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BEMIDJI — Out with the old and in with the new.
Staff members from Bemidji's Parks and Recreation Department were hard at work on Thursday morning installing a new fishing pier near the Mississippi River bridge in Paul Bunyan Park.
The previous 20-year-old damaged pier was replaced with a bigger pier that is better designed to withstand the windy location and wave action to provide more fishing opportunities for the Bemidji community.
The city paid $10,000 of the approximately $35,000 fishing pier through the use of capital improvement funding, with the remainder covered by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
“The old pier was too small and falling apart, so we got a bigger one.” Parks and Recreation Superintendent Aaron Weeks said. “It’s just another fun activity for people to enjoy.”
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It didn’t take long for people to start taking advantage of the new pier, as Weeks said there were people out right after it was installed.
“As soon as we got it ready there were people out enjoying it,” Weeks said Thursday morning. “There was a guy who already caught his walleye limit within an hour of it going up.”
