mahoney and her husband Jessey Arthurs, also of Beechgrove, helped out on Saturday, as well.
“People seem to be happy and having a good time,” said Mahoney. “We had no idea there was going to be this much of a turnout.”
“We’ve got just shy of 80 people who have registered,” said Latour. She explained that prizes were offered on the basis of the weight of the fish in three categories.
“First and second place walleye, first and second place pike, and first place for perch . . . there’s no second prize for perch because they’re so much smaller, we just wanted to include them because we do catch a lot,” she said.

“The prizes are from whatever money we raised from the registration, and we’re also selling 50/50 tickets. Half of the money from that is going to the winners, the other half is going to be donated back to the Legion here in Quyon,” said Latour.
“We also laid on a free barbecue paid for with the sponsor money, so we have hot dogs for everybody that registered,” she said.
Paula Weston chimed in, speaking about the organizers’ motivation in putting on the event.
“They wanted the community to come together because covid split up so much stuff, it was so negative, and they wanted to get the kids and families out to have fun,” she said.