For the last 78 years, our Izaak Walton chapter has hosted the Feather Party as our single most important fundraising event of the year. This year, we are rebranding it as the "Fall Festival" (although it might feel a little bit more like winter at the moment) to encourage the entire family to come along for the festivities.

Don't worry! There will plenty of opportunities to win your Thanksgiving Turkey as well as a silent auction, guessing games and other fun for everyone. The event is on Friday, November 15th from 6-9 pm at the clubhouse and children and families are encouraged! 

Cost is only $10 and includes a sausage dinner. Kids can enter for free but will be charged $10 if they want a sausage dinner. Drinks beyond water, tea, and coffee will be available for an extra cost at the cash bar.

We need your help!
We spent $45,000 on our new driveway and $10,000 on the caretaker's house this year. We are trying to offset these costs. You can help in many ways. We need silent auction item donations, tax exempt monetary donations, and most importantly come and HAVE FUN with the whole family, guests and friends. 

If you have an item you would like to donate to the auction, volunteers for the event are planning to be at IWL at about 6:30 pm on Thursday, Nov 14 to set-up for the event and to review the items donated for the silent auction.  This would be a good time to bring your donated silent-auction item to IWL.  Also, if anyone would like to help with the event, that would be a good time to come to IWL to help us get ready for the event. 

We welcome back Mr. John Manuszak from our own chapter of Izaak Walton on Wednesday, October 16th. John will discuss the importance of insects, along with fascinating facts and myths about them. He will explain how to adapt to living in harmony with them. Just recently, the Bee was declared the most important living being on our planet. Bee and Bird populations have been on the decline. How is this affecting us? Do not miss this event. See you at the IKES!

Dinner starts at 6:30 P.M. Program starts at 7:30 P.M.

Menu: Pork Loin with the trimmings

Cost: $9 adults FREE hot dogs for the kids!

Call in your reservations by Tuesday A.M. Oct. 15th at 272-3660

We welcome Dominic Chaloner, Ph.D, from the department of biological sciences, University of Notre Dame, to the IKES on Wednesday, Sept. 18th.

Mr. Chaloner will discuss how Father Sorin chose the “perfect” location for the university in 1842 based on all the surrounding water features including St. Mary’s lakes, the St. Joe river and Juday creek. The relationship between the University and Juday creek has continued to evolve over the past 177 years.

Juday creek has been used for many years by multiple undergraduate and graduate courses at Notre Dame. Courses include general ecology laboratory that Dominic has taught for the last decade. In this course,students learn the the opportunities and challenges of ecological fieldwork. For example, students study the process of decomposition on land and water in both urban and forested areas. Juday Creek, as it flows through our Izaak Walton league, is one of these areas.

From these ongoing studies by Notre Dame students, useful data has been generated over multiple years. This provides interesting insights about the ecosystems associated with Juday creek. Those insights have important implications for the ongoing restoration and management of Juday creek.

Dinner starts at 6:30 P.M. Program starts at 7:30 P.M.

Menu: Roast Beef with the trimmings

Cost: $9 for adults and FREE Hot Dogs for kids 12 and under!

Call in your reservations by Tuesday Sept. 17th by 10 A.M. at 272-3660

Summer Movie and Popcorn

We are pleased to have a Summer Movie night on July 10th at 7pm the IKES! We have procured a copy of the film “The Compleat Angler”. This film, by artist and writer James Prosek, is an artful documentary of the mid 1600’s book written by Sir Izaak Walton. Walton’s book, which remains a top seller to this day in England, is also known as the “Fly Fishing Bible”. Prosek travels through England in the footsteps of Izaak Walton. Prosek and the Film have won numerous awards. In the words of Izaak Walton, “ Fly fishing becomes more than an activity, it cleans the soul of everyday troubles and allows a simple connection to nature”

Movie is free and starts at 7:00 P.M.
FREE popcorn

No reservations required

Save the Date: Hog Roast on August 17

The Whistle Pigs will be returning on August 17 for another amazing night to help fundraise for the Ikes. This year will be particularly important as we had a large spend for a new paved road and parking lot.

Fishing Day

Good news! Our June 1st “Let’s go Fishing Day” was a great success! We had many folks turn out to enjoy fishing, food and fellowship. BIG shout out to Tim Kanczuzewski and J.C. Sporleder for spearheading this event. Tim also negotiated a good price to stock both Rainbow and Brown Trout in the creek and ponds. We finally did it! We paved the road and parking lot at the IKES! The workmanship was exceptional and we even added an additional paved road part way to the archery range. The price tag was over $45,000, so we are accepting any donations to either the trout stocking fund or paving fund

As I'm sure many of you have already heard, our outstanding caretaker for the past 10 years, Casey Collier passed away on Memorial day. Quite fitting for the tough Vietnam veteran who received the Purple Heart along with other honors for his service to our Country. Casey always managed to take care of whatever needed to be done and he will be dearly missed around the park and in our lives. You can read Casey's obituary here.

His loss has created a void that needs to be filled. We are actively seeking his replacement. We want to first rely on our membership for suggestions. Please contact anyone below if you have questions or suggestions. The position is unique. It requires equipment and maintenance skills along with communication skills. It’s technically a volunteer position with “payment” being use of the caretaker’s house with utilities.

President, Mike Hay - 271-0973
Vice President, John Manuszak - 850-4550
Secretary, JC Sporleder - 277-4292
Fish & Outdoor Recreation, Tim Kanczuzewski - 340-0842