Plenty of fun for everyone at 11th RRWT!

By Ken Johnston
Editor

While 180 anglers will be chasing the big ones on the water, the RRWT committee has outdone themselves again this year; putting together a fun filled schedule of events.
Everything kicks off with the boats and anglers floating by on the streets during the always popular boat parade Thursday at 4 p.m. Many will have goodies for the kids and some have goodies for adults to!
The public is welcome to the big tent, located on the shore of the Rainy River in Hannam Park, beginning at 7:30 p.m. when the beer gardens open.
At 9 p.m. the first of three dances will be held at 9 p.m. when the well know local band, Thinking of Pinky takes to the stage.
Friday morning the main event begins with the fishing teams departing at 8:45 a.m. The public is welcome to come on down to the Government Dock and cheer them off.
Throughout the day there is plenty of activities going on. At 11 a.m. the Rainy River Hospital Auxiliary will host Pay as you Go Bingo.
Beer gardens open at Noon and a silent auction will begin at 1 p.m.
A 3 p.m. the local Junior Curlers will be holding a penny table which will run through to Saturday afternoon.
At 4:45 p.m. the weigh-ins begin.
They will be followed by the Ionic Lodge's World Famous Fishfry!
At 9 p.m the band Piston Broke will take to the stage.
Saturday is the day the kids always look forward to. Games and face painting will be hosted by the Rainy River Playschool Inc.
Penny table and silent auction reopen at 10 a.m.
Also beginning at 10 a.m. is the very popular Kids RRWT. With many, many participants the past few years, they have ran several flights since there is only so much space at the dock. People are encouraged to come and sign up and organizers will explain how it will run this year. Note all kids have to have a life jacket to participate.
At 1 p.m. internationally renowned hoop dancer Brian Clyne will be performing. He will give an encore performance at 5 p.m.
The beer gardens will reopen at Noon.
At 3 p.m. tent will likely be standing room only as the first boats come back in at 3:15 p.m. As always the top five boats from day 1 will be held back and will come through the tent on trailers.
After all the other competitors have weighed in they will come in and try to win it all.
Last year it was a nail-biter with Fred Foulger and Dickie Byrnes narrowly losing to Jason and Oliver Gibbins. It will be interesting to see if they are again at the top of the pack or perhaps it will be a new face on the podium.
The prizes for this year's RRWT add up to $44,000 in cash!
The breakdown is as follows:
1st $15,000
2nd $7,500
3rd $3,500
4th $2,800
5th $2,000
6th $1,400
7th $1,300
8th $1,200
9th $1,100
10th $1,000
11th $700
12th $600
13th $500
14th $400
15th $300
Day 1 Hidden Wt. $300
Day 2 Hidden Wt. $300
Parade Prizes Ten $50 prizes
River Champ $600
Day 1 Big Fish $500
Day 2 Big Fish $400
Lionel Robert Memorial Award for largest basket of the RRWT $1,000
Top PrinceCraft Team $1,000
At 4 p.m. the Super Delicious Legion Steak Fry will be held.
The band Juke Box Heroes will be playing at 9:45 p.m.