Organizers are hoping the skies will cooperate for this year’s Hanceville Senior and Kids’ Fish-o-Rama, which kicks off Friday and continues again on Saturday at Veterans Park.

The annual community event gives locals a weekend’s worth of angling at Hanceville’s fully-stocked pond at Veterans Park. 

This year’s event kicks off at 7 a.m. Friday with the Senior Fish-o-Rama, which the city hosts in conjunction with the Cullman County Commission on Aging. Then at 7 a.m. Saturday, the kids’ version kicks off, with the city handing out free food and refreshments on both days.

Started by Mayor Kenneth Nail when he was serving on the Hanceville City Council, the Fish-o-Rama has been around for close to 20 years now. It’s become a springtime tradition at the park, and it’s a fun, free way for Hanceville families to get together and enjoy the outdoors.

“We started this years ago and picked it up back when the Fraternal Order of Police did their annual fishing event,” said Nail, “and for a long time we’d have it in different places — Sportsman Lake, and then out at St. Bernard, and then back and forth. But eventually we just decided to start doing it here.”

The pond at Veterans Park has been around far longer than the event itself; in fact, said Nail, it used to supply crop irrigation lines for farming in the vicinity. But this week, as in years past, it’s been pre-stocked with 600 pounds of catfish and remained off-limits for fishing until the Senior Fish-o-Rama begins, to ensure a plentiful catch on both Friday and Saturday.

Participation in the Fish-o-Rama is always free, and kids who catch the biggest fish on Saturday will get trophies for the biggest haul. Lures hit the water beginning at 7 a.m. each day, with the event wrapping around 11 a.m.

Benjamin Bullard can be reached by phone at 256-734-2131 ext. 145.