Sister Lakes girl wins grand prize in Peoria

Published 7:44 pm Thursday, July 17, 2008

By Staff
The National Fishing Lure Collectors Club is an organization with roughly 4500 members worldwide.
Each July, a huge hall is rented and club members gather from places as remote as Japan to buy, sell, and swap fishing tackle and related items.
Imagine a hall large enough to host an Arena Football game lined from wall to wall with tables of tackle and you will understand the enormous scale of this gala event.
This year the meet was held in Peoria, Ill., and Zachary and Alexandria Marquart of Sister Lakes participated in the Youth Display Competition -where they display their collections and can receive prizes and awards based on how they place in three age categories.
Zachary won second prize with his Heddon River Runt display in the mid-age group and Alexandria won first prize in the youngest age group with a frog and frog-spot collection which included various Heddon lures ormerly made in Dowagiac.
She then swept the competition by winning the prestigious and coveted Best In Show Award – tantamount to the Grand Prize.
The National Heddon Museum on West Street in Dowagiac graciously donated the bags they are holding filled with a cornucopia of tackle goodies donated by various members of the NFLCC. Many more children participated in the competition but are not in the photo as they were not present at the awards ceremony.
Not shown in the photo are the children's parents, Todd and Leann Marquart who are, at that very moment, clapping frantically and beaming with pride in the audience behind the photographer.
The children have been ardent collectors since 2006, when they attended their first national meet in Grand Rapids and have amassed an impressive amount of relics from the past -many of which trace their origins back to Dowagiac where, many years ago, James Heddon and his sons established a dynasty in the fishing tackle industry.
It is pleasant and wholesome to see that Dowagiac is still being recognized for its heritage, an honor in which all of us can share and take pride.