New Charlie the Chinook, 13-foot-long fiberglass fish, headed to Orleans

Charlie will promote fishery at parades, other public appearances

Provided photo: Charlie the Chinook is shown on a trailer during last year’s parade in Carlton.

ALBION – For about 40 years a 13-foot-long fiberglass fish has promoted the fishery in Orleans County. Last year, the fish was named “Charlie the Chinook.”

Charlie rode on a trailer and appeared at the Carlton parade and other events. A banner declared Charlie to be “King of Orleans County.”

But Charlie has been falling apart. He was cracked and being held together with duct tape, said Ron Bierstine, the county’s sportsfishing coordinator.

The Orleans County Tourism Department is getting a new fiberglass body for a replica Charlie the Chinook float. The County Legislature on Tuesday approved spending $5,235 to Fiberglass Animals and Objects in Seward, Neb. A grant from the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council will cover the cost.

County Tourism also received a $2,500 from Brookfield Power to go towards painting the fish and refurbishing a trailer for the new chinook.

Bierstine said the giant fish has been popular and well received by the public for nearly four decades.

“He jazzes people up,” Bierstine said.

The big fish was created in the early 1980s to promote a Rotary fishing derby. It was made by Jack Elam and Bob McGaffick.

For about 25 years it was on a  trailer on Route 279 in Gaines next to the Bait Barn run by the late Al Capurso. Students in the Medina FFA about a decade ago worked to bring the fish back to its original luster.

The Medina students needed to rebuild the tail, strip down and rebuild the fins, fix holes and re-do the interior wire structure. They applied many coats of paint and studied the right coloring to make the fish look like a Chinook salmon – it’s green and brown with some blue, with a gray belly and a pink stripe on the sides.

Bierstine said he looks forward to getting the new fish out to meet the public. Fishing is the county’s top tourism draw, generating about $28 million in economic impact, according to a 2017 report from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Photo by Tom Rivers: Here’s how the fish looked about a decade ago when it was outside the Bait Barn, Al Capurso’s shop in Gaines. The late Capurso had the fish for about 15 years before giving it to the county tourism department to promote the fishery.