The 40th anniversary of the Orillia Perch Festival, organized by the Orillia District Chamber of Commerce, is off to a strong start.
“It’s going really well so far, I think everybody did have a little bit of a learning curve with the new online aspect, but I think now everything is running quite smoothly,” said Erica Fomenko, Membership and Communications Coordinator for the Orillia District Chamber of Commerce.
This year’s Perch Festival, which started June 5 and runs until June 26, uses a virtual platform via a cellphone app where anglers are asked to submit a photo of their catch so they can be entered into daily draws.
“Most people have had no trouble submitting their photos through the app, there has been the odd issue here and there or the odd glitch, but overall, the feedback has been good,” Fomenko said.
Participation is down from previous years so far, however, Fomenko says the chamber is still pleased with the event's turnout.
“We had a bunch of people sign up over the weekend ... we have well over 500 people signed up now,” she said.
“Attendance is growing, it started out lower than what we normally see as some people were concerned with the uncertainty of restrictions, but now we are hoping to get a few more registrations.”
Normally, the Perch Festival sees participants from the United States and southwestern Ontario, but COVID-19 travel restrictions have prohibited those individuals from making the annual trip to Orillia this year.
“That’s a part of the reason our registration is down from previous years, but we are hoping to make it up over the next three weeks of the festival,” Fomenko said.
"We hope that more people will join in as we’ve expanded our fishing area to all of Simcoe County, so what we’ve lost from people not coming from out of province or out of the country we will be able to make up with people from around our region who haven’t tried the festival before.”
This year’s Perch Festival was originally slated to begin on April 17, but was delayed due to the provincewide lockdown. The silver lining is June presents anglers with much warmer fishing conditions.
“It’s been excellent weather so far. All our participants have been enjoying the opportunity to get out and go fishing,” Fomenko said.
“We are seeing a lot of kids and families participating this year which is really nice to see," she said.
“Now that outdoor restrictions have loosed a little bit, people are thankful that they are getting out with their immediate families and household,” she said.
She noted there is more than $80,000 in cash and prizes available to be won.
“Getting out to fish is already great, but I think people are extra excited to have an opportunity to win a prize,” Fomenko said.
Participant Nikki Graham says her five-year-old daughter, Ella, reeled in a $500 tagged perch on the second day of the festival.
“Our experience with this festival alone has been incredible already,” Graham said.
“We go to our favourite perchin’ honey holes. On our perch adventures we sing as a family to our favourite songs…I’m so happy to be able to participate with my entire family in Orillia’s 40th Perch Festival.”
Graham says she has appreciated being able to fish anywhere in Simcoe County during this year’s festival.
“It eliminates crowding, and being able to enter fish online instead of wasting gas and rushing back to the booth at Tudhope Park to hand in fish is a lot better,” she said.
“I’m sure there is also less perch going belly up in buckets on hot days for those who don’t have bucket with an aerator or change up water enough.”
Participants can still register for the perch festival here. Registration is open until the last day of the festival on June 26, however, signing up sooner rather than later is recommended as every day participants fish gives them a chance to enter the daily draws.
Registration is $25 for adults and $5 for children.
