The last time the Lake Leelanau community hosted the Walleye Festival was in 2006.
Cool weather and a low turnout marked the event.

Since then Tony West, known as “the” bartender at Dick’s Pour House, has missed the event. Now, with the help of a revitalized Lake Leelanau Community Association, West and a group of volunteers are bringing back the Lake Leelanau tradition on May 22.

The festival will include a fishing tournament and a parade. Also, a music and food event in the St. Mary School parking lot will follow the parade, with two bands performing at different times during the afternoon.

“We started talking about reviving the festival last year and tried to get something going, but we started too late. We started planning for the festival toward the end of last summer and the new LLCA got me fired up,” West said.

In addition to the fishing tournament and festival, the LLCA will also host an inaugural golf scramble fundraiser on May 21 at Sugar Loaf The Old Course. West said the tournament will be a scramble format with four-person teams and a shotgun start

“The golf will be fun and affordable for everyone and it’s going to be a good time for all,” he said.

While the festival will still carry the “Walleye” name, the fishing tournament will not be limited to walleye.

“We’re trying to host a contest that includes all fisherman. One problem we ran into with the last couple of festivals is that the guys weren’t finding any walleye,” West said.

To remedy that, the contest will be open to most species (though not bass) and winners will be determined by weight.

“We’re going to have incentives for catching walleye, including a special prize for the biggest walleye caught,” West said. Lake Leelanau is home to many varieties of fish, including perch, lake trout, brown trout, and of course walleye. “I could see guys catching some walleye then getting a few lakers to beef up the weight total,” he said.

In addition to the fishing tournament, the festival will have a children’s fishing area set up at the public dock at the Lake Leelanau Narrows access at the end of E. Suelzer Way, next to St. Mary School.

West said there is plenty of interest in the community and area in seeing the festival come back. “I’ve had a lot of people call and ask if I needed help or just to encourage the effort to revive the festival,” he said.

There are sponsorships for festival events or for the golf outing available for businesses or individuals. Anyone wanting to sponsor an event or volunteer to help can contact West at (231) 409-7223.