Editor's Note: Being a good member of the community that gives back to the environment or helps encourage environmental stewardship is part of Riversmith's business philosophy. Part of this includes giving back the environment in the form of charitable product donations and partnerships with river conservation, fishery rehabilitation projects and educational programs. Earlier this month Riversmith supported efforts by the Marine Discovery Center to help protect Florida's Coastal and Mosquito and Indian River Lagoon's ecosystem. Here is a short report from our good friends at the Tailer Trash Fly Fishing Podcast who organized the fund raising event.
Here's the report:
Tailer Trash Fly Fishing Podcast’s screening of the 2024 International Fly Fishing Film Festival on March 9th was an absolute banger!
As we’ve done for our past few events, we opened the event venue for a tailgate a few hours before the films to foster and grow the local brotherhood of fly anglers as well as the fly fishing community as a whole.
For the first time ever, we added live music; with Corey J. Smith joining us all the way from Elizabethton, TN to share a mix of his original songwriting as well as his unique covers of popular folk / country artists. When not performing in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina, he works the fly shop for Trophy Waters Outfitters as well as guiding nearby mountain streams.
By the time the music wrapped up and the sun was sinking low on the western horizon we raffled off prizes ranging from art and jewelry from local artisans, trips from guides invested in supporting their local estuary and gear from manufacturers. In our continuing relationship with Riversmith we were able to again offer a lucky winner their choice of a River Quiver or River Quiver Short Cut. All proceeds from the sale of raffle tickets went to our hosts and vanguards of Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Lagoon - the Marine Discovery Center.
The turn-out for our event was fantastic! We couldn’t be more proud of the locals and out of state visitors who made it such a success.
The highlight for us as a podcast crew was having our hometown crowd see the film we made, A Ride With Clyde, on the big screen. It was the first time seeing the film for most of the crew, as they were kept in the dark as to the actual story being told and how footage was edited prior to being chosen as an Official Selection for the IF4.
More than anything, we hope that our exploits, whether on a podcast, through film or by hosting events conveys a simple message; you and your friends can make a difference in your local watershed and community.
Now entering our sixth year together raising money for Marine Discovery Center with events like this and the generous support of partners like Riversmith, we have contributed over $80K towards conservation programs and education initiatives they spearhead.
- Larry Littrel & the Tailer Trash Fly Fishing Podcast
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