Saturday's fishing derby cancelled
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A popular annual Fourth of July event won’t see the light of day this year.
The youth fishing derby, which normally takes place at the Graham County Fairgrounds, has been cancelled due to an abundance of dead fish.
According to Fairgrounds director Casey Faunce, hundreds of dead fish have been removed from the pond in the last couple of weeks.
The American Legion and the Elks Club are sponsoring the event, and David Mullen, manager at the American Legion, said all options were explored.
One of the options was moving the event to Roper Lake, but that wasn’t possible. Officials at Roper Lake told County Manager Terry Cooper they couldn’t handle the event because of an already high volume of people using the lake for the holiday weekend.
No one is sure how the water became so polluted. Water samples were taken by Arizona Game and Fish for testing, but the results won’t be known until next week.
Cooper, Mullen and Faunce expressed regret that the event was cancelled. The fishing derby has been a staple of Fourth of July celebrations in Safford for at least 15 years.
Instead, a party for children will be held at Firth Park on Saturday, starting at 7 a.m. Games and free hot dogs and watermelon are included.
Mullen said the county is attempting to reschedule the fishing derby for Labor Day weekend at the Fairgrounds.
