A Huge Thank You to Our Volunteers for Manito Pond Catch Success!

Last weekend, we hosted our very first event: the Manito Pond Goldfish Catch. We were blown away by the amount of support we received from the community. We were lucky enough to have a beautiful day, with lots of sun.

Celebrating Our Volunteers

During the weeks leading up to the catch, our team was worried—we weren't going to have enough volunteers. We asked anyone we could to come, and to our surprise, we had 82 volunteers! Some of these volunteers had just been down at the park, and they decided to help. We owe a HUGE thanks to anyone who showed up—we could not have done it without you!

Using traps and nets, our volunteers and leaders worked to catch as many goldfish as possible. For some, this meant getting in the pond, while others tried different strategies to net and trap the fish.

By the end, we had caught a total of 17 goldfish! While this may not seem like a huge number, this is the first time anything like this has been done at Manito Pond.

Throughout the catch, it was amazing to see the Spokane community coming together to unite against a common problem. Volunteers came up with new ideas on the best locations to net, or how to apply the bait to the traps. All ages worked together to catch the fish.

On top of catching a number of goldfish, the catch also functioned to educate the community. Every volunteer learned about the issue, and how they can help. Many bystanders asked what we were doing, and what the goldfish were doing to the pond. After this catch, many more people are aware of this issue, and will help to stop further dumping of goldfish in the pond.

Looking forward, we hope to host events like this on an annual basis. Volunteers and leaders alike had fun, while also making a difference. If you have any feedback, feel free to contact us! We are always looking for ways to improve!

Overall, we are incredibly grateful to all of our volunteers, and the donors who made this event possible. We cannot thank you enough. We look forward to catching with you in the future, and hope that those who attended have learned something new about goldfish.