Get Trashed 2023
recap by Chris Calabrese
photography by Walker Esner
The 7th annual Get Trashed in the Catskills took place at the Delaware River Club last weekend. It’s a wild and fun event that has become many volunteers favorite weekend of the year. The event kicked off Friday night with a welcome bbq provided by Breeo Firepits. Chris and Drew from Breeo cooked up some grilled salads, burgers and dogs for the crew and were kind enough to donate a Breeo Firepit to raffle off to benefit one of our favorite non profits, Streets2Streams. An Iron Fly followed dinner, a fly tying “contest” that borrows a lot from Iron Chef. Partying was kept to a minimum because the main event was going to take place bright and early Saturday morning, but there were still a lot of beers drained.
Saturday everyone assembled at the DRC parking lot then after a little instruction, headed up to the upper West Branch of the Delaware River. About 50 volunteers in kayaks and canoes as well as about 10 drift boats braved the 50 degree water to find all kinds of trash. The big score every year is tires! Unfortunately, they are all over the upper Delaware system, but fortunately once a stretch is cleaned it tends to remain tire free for years to come! This event (created by our Pig Farm Ink friends in Colorado many years ago) is different from other clean ups because there is a good natured competition and really amazing prizes, donated by our sponsors. People tend to bust their ass a little harder when there’s a pair of 250.00 sunglasses on the line. We got off the river around 6 for a “weigh in” at the DRC which was followed by a pig roast prepared by John Napa Papa Loughlin, Lina from Pumpkinseed Chainstitch, and DRC Guide Sam Dennis.
A very loose “awards ceremony” was held and the people who dug out the most tired and generally kicked the most ass were blessed with some amazing gear. The rest of the night was filled with a lot of beer (thanks to our returning sponsor West Kill Brewery!), a little gambling, and a fuck ton of fun.
Get Trashed 2024 will take place at the Delaware River Club in Starlight PA the weekend of August 17th. Most of the rooms have been spoken for, for years now, but camping on the property is free and encouraged!
Endless thanks to our sponsors: Delaware River Club, Pig Farm Ink, Filson, Bajio Sunglasses, Patagonia, West Kill Brewing, Breeo, Crooked Creek Holler, Simms, Oars of Hancock, Bluestone Angler, Dangles Accessories, Vedavoo, Axelrad, Rising, Dette Flies and Streets 2 Streams.