NC Lions VIP Fishing Tournament is Largest of Its Kind

A recent Community Foundation grant is supporting the upcoming NC Lions VIP Fishing Tournament. For forty years the NC Lions VIP Fishing Tournament has been bringing together North Carolina residents of all ages who live with blindness or limited vision, their sighted guests, and volunteers for three special days of events, programs, fellowship, and fishing on our Outer Banks. The NC VIP (Visually Impaired Persons) Fishing Tournament has grown from serving twelve people in its first year to now serving more than 350 participants and involving hundreds of volunteers, sponsors, and guests. More than 1,000 dinners are served on the event’s first night and nearly 300 hotel rooms are booked. The First Flight, Nags Head, Manteo, Wanchese, Columbia, and Lower Currituck Lions clubs raise money throughout the year to support this one-of-a-kind tournament, the largest public/private partnership of its kind in the United States.

VIPs arrive on the Outer Banks on a Monday. They are housed in local hotels, have meals together, and go fishing on two head boats and three ocean fishing piers for a day of recreation, and participate in seminars and events. The closing awards banquet on Wednesday offers more motivation and awards. More than 300 volunteers follow the same schedule as they assist participants throughout the event.

This year’s tournament is scheduled for October 16 – 18.

One past participant wrote, “This tournament is a must for all blind and visually impaired people. There is not a better way of getting hold of your senses. When you come to think about it, everybody is fishing blind.”