N.D. Governor’s Cup canceled
N.D. Governor’s Cup canceled
BY TYSON SMEDSTAD
An announcement was posted on social media Friday evening that many people may have been expecting, but it didn’t make the news any easier to swallow.
North Dakota Governor’s Walleye Cup was canceled.
This decision was not made lightly, but the committee did not find it feasible to host the fishing tournament and still be able to follow the guidelines put in place by the North Dakota Game and Fish and State of North Dakota.
“As much work that goes into, we do look forward to this every year and everyone was disappointed,” President Joyce Pfliger said. “But just for the safety of everyone involved … we just felt we had to do it.”
One of the regulations to follow is social distancing and with weigh-ins at the city park. Pfliger said they questioned how to regulate that with over 250 teams plus guest there to watch.
“It just wouldn’t have been our tournament, the Governor’s Cup tournament, with all the regulations we needed to follow. It would’ve been too difficult,” Pfliger said, “To have it up in the park and have no spectators, it just wouldn’t have been the Governor’s Cup.”
Also, volunteers need to check in and inspection for the boat just wouldn’t have worked.
The up side is that anyone who had been guaranteed a spot in this year’s tournament can carry the registration over to the 2021 tournament and their spot will be held. Participants can also request their entry fee be returned if they choose to not be in the 2021 tournament.
Pfliger will be contacting everybody to double check if they will be fishing next year or not.
“We know how much it brings to Garrison and that’s a big thing,” Pfliger said. “We feel bad about that, since this event won’t be happening so it won’t be bringing all of those people into Garrison.”
Pfliger also didn’t feel comfortable approaching anyone for donations since everyone in the community has been hit hard by this pandemic, so prizes wouldn’t have been at the level they had in the past.
Garrison’s Keith Witt’s team finished in seventh place in last year’s Governor’s Cup.
“I think the committee made the right decision,” Witt said. “Logistically speaking with all the restrictions it would’ve been hard to pull off.”
