Texas Parks & Wildlife Expo in Austin Suspended
TPWD to Instead Expand Presence at Similar Events Statewide

AUSTIN, Texas — Because of a sponsorship revenue decline related to the economic recession, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is cancelling the Texas Parks & Wildlife Expo set for Oct. 3-4 in Austin. The agency will suspend the Austin event for at least this year and 2010 and will instead expand efforts to support similar events around the state.

"This was a difficult and painful decision, but after looking hard at the financial realities and seeking creative ways to keep the event going, we finally concluded that the economic recession is affecting sponsor support to the extent that it is not viable to stage Expo," said Carter Smith, TPWD executive director.

The Texas Parks & Wildlife Expo has remained free to the public since its inception in 1992 thanks to sponsor support, but initial sponsor commitments this year have declined significantly. The Expo operating budget is more than $400,000 in hard costs per year, money used to rent tents and contract for the many other services needed to stage the festival. That operating budget has been largely underwritten by sponsors, and the declining sponsorship revenue means the resources needed to stage Expo are simply not there.

The annual Expo has been billed as America’s largest free, family-oriented festival of the outdoors, drawing more than 35,000 visitors from across the state to TPWD headquarters in Austin. Held the first weekend of October, the event has allowed visitors of all ages to try activities like fishing, shooting, birding, photography, camping, climbing, mountain biking and more with gear and guidance provided free, plus free entry, parking and shuttle service.

"We will suspend Expo in 2009 and 2010 while we focus on expanding our outreach efforts statewide through partnerships with other organizations and through events held at our own facilities," said Ernie Gammage, TPWD Urban Outdoors Programs leader and Expo director. "Participating in existing events relieves a considerable financial burden while still allowing us to reach our desired audiences."

"Our goal remains the same: to engage underserved audiences and bring more people into the world of the great outdoors," Gammage said. "One of our core beliefs is that recreation leads to conservation. By introducing Texans, especially urban Texans, to outdoor recreation, the outdoors becomes more relevant to them. They come to care about it and finally to care for it."

The department has in recent years pursued a deliberate strategy to partner with outside groups staging "Expo-like" events in various Texas cities, with goals to select events that reach larger audiences and achieve geographic and audience diversity across the state. Examples include stock shows and rodeos plus events targeted to minority audiences like Cinco de Mayo and Diez y Seis, and the Toyota Texas Bass Classic in October.

Gammage said TPWD plans to evaluate the situation in August 2010, and at that time determine whether Expo in Austin could be reinstituted in 2011, or whether the alternate model of emphasizing statewide events should continue. Meanwhile, TPWD continues to actively seek and accept sponsor support for outreach events and similar efforts.

More information about statewide events and opportunities involving nature, history and the outdoors is on the TPWD Web site events calendar.

Many states will be facing the facts of life due to the economy and the wild spending. PA faces a $ 19 million cut in spending which may result in the closing of 35 state parks !...As the states and nation continue to waste huge amounts of money.

This comes in on top of a 3 million dollar + short fall TP&W experienced last year due to a decrease in license sales because of the after effects of Hurricane Ike.

Bleak times ahead for all of our state and national wildlife agencies.

quote:

The annual Expo has been billed as America’s largest free, family-oriented festival of the outdoors, drawing more than 35,000 visitors

Hey Crazyhorse, That number sure looks low. When you think how many people attend a football or basketball game, it doesn't make much sense to have the event anyhow. Any chance it could be a typo and should have been 350,000?

Needing the sponsers to spend more than $10 per person to get them to attend the FREE event doesn't sound like a good business deal at all.

My bet is that it is a typo.

I just copied the article from TP&W's website, and did not look at the numbers, however, and I have never attended, but my guess is that number is what the attendance is for the 2 day event on an average.

35,000 people over 2 days would be pretty reasonable attendance for that type event.

It really can't be compared to a sporting event, because most of the stuff there is interactive displays, and it has been being held every October since it started in 1992.

And it was all Free to the public.

Now, because the economy has bellief up, the sponsors that had footed the bills in the past, are not able to spend that kind of funds and TP&W does not have the resources to do it.

This was never meant as a money making event, it was designed to create an interest in the Outdoors here in Texas.

The sponsors were the ones that benefitted the most, due to the advertising that they were able to do at the event.

Not everything has to be a Good Business Deal, if it creates interest in comething and the people sponsoring such an event realize increased sales thru the visibility of such sponsorships.

Below is the item I did on the NSSF Hunt & Shoot site for LAST YEAR'S (2008)Expo. The 42,000 figure was from the 2007 version.


Texas

Expo XVII

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) will host its annual Expo at the department’s headquarters in Austin on October 4th & 5th, 2008.

Begun in 1992 as a tribute to hunting, fishing and the Great Outdoors, Expo XVII celebrates its seventeenth anniversary. The TPWD grounds in Austin will be transformed into the site of the largest event of its kind in the nation. Last year over 42,000 visitors enjoyed Expo.

"Xtreme" shooting star Patrick Flanigan also will make his first Expo appearance. The 30-year-old world-record holder began hunting with his father and great uncle as a child in Wisconsin.

"My love of shooting was sparked at a young age, and I just got hooked," Flanigan said. "I never had any plans or desire to shoot professionally. It just worked itself out that way."

Flanigan said his shooting show is like an updated Buffalo Bill or Annie Oakley trick-shooting event set to awesome visuals and music. He said the show is especially youth-friendly.

Another new activity this year is "Wildlife: CSI (Critter Scene Investigation)." Much like crime-scene investigators piece together clues in their line of work, children will get to touch skins, skulls and look at animal tracks as a way to identify and learn about animals in the wild.

Irene Hamel, a TPWD wildlife interpretive specialist, said "Wildlife: CSI" is a great way to introduce children to the outdoors.

"Kids aren’t spending as much time out-of-doors as they once did," she said. "At ‘Wildlife: CSI’ they can learn why a beaver’s hide is adapted for living in water; how different birds build their nests. They will hopefully learn that just because they may not see an animal in the wild doesn’t mean there isn’t any evidence of wildlife.

"We plan to have on display a CSI ‘scene’ where kids will be asked what evidence of wildlife they see. It goes back to encouraging kids to see what is around them."

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Headquarters is located at 4200 Smith School Road in Austin (see map).

For information about the 2008 Texas Parks & Wildlife Expo, contact Director, Ernie Gammage at 512-389-4472.
Submitted by Tony Mandile

Thanks for posting that info Tony.

I know in the past, they had Falconry displays and Archery shoots and all orts if stuff geared up for Family involvement in the Outdoors here in Texas.

I have talked to seceral folks that made it an Annual Event that they went to and Volunteered their time and services to.

Hey Crazyhorse, The reason 35,000 seems low to me is because the typical Gun Shows at Metrolina in Charlotte, NC will draw 10k, 40k and 30k on a 3-day weekend Show where we paid $6 to get in and no parking fee.

There are a couple of Gun Shows at Freedom Hall in Louisville, KY each year where parking is $6 and to get in the Show was $12 the last time I went. I believe they draw 30k on Saturdays and 18k on Sundays.

About half of the Shows I attend exhibit 35% junk and trinkets, 8-12% locals trying to sell their own personal stuff, 5% stuff that has nothing at all to do with firearms or hunting, 2-5% Reloading and what ever is left in new and used firearms. Oh yes, there are always a couple of Collectors exhibiting firearms so expensive that I'd be reluctant to hold them even if they allowed it.

Some Shows are geared to folks offering Hunts and firearms as well. The Dixie Deer Classic in Raleigh, NC each year has a good mix of Firearms and Guided Hunts plus the annual Mount Measuring and Awards. Can't remember what it costs to get in. Haven't been there in 15 years or so, but there was always very little room to walk. You just eased and shoved past people the best you could.

Is it possible that you all have so many Gun Shows in TX that a lot of folks just don't go to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Expo?

No, the Outdoor Expo, is not just geared toward hunting.

It covers to some extent all of the available activities in the state that TP&W regulates in some form or other.

They have Falconry displays, kids fishing pond, Becoming An Outdoor Woman activities and seminars, state park infotmation and displays.

It really is geared up toward total family involvement in the outdoors here in Texas.

The problem they ran into this year, is that the companies and private individuals who have been so generous in the past with their monetary support, just don't have those funds available this year, and TP&W wants to keep this a free event, open to the public.

Also, and this is not anything negative toward TP&W, and this is strictly just my opinion on the matter, but by making the announcement this early, for an event that is 4 months away, there is the possibility of funding being made available.

TP&W does attend many of the various other sports shows around the state, such a the DSC show in January.

It is just that a 2 day show in Austin, that is put together and operated by TP&W and free to the Public, gives them, TP&W much better exposure.

I do wish them well and hope the $$$support$$$ shows up.

I have never been, but know several folks that went annually and they all think it is a great deal to get families involved in the outdoors here in Texas.

Our big problem here is a lack of Public Land, so making folks aware that there are opportunities out there, that are not limited to Private Land and high prices, is important.

I think the revenue drop was bound to happen. I used to automatically buy a combo license every year, but when they started that nonsense about having a fishing license and not being able to fish without a fresh water stamp, I just had to evaluate it's worth and realized I haven't been fishing in years. Not too happy to buy a hunting license and having to pay extra for a migratory bird stamp to hunt doves a couple of evenings a year and an upland bird stamp to hunt quail. Call me a tight wad.

That is not being a tightwad, a lot of folks are re-evaluating their discretionary income and what they are getting for the money they are putting out for such things as hunting and fishing licenses.

This problem however is also economy based, but not on the revenue TP&W takes in, but on the monies that the various corporations and busineses are willing to spend or have available
to donate for uch functions as this.

I re-address my hunting and fishing license purchase every year, and now TP&W is looking at increasing license prices across the board, because fewer people are buying licenses, so with that loss of revenue, to make up for part of it, they are raising the fees for those of us tht still plan on hunting and fishing here in Texas.

It is like the way we work it with my wife's licenses.

We used to buy her the Super Combo, but then decided we would be better off jut buying her a regular hunting license, no Upland Bird Stamp, no Migratory Bird Stamp.

With her fihing license, we buy her the Freshwater License, and then if we get the chance to go to the coast, we buy her day stamps for the number of days we will actually be fishing.

It is like hunting lease prices, some folks can afford them, many can't.

I chose not to several years ago, if I am going to spend that kind of money it will be in Colorado or somewhere after elk.

I have found over the past few years, that many folks that have leases, can not get their hunters to shoot enough does, and that in many instances, if a person is willing to just shoot does, they can wrangle an invitation and get to shoot a doe or two for free or at a fairly reasonable cost.

Until or unless the economy make a big turn around. I think many folks in Texas this year, won't be hunting. JMO.