By John Freeborg

A wonderful crowd of about 150 people enjoyed the 2nd annual SWTU Spring Fair Fundraiser on Sat 4/22. The event was held at the East Side Club on Lake Monona and featured a wonderful variety of food from 608CSK who generously donated the majority of the costs to benefit SWTU. And a big thank-you to Wonder Cookie for the amazing chocolate chip cookies for everyone!

This year featured a combination skill casting contest (fly distance, fly accuracy, spin accuracy). Kyle Zempel, Kalyn Hogard, and Ben Breese took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place respectively, winning prizes from D&S Bait and Tackle and Culvers. Just ahead of the raffle, Drew Kasel’s  years of newsletter and email service was warmly recognized and honored with a pair of cast bronze bookends. Over $10K in raffle prizes and silent auction items left the building with lucky winners. And Dave Hill won the coveted pair of Costa sunglasses in the special raffle for early ticket buyers. A few expense receipts are still rolling in, but preliminary results are showing over $15K in funds raised for the chapter to continue its strong efforts at conserving and improving your local cold water resources, educational outreach, stream work days, and other activities. Well done!

(Also, if you won a TroutRoutes annual subscription in the raffle, please get in touch with John Freeborg at 608-695-8544 for details.)