With charitable mission and community focus, record-setting Redfish tourney so much more than just a fishing event

CEDAR ISLAND, N.C. – Two world records were broken this past August at the Sarah James Fulcher Redfish Tournament. However, the real story from this event is how a community came together to pull off what has quickly become a premier red drum tournament on the East Coast – all done to remember a life taken too soon.

The fishing portion of the Sarah James Fulcher Redfish Tournament was held on August 14, 2021. Yet the competition is just one element to the surrounding arts, music, and crafts festival, which was held at the Cedar Island Resort August 13-15. In addition to the artisans and craftspeople who sold their wares at the festival, national and international musical acts – from as far away as Mexico and Germany – entertained the crowds. More than 600 anglers – one of the two world records – came to Cedar Island to participate. But approximately 3,500 people packed the event over the course of three days as the tournament raised money in honor of Fulcher, who died in 2017 at age 9 from semilobar holoprosencephaly. This condition is an abnormality of brain development in which the frontal lobes don't properly divide into right and left hemispheres.

Fulcher’s memory is honored by a tournament that brings a community together through live music, food, art, and a silent auction – all with philanthropy as the goal. The tournament is the chief fundraiser for Another Perspective, a non-profit that builds inclusive, accessible – and needed – recreation equipment throughout the region. Another Perspective was created in Fulcher’s memory in 2017, the same year she passed away.

“Sarah James Fulcher was a sweet soul with a tremendous personality. And when she passed away, her father stated that his one fear was that she would be forgotten,” said event organizer Hunter Parks, a friend of the family and local businessman. “I can assure you that her memory lives on – in a big way. This tournament is just one way we can honor her legacy.”

“Sarah James was a sweet soul. When she passed away, her father stated that his one fear was that she would be forgotten. I can assure you that her memory lives on – in a big way.”

The numbers bare out that legacy. In 2018, the tourney’s first year, 500 people attended the first Sarah James Fulcher Redfish Tournament. The number of attendees doubled over the next two events -- even including some 2,000 who attended amidst COVID-19 in 2020. But the increase in attendees pales in comparison to the increase in fundraising. In 2018, $65,000 was raised. Two years later, the number rose to $159,000 before swelling to this year’s total of more than $250,000.

Every cent raised from the event goes to support Another Perspective, which has installed inclusive playsets at Eastern Park in Smyrna, the Cedar Island Volunteer Fire Department, and the Davis Volunteer Fire Department.

“The people in this part of the world truly look out for one another,” said Parks. “It is just remarkable to see neighbors pour their blood and sweat to pull off an event like this.”

Oh, and the other world record? That was for the first-place prize purse of $63,500 for a Red Drum in the Ramsey Family Calcutta.

?“Don’t get me wrong: the fishing records are terrific,” said Parks. “But the real beauty to this event is everything else around it. That’s what keeps bringing people back each year.”