Promoted as “a celebration of Michigan waterways and a chance to be a little weird,” the inaugural Grand American Fish Rodeo drew people riverside to Lansing’s Adado Riverfront Park for fishing competitions, live music, local food, writing contests, beer drinking, fashion displays and aquatic education.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Gib King, who organized the fishing competition for the event, said although the cleanliness of Michigan’s urban rivers has improved, the public’s perception of them has stagnated for the most part, with most still regarding them as “old waste-dumping grounds” and steering clear of interacting with them.
A festival such as the Fish Rodeo — one that welcomes people to recreate on, interact with and learn more about urban rivers — serves to re-establish that these bodies of water can be enjoyed and appreciated, King said.
“Events like this are trying to prove that you can kayak out here, you can canoe out here, you can swim out here — I saw a guy swimming the other day — there’s great fishing (out here),” he said. “Some of our best little gems are hidden right here in our cities. We have waters to recreate on, we have green spaces to go bird watching in, we have mushroom hunting right in these urban areas.”
When fisheries and wildlife junior Mike Guthard first arrived at MSU he said he briefly held a misconception the Red Cedar River is “that gross body of water that everybody pollutes in.”
Guthard said the notion about the Red Cedar River as polluted is nothing more than a stigma left by heavy pollution to urban rivers in the mid-20th century, which was majorly combated and counteracted after the passing of the Clean Water Act in 1972.
Instead, the reality is the urban river flowing through campus is a treasure, he said.
“I love it,” he said. “It’s beautiful. You just look from any of the bridges. It’s a little piece of paradise right in the middle of campus.”
Michigan Institute for Contemporary Art Administrative Manager Katrina Daniels said part of the reason the institute organized the Fish Rodeo was to offer people a change of perspective in how they view their city and the river that runs through it.
“Lansing looks absolutely beautiful on the water, so we wanted to get everybody on the water and let everybody see the architecture, see the river and celebrate that,” Daniels said.
