Fish Grab - Fourth Festivities

The fourth of July in a small town is like nothing else. I remember when growing up in a small town for a few years when I was growing up. They had a greased pig contest where the kids (more like teen boys) would pay to get a chance to win a greased pig. The contest was funny and every laughed. 

In our small town, they don't offer a greased pig contest but they have a "Fish Grab" where the local hardware town donates wood to make three large pools. A fish farm donated hundreds of trout and hundreds of kids climb into the pools that are separated by ages and fight for a fish.

The first year we moved to the town, we celebrated the fourth in town. We stuck our Princess number one in the pool and she was terrified by the fishes swimming around her feet. She honestly did her best to try and catch one of the terrified and slippery creatures but the event ended in horror as one of the boys who was quite able and talented at fish  catching was also kind of sadistic, threw the fish into the air where it came down and hit some children on the head. I can't remember exactly now if it hit Princess number one or just someone near us but the horror of being hit in the head with a half dead and terrified trout was more than I could deal with. 

From that day on, none of our children did the fish grab. None of my children had even seen it until this year as I left town on the fourth and took my girls to a more civilized town where they had free crafts and paid charactor artist to draw our family for free. :-) 

With having an exchange student this fourth, I thought it would be good for her to see the event. They back a truck up and when the kids are around the pool and ready to go, they use a net to catch the fish from the truck and put them in the water. Then they sound a bell and the children jump into the water and go after the poor fish. 

Once again, there was flying fish. There were some sweet moments among the carnage. Some older boys would catch fish, knock them out with the side of their hands and then let the little children catch the slow fish. They meant well but it seemed a bit cruel. 

There were kids with a fish on each finger but most didn't end up with a fish. Another funny is that they didn't provide bags to put the fish in once they were caught. People were walking to their cars with fish in their hands.  Not great at making the car smell better. 

Just wondered if your town did the same thing?