Outdoor festival lets children in on the fun
The National Wild Turkey Federation on Saturday showed children a good time as big as all outdoors.
Juniors Acquiring Knowledge, Ethics and Sportsmanship Day was at Lazar's Trailers and Welding on Wheeler Road and included a variety of outdoor fun and safety activities.
The free event included dog retriever training, gun safety, archery, bike patrol safety, rock climbing, a Columbia County Sheriff's Office canine unit demonstration, child fingerprinting, a Martinez Fire Department fire truck to demonstrate fire safety, a fishing-pole casting contest, a Girl Scout camping demonstration and more.
"This event is about showing kids how to have fun hunting and fishing, or other outdoor activities, while being safe and responsible," said Lamar Nail, president of the Euchee Creek Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation.
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Nail said his organization is dedicated to teaching children the joys of being outdoors and communing with nature rather than getting into mischief.
Maycee Wren, 8, of Martinez, scales the rock climbing wall during Jakes Day, an event sponsored by the National Wild Turkey Federation at Lazar's Trailers and Welding.
Photo by Donnie Fetter
"All of these kids here are coming to an age when they need activities in their life that are positive," he said. "I'd much rather they learn how to hunt and fish, and develop an interest in that, than to get involved with something like drugs."