FRANKLIN
The Three Rivers Bass Tournament Series will have a fishing tournament fundraiser benefiting Area 29 Special Olympics.

The tournament will be on Saturday, July 18th from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Franklin City boatlanding on the Blackwater River. Registration for the event closes at 5:45 that morning.

“This is a good tournament for families or for people who’ve never fished a tournament before to participate in,” said Doug Williams, a spokesperson for Three Rivers.

This is the second year the Bass Tournament series hosted such an event. Last year’s tournament raised more than $800.

According to its mission statement, the Special Olympics provides year-round sports training and competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

Area 29 offers basketball, bocce, bowling, golf, power lifting, swimming, tennis, track and field and volleyball.

“Special Olympics is a nonprofit, so everything we do is strictly through donations,” said Pat Smith, the Area 29 chair. “We do fundraisers all year so that our programs don’t cost the participants anything.

“But we do have to pay to carry [participants] to tournaments and to stay over night and pay for meals. Then there’s also equipment and uniforms to pay for. So events like this help us a lot.”