Carhartt angler Jordan Lee winning back-to-back Bassmaster Classics wasn’t the only great story to come forth from the 2018 Bassmaster Classic. In addition to Lee’s win, a cooperative effort between Carhartt, B.A.S.S., and the South Carolina B.A.S.S. Nation epitomized the concept of working together for the greater good to collect a win of their own.
During the 3-day 2018 Bassmaster Classic Outdoor Expo inside the Greenville Convention Center on March 16 -18, Shelby Horn and Savannah Sparks, two hard working ladies from the Carhartt manufacturing plant in Kentucky, were in the Carhartt booth sewing the iconic B.A.S.S. logo on Carhartt’s famous “A18” acrylic watch cap.
Over the course of the exciting Classic consumer show, hundreds of gracious fans chose to donate $5 to the South Carolina B.A.S.S. Nation Conservation fund at the Carhartt booth, to get one of the limited edition hats ideally suited for cool weather work or fishing.
“I like the creativity involved in my job, and watching it all come together from a pattern to a finished garment is really rewarding. And having a lot of fishing fans at the Classic thank us for still making Carhartt in America has been really neat too,” says Sparks, a Carhartt employee of five years.
Alongside Sparks at the Bassmaster Classic was Shelby Horn, who also reflected on the goodness of the project. “Our little town of Irvine, Kentucky is home to one of three Carhartt manufacturing plants in America, and I love what I do so much that I actually bought a sewing machine for my home,” says Horn. “At first I was nervous about being here at the Classic, but it’s been really neat, because so many fishing fans have thanked us for being here, and our work is going toward conservation and lake cleanup.”
The net result was $6,000 raised for the South Carolina B.A.S.S. Nation for cleanup of 11 area bass fisheries. The money will be donated to the South Carolina B.A.S.S. Nation to buy gloves, boots, tools, and trash bags for high school anglers and other volunteers who will be cleaning up trash from 11 South Carolina fisheries.
“This $6,000 donation will be huge to funding the more than 500 youth anglers in our South Carolina B.A.S.S. Nation during their trash pick-up this summer. In fact, we’ll probably make a friendly competition out of it to see what schools can pick up the most trash around the lakes. But it takes money to transport these kids and buy supplies for the cleanup, so this money is really, really, appreciated,” concludes Randy Mosley, President of the South Carolina B.A.S.S. Nation.
