Va. Fly Fishing Festival 2009 kicks off

Whatever else is unique about downtown Waynesboro, one thing puts it in a class by itself.

“A river runs through it,” Elizabeth Smith said.

It is not as well-known as the Montana waters written about in a book by the same name by Norman Maclean, said Smith, nor in the movie adaptation by Robert Redford, but it has its own claim to fame.

The South River is one of the few urban trout fisheries in the country. Even more unusual, she said, is its easy accessibility from downtown.

Smith is the promotional coordinator for the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival, an event that’s grown in the nine years since it first invited fishermen to cast for brown, brook and rainbow trout that lurk in the rocky shallows. It draws fishermen and vendors from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Tennessee; and lodge owners and guides from as far away as Alaska to be exhibitors and vendors.

This festival, which opens today and ends Sunday, is Virginia’s only outdoor fly fishing festival, Smith said, and it features expert speakers, authors, guides and outfitters.

Those whose main objective is simply to enjoy the outdoors can learn kayak basics, listen to music and sample wine from area wineries, including Augusta County’s own award-winning Barren Ridge Winery.

The festival’s original sponsor, Waynesboro Downtown Development Inc., had a couple of main objectives at its start, Smith said: “First, we wanted to highlight the river in order to bring tourism and businesses downtown; and second, to remind everyone that we’re in a wonderful location for travelers, between Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway.”

The wineries, Smith said, were a natural addition to the event since Waynesboro serves as a perfect place for tourists to stay while visiting wineries and other cultural and historical destinations.

Gradually the festival has become the largest fly fishing event in the Commonwealth and draws anglers from across the Mid-Atlantic.

After funding the event for two years entirely on its own, Waynesboro Downtown Development Inc. invited other businesses to sponsor the event with an eye toward making the festival self-sustaining. This year’s festival is sponsored by SunTrust Bank, Orvis, Subaru, Dominion, St. Croix and “Virginia Sportsman” magazine. In addition, the City of Waynesboro and Augusta County have contributed.

As in other years, Orvis will set up the “Orvis Instructional Tent,” with rugged gear that can be tested on the spot.

Between lectures, local wineries will host tastings, which are included with admission, as is live riverside music.

The event means more than paddling and casting, said Len Poulin, WDDI board member.

Money received from sponsors, vendors, ticket sales and raffles are used to cover the next year’s festival with the remainder going to the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival Foundation, a new nonprofit agency funded with seed money from an avid fly fisherman.

“He approached us last year with an offer of $10,000 to insure the future of the festival,” Poulin said. The fishing philanthropist, from Matthews, who wishes to remain anonymous, wanted to support an event that forges relationships between anglers, environmental groups and small businesses, all to promote conservation in the state. Poulin said he was surprised at first that a man from a small Northern Neck town would be so interested in a river across the state.

“He used the analogy of the tree we were standing under,” Poulin said. “He said the tree had been planted 50 years ago by someone who didn’t know exactly who would be here. And there we were, enjoying the shade on the bank of the South River.”

The tree analogy resonates with Poulin in another way: “The WDDI planted the seed for this festival nine years ago. You don’t know exactly what will happen until it does happen, but it’s important to start along the path.”

Smith said once the foundation reaches its goal of $100,000, it will give grants each year to Virginia river conservation organizations. The festival now donates half of all proceeds to the foundation, after festival expenses are paid.

Before the foundation’s establishment, the festival donated more than $8,000 to work on the South River and other cold water conservation projects, including earmarking $2,500 toward freshwater tanks for Trout Unlimited’s “Trout in the Classroom” program for local schools and work along the banks of the South River to prevent erosion.

The festival invites non-profit organizations Trout Unlimited, Federation of Fly Fishers, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and Project Healing Waters to the festival free of charge.