RDR Utility Services Group is dredging muck from the bottom of the City Park pond where a major restoration is underway that will include a new seawall, sidewalk and storm water retention system. The work prompted organizers of the annual Parkersburg Fish Derby to not hold the event this year and return next year. (File Photo)

PARKERSBURG – The Parkersburg Fishing Derby will not be held this year due to the restoration underway at the City Park pond, organizers said.

“We’ll be back next year, bigger and better,” Bill Vincent, director of the Wood County Recreation Commission, said.

The commission sponsors and organizes with the help of volunteers the annual Fishing Derby that draws more than a thousand kids at the City Park and Southwood Park ponds.

The pond at City Park was drained in January in preparation for the major restoration that includes a new seawall to prevent erosion, a new sidewalk, a new floating fountain with the replacement of existing fountains and a retention system for stormwater.

Several options were considered to hold a derby without the City Park pond, Vincent said. Among those was moving the derby to the lake at Mountwood Park or holding it solely at the Southwood Park venue, he said.

Participants at the Parkersburg Fishing Derby in April 2025. The annual derby will not be held this year because of the restoration at the City Park pond, but will return in 2027, organizers said. (File Photo)

Much fewer people would have participated if the event was held at Mountwood Park because of its distance from Parkersburg, Vincent said. Many of the participants of the derby can walk to either of the ponds in Parkersburg, he said.

People would be less likely to drive to Mountwood Park, Vincent said. Mountwood Park is about 12 miles east of Parkersburg on U.S. 50.

“We looked at Mountwood,” he said.

The derby attracts a thousand or more young anglers at both parks each year, according to Vincent. Southwood Park isn’t large enough to accommodate so many participants, he said.

“I don’t see how you can put that many people at Southwood,” Jimmy Colombo, a member of the Recreation Commission and a former mayor of Parkersburg, said.

A new seawall to prevent erosion and a new sidewalk are planned in the restoration of the pond at City Park in Parkersburg where the annual Fishing Derby will not be held this year. The event returns in 2027 and will be bigger and better, said Bill Vincent, director of the Wood County Recreation Commission, sponsors of the derby. (File Photo)

Planners also considered holding the derby for two weeks at Southwood, but there would have been problems having the volunteers for two consecutive weeks, according to Colombo.

“I don’t think they wanted to tackle that for two weeks down there,” he said.

The Fishing Derby was created 45 years ago under the administration of the late Mayor Al Smith. Prizes are awarded for the largest trout and non-trout in different age categories and a special award is given for catching the golden trout, of which one is stocked each year at both ponds.

“Unfortunately with logistical challenges of conducting the derby at only one single location we will not move forward this year,” the commission announced on its Facebook page, saying the decision was based on the “ongoing and much needed improvements.”

The restoration of the pond is expected to be completed by early May. The derby generally is held in the early part of April.

Vincent cited the participation of the community and the planning that goes into the fishing derby to prepare for a derby in 2027.

“We appreciate all the support,” he said.

Jess Mancini can be reached at jmancini@newsandsentinel.com