The outdoor expo coming to Norvelt is exactly the kind of thing Andy “Chico” Crice would have been a part of.
Instead, it will honor him.
The Norvelt man died last summer at age 28. He collapsed at work. Co-workers found him in a stairwell, unresponsive, and efforts there and at the hospital failed to bring him back.
Andrew “Chico” Crice was always fishing or hunting.
“It was quite unexpected,” said his brother, Matt. “He was too young to go as he did.”
An autopsy determined he had a previously undetected heart defect. It killed him.
Fifteen minutes before he died, he’d been on the phone with his father, talking about going to their Potter County camp to do some fishing.
That will surprise no one who knew him. Chico Crice was all about the outdoors.
“Any time he wasn’t at work he was on the creek or he was in the woods,” Matt said. “And he was always helping others get outdoors, too.”
After his death, friends and family wanted to honor him. They came up with this: from noon to 8 p.m. on March 11 at Roosevelt Hall, they’re hosting an outdoor expo to benefit the Andrew “Chico” Crice Memorial Fishing Classic.
The expo will feature at least 20 vendors and 10 flea market-type tables of outdoors gear. There will be raffles, 50/50 tickets and games for children. The Pennsylvania Game Commission will be there doing a program on black bears, while Stan Gordon, the paranormal researcher, will be on hand to talk about Pennsylvania’s strangest happenings.
Admission is $3 for those 16 and older, free to those younger.
Proceeds from the event will be used to buy trout in the 16- to 18-inch range. They’ll go in waters Chico himself liked to fish: Loyalhanna Creek, Mill Run, Little Sewickley Creek and Mammoth Dam, and perhaps also East Fork and First Fork of Sinnemahoning Creek in Potter County.
The lake at Hecla Sportsmen’s Club will get some tagged fish, too, for its youth fishing derby.
All of the trout will be tagged. Tags will be good for prizes ranging from cash to rod and reel combos.
Anyone who catches one of those trout between opening day of trout season on April 14 and Dec. 31 need only contact Matt Crice to claim their prize.
All of those who turn in a tagged fish will also get entered into a drawing. One will go home with a grand prize
“We wanted to come up with some way to honor him, and this is what he loved to do,” Matt said.
To help fund the effort, a raffle ticket is also being sold. Costing $10, it offers the winner and one friend one night’s lodging at High Ridge Hunting Preserve in Hooversville. The winner also gets to shoot a trophy buck. It will be processed by Espy’s Meat Market and mounted by Acme Taxidermy, too. The winner also gets a Sheetz gas card and gift certificate to Saloom’s Department Store.
The total prize is valued at $5,000.
Only 1,000 tickets are being made available. About 150 remain.
If all goes well, with the expo and ticket, this will become an annual event, Crice said. The idea is to stock fish each year, but also generate enough money to annually offer grants to sportsmen’s clubs holding events to get kids outdoors.
That won’t totally ease the pain of losing Chico, Matt said. But it will at least honor who he was.
“I always tell people, he probably lived 50 years in his 28. He was always 100 miles an hour. He lived life,” Matt said.
“So it’s hard he’s gone. But this is kind of our way of keeping things alive for him.”
Get involved with the outdoor expo
So you want to help? There are still a few spots left for vendors and those who would like to set up a flea market style table at the Andrew “Chico” Crice Memorial Fishing Classic expo. Donations of baskets for raffles are being accepted as well.
To get involved, or if you have questions about the fishing classic, call Matt Crice at 724-875-9029 or visit the Classic Facebook page.
