ALPHA — Salmon in the Classroom is an annual, seven-month-long project in local schools that allows students to raise fish from eggs provided by Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources to 3 to 4 inches in size. Schools across the Upper Peninsula participate, including schools in Iron and Dickinson counties.

And more schools are on the waiting list for the equipment provided by the local Fred Waara Chapter of Trout Unlimited. Each installation, costing about $2,000, requires a water chiller, a 75-gallon tank, pumps and filters. The chapter also needs backups for the critically required chillers.

In order to provide and grow these U.P. projects, the Fred Waara Chapter is looking for the public’s support, either at a family-friendly fundraiser to be held outside at the Alpha Brewing Company in Alpha from noon to 4:30 p.m. Saturday or by sending a donation to the Fred Waara Chapter of Trout Unlimited at P.O. Box 123, Marquette MI, 49985.

The family-oriented event Saturday will include yard games, free spin and fly casting instruction for young and old, student-created posters about their projects, videos from the projects, hot dogs, brats and non-alcoholic beverages and low-cost raffles. Alpha Brewing is once again generously sharing proceeds from their sales on that day to this project as they continue to support numerous community needs.

After being responsible for carefully controlling water quality, feeding and creating daily reports of their work, dozens of students from each school celebrated the completion of their work with an energetic and exciting sendoff for their fish by releasing them into the wild.