The Chicagoland Outdoor show kicked off today. Tim and Rich worked the ISA booth all day - I joined them at 5pm. We signed up several new members and "spread the smallie gospel" to anyone who would listen. We distributed tons of brochures, and gave everyone a really good impression of the ISA. I was proud to help at the booth - it felt great to talk about all the good things associated with the ISA.
My highlight: The interesting (drunk?) gentleman who immediately said, "I'm not your guy!" when I described the ISA's conservation efforts. He said, "I don't do conservation. Just put me on a lake in a boat with some beer!" And with a big grin on his face, he wished us well and walked away.
The rest of the time was spent - really - opening the eyes of attendees: "YES! Illinois has some great smallmouth fishing!" That usually got folks interested to learn more.
Here's Tim and Rich - lookin' good in their ISA shirts!
Many thanks to Tim for all his hard work organizing our participation (and all the candy!). And thanks to all the volunteers who are helping with the booth. And to anyone else who helped get this booth organized for the show, please accept my thanks as well.
Everyone - be sure to head out to the show this weekend, and look for the ISA booth.
Chip
PS - I wanted to post this in the "Chicagoland Region Events" forum, but the system wouldn't allow me to post......any clue why?