Special to the Parade
The 19th Annual Winter Outdoor and Wildlife Expo will be held Saturday, February 9, at the South Padre Island Convention Center.
In 2013, organizers are making significant changes to the expo in hopes of reaching out to families and children.
From 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., about 25 seminars will be held, including seminars on bay, surf, and deep water fishing; fly fishing, fly tying, shelling native plants and wild flowers, ocelots, birding, native plants, dolphin protection, boating and water safety, nature photography and more. The 2013 expo will also welcome back world-renowned birding expert, Jonathan Wood and his Raptor project show with dozens of live birds.
There will again be free exhibit space to non-profit organizations – The Sea Life Center, SPI World Birding Center, The Gladys Porter Zoo, The Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge, The Sabal Palm Sanctuary, Sea Turtle Inc., and others.
Several exhibits that will especially appeal to children, a game room with instructive games and appropriate prizes, and casting contests for avid or aspiring fishermen of all ages are new to this year’s event.
There will be a new and improved silent auction and a bucket raffle. “Punch cards” will be available to encourage visits to all exhibits and vendors which can be entered into a special drawing. Essay and photo contests on nature will be held for local school children, who will be recognized at the noon assembly.
From its humble beginning in 1993, as a fishing seminar to teach visitors to the Laguna Madre what to fish for and how and where to do it responsibly, the Winter Outdoor and Wildlife Expo has grown every year, attracting more and more people who want to learn about the fish, birds, native plants, butterflies, dragonflies, turtles, dolphins, ocelots, ocelots, water ways and all the other natural wonders of our South Texas paradise.
“Nature Is God’s Picture Book and the Expo have always been about teaching and sharing as we seek to be good stewards of God’s abundance,” the event press release read. “The people of St. Andrew’s by the Sea, Port Isabel, have supported this call as an expression of our faith and devotion to God who has so richly blessed us.”
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