Outdoor Journal

Speed racer for kids: One out of five children in Buncombe County live in poverty. These kids, say organizers of the Saturday, Sept. 13, Asheville Grand Prix fundraiser, may not have access to warm clothing, adequate health care or nutritious meals. They’re also at risk of dropping out of school, joining a gang, getting involved with drugs or becoming pregnant.

The Asheville Grand Prix, to be held at Biltmore Park Town Square, will raise money to help them. The cycling event is an all-day festival of food, fun, amateur racing and a pro men’s-and-women’s race that evening. There will also be a children’s play area to include such activities as face painting.

Proceeds will fund such after-school and summer programs that provide academic assistance; enrichment activities such as arts, music and physical activities; healthy snacks; outdoor activities; and environmental education.

To support the race and get more information, go to www.ashevillegrandprix.org or call Lesli Meadows at 777-2523.

The biggest little fish: Another freshwater-fish state record has been broken—this time by Wake County angler Sean Vanderburg. On July 27, he caught a 1-pound, 14-ounce green sunfish from a private pond in Caswell County.

Green sunfish average a mere 8 ounces. But this monster measured 12 inches long and 14 inches around.

“I’d never seen a sunfish that big before, so I had a little freak-out moment,” Vanderburg confessed.

For more info on the state’s Record Fish Program, visit the N.C.Wildlife Commission’s Web site at www.ncwildlife.org, or call the Division of Inland Fisheries at (919) 707-0220.

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About Margaret Williams
Editor Margaret Williams first wrote for Xpress in 1994. An Alabama native, she has lived in Western North Carolina since 1987 and completed her Masters of Liberal Arts & Sciences from UNC-Asheville in 2016. Follow me @mvwilliams

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