Some 200 families signed up at Lincoln Woods State Park yesterday for the Department of Environmental Management’s 10-week Rhode Island Great Outdoors Pursuit, a first-time program promoting the state park system.

The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

LINCOLN — Brother and sister David and Caitlin Bolger, of Coventry, spent yesterday afternoon casting lines into Olney Pond at Lincoln Woods State Park, learning to fish with the help of state fish and wildlife employees.

Just down the fishing pier stood their competition, technically speaking. Jordan Smith, 10, was fishing under the watchful eye of his parents, Allen and Jennifer Smith, of Smithfield. Together, they make up the Supersmiths. And they play to win.

The Bolgers, the Smiths, and 200 other families have signed up for the first-ever Rhode Island Great Outdoors Pursuit, a state-run event that rewards teams of families with prizes for experiencing Rhode Island’s parks this summer. The Bolgers and the Smiths are both vying for the prizes by attending, but the number of fish they catch isn’t measured; in this contest, competing means just showing up.

It’s a Department of Environmental Management initiative to get families into the parks, and give children the feeling of competing while they play and learn new skills.

“When I was younger we had family outings in state parks — but a lot of families don’t do that today,” said Terri Bisson, who is coordinating the event for the DEM.

So the state agency is giving families an incentive to hit the parks, and offering some serious prizes if they visit seven state parks over the course of the summer.

Families — defined as at least two people, with one over 18 and one under 18, with a team name — who attend all five of the major park events this summer and also take two self-guided walks through a select group of state parks during the summer will be eligible for the grand prize. Lower tiers of prizes are available to teams that only attend some of the events. New teams can sign up at any point.

The grand prize is a full set of camping gear for the family, with tents, sleeping bags, and more, and a free week in Burlingame State Park. First prize is a kayak. Second prize is a mountain bike. Smaller prizes will be given away throughout the summer. At the last event, Aug. 24, teams that have attended enough events will compete for prizes both through raffles and low-intensity competitions like three-legged races.

(All of the prizes are being donated by businesses.)

The contest seemed to resonate with families — more than 200 teams, totaling roughly 800 people, had signed up by midday yesterday.

The Supersmiths have bought in wholeheartedly.

“We plan to win,” said Allen Smith, laughing as he played with his 2-year-old son Joey.

Jennifer Smith explained that the campaign is giving them an excuse to do something they enjoy anyway.

“We usually try to go to different state parks — so now we have a reason,” she said.

Nodding toward 10-year-old Jordan, she added, “And it’s a good incentive for the older kids to want to spend time with their parents.”

The first event, held yesterday at Lincoln Woods, featuring fishing and geology lessons, a climbing wall, vendors, kayaking, arts and crafts, and more.

The DEM is keeping the locations of the subsequent events secret for now, and slowly leaking clues to the participants as their dates draw near. DEM Director W. Michael Sullivan leaked one bit of information about the second event, on July 13: bicycling will be a theme.

“Part of this is that we want people to know about the state parks, perhaps ones they don’t normally go to,” he said.

He hopes that it will become an annual event — one that next year, on the 100th anniversary of Rhode Island’s park system, could extend to the urban parks as well.

“My personal hope is that we’ll duplicate this next year at Waterplace Park,” in Providence, he said.

dbarbari@projo.com