When the Minnesota fishing season officially opens May 14, lifelong angler Carol Altepeter is planning to wet a line with her husband and perhaps even with her daughter, son-in-law and two granddaughters.
This is noteworthy because Altepeter hasn't fished an opener for a very long time — though few people have been more intimately involved in events surrounding the state's much-anticipated first-fishing day, when roughly 500,000 Minnesotans take to the water.
Altepeter, 64, of Brainerd, retired March 1 from Explore Minnesota, the state's tourism office. For the past 21 years, she coordinated the Minnesota Governor's Fishing Opener, a tradition begun in 1948 as a way to spotlight fishing in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, and boost tourism.
During those many openers, she never fished once.
"I would have loved to, but there just wasn't any time," Altepeter said. "We were too busy trying to make sure everything went off without out a hitch."
This year's governor's opener will take place on the Mississippi River in the St. Cloud area. The 70th annual event, the last Altepeter helped plan, will be hosted collaboratively by St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids and Sartell.
Altepeter said it hasn't fully sunk in yet that she's retired, let alone that she won't be attending the 2017 governor's opener in an official capacity.
"It's like going 150 miles an hour and crashing into a brick wall," she said of retirement. "I'm not quite used to it yet."