Published May 06. 2026 11:44AM<\/p>\n
Several hundreds of area youngsters and their families converged on Furnace Dam park, along Tenth Street in Emmaus, Saturday morning, May 2, for the first \u201cFish with a Cop\u201d community event.<\/p>\n
The event was a joint venture between officers of the Emmaus Police Department and the Salisbury Township Police Department.<\/p>\n
According to newspaper and social media invitations from acting Emmaus Police Chief Bryan Hamscher, the day was intended to be a great opportunity for kids to enjoy the outdoors, meet local police officers and make memories.<\/p>\n
Families were lining the shores of the lake well before the 8 a.m. official start. The free fishing poles given to the first 40 youths were \u201cgone in minutes,\u201d Hamscher said.<\/p>\n
Containers of bait were also provided, as well as coffee, juice boxes and breakfast snacks for all to enjoy.<\/p>\n
For many of the younger participants, the event was their first introduction to the fishing experience.<\/p>\n
With officers available to help with putting worms on fish hooks, showing the art of casting into the lake and being there to untangle fishing line, the event showed the officers at their best.<\/p>\n
It was a great opportunity to confirm \u201cpolice officers are your friends,\u201d Hamscher said.<\/p>\n
The fishing rods, bait and breakfast goodies were provided by Emmaus area businesses, including Schantz Funeral Home, TDS Technologies and Top Star Express.<\/p>\n
The lake was freshly stocked with fish and cries of \u201cI\u2019ve got one,\u201d could be heard all along the shore line.<\/p>\n
When asked if he believed the morning a success, Schantz said he considered the turnout \u201cphenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Standing next to Schantz, Emmaus Mayor Lee Ann Gilbert was shaking her head affirmatively and echoing the acting police chief.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a great morning,\u201d Gilbert said.<\/p>\n
Press Photos by Jim MarshABOVE: Hundreds of youngsters and their families showed up May 2 for a \u201cFish with a Cop\u201d community event at Furnace Dam Park, 451 S. 10th St., Emmaus. Officers from Emmaus and Salisbury police departments mingled with the youngsters, helping many with their first fishing experience.<\/p>\n
Layla Brown, front, lends a helping hand to Jaylyn Hollenbach who holds a good-sized rainbow trout she has just caught at Furnace Dam Park during a \u201cFish with a Cop\u201d event May 2.<\/p>\n
Emmaus Mayor Lee Ann Gilbert, rear, joins her daughter and granddaughter, Ashley and Paislee Gilbert, for a photo.<\/p>\n
Emmaus residents Josh, Julianna and Savanna Hildebrand stand with Borough of Emmaus Police Department Acting Chief, Bryan Hamscher, at the \u201cFish with a Cop\u201d event May 2 at Furnace Dam Park in Emmaus.<\/p>\n
Salisbury Elementary School student Milan Caceras is curious what it would be like to be in handcuffs. With mom\u2019s permission, Emmaus Police Department Patrol Officer Tyler Wiik does a quick on-and-off with his handcuffs at the \u201cFish with a Cop\u201d event May 2 at Furnace Dam Park.<\/p>\n
Salisbury Township Police Department Lt. Christopher Casey helps Caleb Gomez-Rivera, of Allentown, repair a tangle in his fishing reel at a May 2 \u201cFish with a Cop\u201d community event at Furnace Dam Park in Emmaus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published May 06. 2026 11:44AM Several hundreds of area youngsters and their families converged on Furnace Dam park,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":["post-185631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}