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FAIRMONT - Continuing to get youth interested in conservation includes a mixture of old and new for the Pheasants Forever Youth Conservation Day, which will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29 around the Martin County Arena in Fairmont.
The Youth Conservation Day has been around for around 10 years. In that time, it has amassed a count of around 90-100 kids attending yearly from Martin County and beyond. Youth Chairman Josh Nemechek said they started working on the event around two months ago.
"Two months is when I like to start contacting people and bringing it onto their calendar so they can get it up and be like, 'Oh yep we got this event coming up,'" he said. "It takes time for them too on their end to line up people to come out and run the booth they’re setting up and for them to coordinate what they want to do."
To make this event possible in that timeframe, Nemechek said it takes a lot of communication.
"You gotta go around, make phone calls, send emails, texts, all that good stuff," he said. "Get making contact with a bunch of different groups of people that do different things to line them up to bring them into the event. You got to make sure they’re willing to come to it. Some of them cost money. Some of them do it for free for the cause. You got to line up food. We do a free meal every year for the kids and for the parents."
After minnow races were added last year to rave reviews, Nemechek said they revisited an old idea to make new for this year’s iteration.
"We did a dunk tank once in the past, probably five years ago, and then it got dropped off," he said. "Talking to random people, I got told Montana Tree Service, Montana Thiesse, who owns it, he’s got a dunk tank sitting there that he is willing to let people use. I called him up one day and I asked him. 'Hey, I hear you got a dunk tank sitting out there. Is it something you'd be interested in letting us use?'"
Thiesse agreed, so attendees this year will have the chance to dunk someone into a big tank of water. A new booth will also be coming this year, run by Dickinson County, Iowa. Nemechek said they're not sure yet what they will bring, so it will be a surprise everyone who attends will get to find out together.
Other activities will include a bouncy house, shooting sports, a dive team with their equipment, EMS, fire and police, a plinko board, arts and crafts and a pony ride and hay ride.
The biggest piece of this event is getting kids outside to enjoy activities and learn about conservation and pollinators outdoors. In doing so, Nemechek said they want to give youth a sustained interest in Pheasants Forever and conservation as a whole.
"It’s important to get kids to come out and see the importance of conservation and what it’s all about," he said. "If you don’t start them young on the fun stuff, what’s the chances they’re going to come out and do the educational stuff with it? If we can get them out when they’re young, the chances of them coming back for other events as they get older is a higher turnout."
Organizations in conservation and beyond are seeking ways to get younger people involved as members get older and numbers dwindle. To have events that get the youth involved and have had a marked impact in addressing this issue, Nemechek said it means a great deal to them.
"You see it year after year, new kids coming in," he said. "It’s always great to see new faces because that draws new members to Pheasants Forever, which means we’re drawing more people. It gets more parents that come to our events. The goal is if young families, let’s say they’re new to the area, see this event and they’ve got a 5-year-old kid. The goal is to get them to come out, bring their kid around it and hopefully they will become members themselves and come to our other events."
Though registration is closed, the event is free and still available to attend. For more information, visit facebook.com/MartinCountyPF/.