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Boat registration and banquet tickets are on sale for the second Baxter Health Foundation Bass Classic, set for Oct. 22 and Oct. 24.
The banquet runs Thursday, Oct. 22, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Baxter Health Wellness Education Center. Tickets are $50 and include a fish fry by John 3:16, with catfish, chicken tenders, fries, coleslaw and hushpuppies. Wine and beer will be sold, and the Country Case Band will play.
The evening also includes a silent auction and raffles.
The fishing tournament follows Saturday, Oct. 24, on Norfork Lake. The first flight takes off at 7 a.m. from Lake Norfork Marina in Henderson, with weigh-in at 3 p.m.
Entry is $200 per boat, capped at two anglers. First place pays $4,000, second $2,000, third $1,000, fourth $500 and fifth $250. A Big Bass prize is also listed, though the foundation has not said what it pays.
Two things change from last year. The banquet moves off the Baxter County Fairgrounds, and the ticket price drops from $75 to $50.
The first Bass Classic drew 72 boats from Arkansas and Missouri last November and raised more than $130,000. A Missouri team won it with five bass weighing 13.52 pounds, taking the top prize by 0.37 pounds.
The event replaced the foundation’s formal ball and folded four separate fundraisers into one weekend. Executive Director Sarah Edwards told the Observer last year that the change was partly practical.
“In full transparency, it’s a way for us to consolidate,” Edwards said at the time.
The idea grew out of the Peitz Cancer Support House’s “Kick Cancer in the Bass” tournament, which ran three years before the foundation expanded on it.
Proceeds go to the foundation’s annual fund, which supports the Mruk Family Center on Aging, the Peitz Cancer Support House and the Schliemann Center for Women’s Health.
Anglers can register at baxterhealth.org/bassclassic. Paper forms are also available at the Foundation Office on the ground floor of the Medical Arts Building.
