Fishing Derby Brings Out the Smiles for Youths and AMG

It may have been only a small bit of shoreline along a reservoir, but life was still a fun-filled beach party for the young people at the annual Fishing Derby.

Games and crafts occupied hands, a fish fry and other treats satisfied taste buds, and laughter filled the air as AMG employees from our Denver and Boulder offices, along with the Greater Colorado Council of the Boy Scouts of America welcomed more than 200 students with special needs to the event held last week at Cherry Creek State Park.

The annual event is sponsored by AMG as a way to assist our community and provide children with special physical, mental, behavioral, or socioeconomic needs an opportunity to enjoy activities such as face painting; crafting projects; visiting with dogs and learning about raptors; launching water rockets and racing miniature boats; STEM experiences such as a dry ice demonstration and soda can implosions; and creating a menagerie of balloon figures and objects. After donning life vests, young people also lined up at the dock for a dash in a boat around the reservoir.

If anyone needed a quick snack, the popcorn and cotton candy booth was ready for customers.

And, of course, it wouldn’t be a fishing derby without lines being cast from the beach area of the reservoir.