16th Annual Winter Outdoor and Wildlife Expo
Saturday is going to be a wild day at the South Padre Island Convention Center as the 16th Annual Winter Outdoor Wildlife Expo brings raptors, ocelots, sea turtles and much more up close and personal.
This all day event on Feb. 6 features more than 20 speakers and presentations on everything from fishing and boating to birding, shelling and beach combing. If it has to do with the great outdoors you’ll find it this weekend.
The Expo started as a response to Winter Texans who wanted to know what kinds of fish populate the area and where to find them. The Men’s Fellowship of St. Andrew’s by the Sea Episcopal Church started an annual seminar the first weekend of February to help our northern friends get the answers they needed. From its modest beginning in the church parish hall for 40 fishermen, this event grew so rapidly it had to be moved to the Convention Center and now welcomes thousands every year.
Past expos have covered every topic imaginable from bay and surf fishing, deep water fishing, fly fishing and tying to shelling, native plants, wild flowers, sea beans, birding, dolphin preservation, boating regulations and safety, Laguna Madre conservation, and the Bahia Grande Wetlands restoration.
Attendees will enjoy top notch local fishing guides, birding experts, ecologists and naturalists who know this area best. There will be exhibits by the Sea Life Center, World Birding Center, Gladys Porter Zoo, Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge, Sea Turtle Inc, and local game wardens. And of course Jonathan Woods and his live raptor show will thrill crowds and leave them breathless.
Woods, a master falconer and wildlife rehabilitator, has assembled a collection of feathered predators that is unrivalled in scope and size. An outstanding array of eagles, hawks, falcons and owls from every habitat on the planet have won the rapt attention of enthralled audiences across the nation. Woods personally delivers up to 500 lectures and large exhibits across the United States annually from border to border affecting millions of fans.
Last year organizers added an outdoor and wildlife art exhibit to compliment the event’s “World Greatest Auction” and silent auction. And for the first time this year, producers offered exhibit space to vendors whose products complement the outdoor and conservation themes of the expo.
All of this is packed into one exciting day Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cost is only $2. The South Padre Island Convention Centre is located on the north end of the Island at 7355 Padre Blvd. Call 956-943-1962 for more information.
