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Rough start for show was worth the effort.
Traverse City; Its hard to believe how fast 16 years can pass.
Time flies, as they say, when you’re having fun - or being tempered
by adversity.
The Traverse City Hunting and Fishing Expo will celebrate its 17th
year in town as it returns to the Howe Arena March 18-20, 2011.
The show was a natural success from the beginning. Right from the
inception stage, its popularity with exhibitors and the public have
lead to many "firsts" for northern Michigan. Behind the scenes,
however, success was hard earned.
"The area was ripe for an event like this," says founder and
promoter, Jim Liska. "It still took some convincing but I think
other shows have had a tougher time of it."
It took the first-time promoter fourteen months to assemble enough
exhibitors to make it happen. The original plan called for only
using the front half of the arena for the first attempt. But as the
first show date loomed closer and the word got out to more
exhibitors, Liska was soon asking for the entire facility.
"It made the stakes higher," says Liska. And he knew a big splash
was needed the first year or he would risk literally having to start
all over again the second time around.
"We needed a big drawing card so we went looking for the most noted
celebrity in the business." It wasn’t long before Liska was on the
phone with national fishing expert and TV host, Babe Winkelman’s
people finding out why his appearance in Traverse City wouldn’t be
possible. He was sure that Winkelman would be too busy or cost too
much. "But we got lucky and it worked." Babe was unusually free that
weekend and recognized his popularity in the area.
Babe Winkelman had a fishing show on TV when nobody else did. His
on-camera charisma had been tapped to pitch everything from
batteries to bug repellent in nationally televised ads. The entire
country knew the name.
"And we had him," continues, Liska. With the help of sponsorship
dollars, Winkleman was brought to the show for a one-day appearance
on Saturday. "We broke the all-time single-day attendance record for
any exhibit show at the Howe (Arena) that day." The first show
opened with the best of the best and the rest was history.
With success like that the second year should have been a breeze but
things started to go wrong when the Grand Rapids sports show moved
its date on top of Traverse City’s. A lot of exhibitors were forced
to bow out of Traverse City and do the bigger, more established
Grand Rapids market. "We lost a little over half of the previous
years’ exhibitors. My worst fears were realized and we literally had
to build a new show from the ground up. That’s when we turned the
corner to more of a hunting show," recalls Liska. The G.R. show was
galvanized by its heavy emphasis on fishing, the model for TC, and
with those exhibitors hugging the time true G.R. show, TC had to
find new exhibitors. Thankfully, bowhunting was at a height in
popularity and many such companies gravitated to TC after hearing of
the success of the first show.
"We had scheduled the Bass Tub for that show." The 50’ long,
9’ height, glass-sided, 5000 gallon aquarium stocked with trophy fish was an
attraction usually only seen at shows in much larger markets. "It was a gamble
from the standpoint of being terribly expensive but we knew it had never been
seen anywhere up north before and would make the show floor a lot more exciting
to fisherman."
As an aside to the Tanks first appearance at the show, TV’s Practical Sportsman
host Fred Trost was lined up to be on hand. "At that time Fred was doing this
Donahue-type talk show format with a live audience. It was wildly popular for a
time because it gave the average person a chance to be heard. Continues Liska,
"we convinced Fred to do the live audience taping in front of the Bass Tub for
his next show. We advertised that people could come to the show on Saturday and
be a part of the live taping. Still we weren’t sure how it would go over." Trost
was a controversial figure to many but on that day the show not only shattered
the previous year’s single-day attendance record, but also set a new all-time
attendance record for any event ever at the Civic Center. A trend which would
continue periodically over the years.
With all foreseeable adversity behind it, the third annual event in ’97 should
have been business as usual. Nothing could have been further from the case. And
nothing could have prepared the show for what was to come.
It was the year construction of the new Centre Ice facility on Hammond Road was
to be complete. However due to time overruns the completion date was delayed.
The problem was that the figure skating show scheduled to be the first event at
Centre Ice was scheduled for the same weekend as the Hunting and Fishing Show at
the Civic Center’s Howe Arena. With the Hammond facility nowhere near
completion, the ice show had nowhere to go. It was decided that the ice event
would be at the Howe. But the Howe was already contracted with the Hunting and
Fishing Show. Eventually the County sided with the ice show reneging on the
contract it had with the Hunting and Fishing Show.
"We had to fight," reminisces Liska. "I had over half the space sold and had
already paid deposits for attractions and talent. If I cancelled, my exhibitors
risked not being able to book another show. It could have hurt their businesses
and tarnished my reputation as a promoter." Both sides "lawyered-up" further
polarizing their relationship. With some convincing from a "very vocal faction"
of the local community that identified with the hunting and fishing show’s
predicament, the County finally saw fit to honor its original agreement and
allowed the show to happen.
"People don’t know how close we came to not having a show that year. It was the
most stress I have ever had to endure." But in the end it worked out. A couple
of friendships were tested and gratefully solidified during that time. "…but its
not what happened, but what could have been, that makes that time so hard to
reflect on. For me, it was Traverse City’s Cuban Missile Crisis of ’97."
With the go ahead to do the show and it taking on a bowhunting spin from
exhibitors, Liska wanted to compliment the hunting element of his show the way
Babe Winkleman did for the fishing aspect during the first year.
Chuck Adams, was then and is now the undisputed guru of Bowhunting. Having
written thousands of feature articles on the sport and taken more record book
trophies than any other hunter in history, his appearance in Traverse City
seemed like another unobtainable dream.
"I remember my first out-of-body experience listening to his message on my voice
mail telling he how excited he was to be coming to TC," Liska fondly recalls.
…like with Babe two years earlier it all just fell into place." Now with the
fight for the arena behind them and Adams on the bill they were poised for their
best show ever. Only a force as great as Mother Nature Herself could stop them
now. And, of course, she tried.
The night before the show opened northern Michigan received one of the worst
storms of the season. The show opened to most people in the area digging over
10" of sloppy white stuff out of their driveways, let alone driving to the Civic
Center to see a show.
Yet with Adams in town all wasn’t lost "…and we were able to squeak it out in
the end. I shutter to think what it would have been like without Chuck, though."
In the end it was a long, hard battle that resulted in the lowest attendance
figures the show has ever seen.
Not even 2003’s American invasion of Iraq the day before the show opener rivaled
the snow storms impact on attendance.
"We also had the fewest exhibitors ever that year." The contract dispute with
the County came during a time when most exhibitors usually paid their deposits
to be in the show. The rumor mill had been working over-time and it took its
pound of flesh.
Those three were the trend setting years. Yet the show would go on without
nearly the excitement before the doors opened in coming years. Continuing its
tendency for firsts in northern Michigan, ’98 saw the World Record Elk Tour as
well as many other nationally known taxidermy displays to follow. Noted outdoors
celebrities like Noel Feather, Dan Fitzgerald, Fred & Greg Abbas, Mark Martin,
Richard P. Smith and more have went on to entertain and inform guests of the
show.
In 1999 and 2000 the show’s popularity and attendance numbers were honored by US
Tobacco Co. when it awarded the show the use of its Skoal Bass Tank two
consecutive years. A distinction usually reserved for bigger show markets.
As a way to commemorate the show’s 10th Birthday, Jerry Stafford’s Whitetail
Deer Show was brought to town in 2004. The display featured over 1000 square
feet of full mount Boone and Crocket-class Whitetail bucks that "…words simply
can not describe." Costing twice as much as what other national attractions go
for, the show budgeted for something special for their 10th year. Concludes
Liska, "we looked at it as reinvesting in the show and giving something back to
the outdoors people of northern Michigan who’ve stuck with us all these years."
With a long and rich history behind it the show continues to be a staple event.
"I think part of the popularity comes from our ability to reinvent ourselves
every year. We have a lot of the same exhibitors who come back and do the show
again each year." They have come to depend on the market they helped invent.
"…but we compliment that repeat business by finding the latest, greatest
attractions out there and bringing them to town. Not wanting to repeat ourselves
has forced us to be creative," and so far the public have responded in kind.
This year will be no exception. The Eastman’s Journal Deer
Display will grace the show floor with their 50’ long
display of some of the largest whitetail and mule deer touring the
country. In the center of the show will be a large display featuring
the artwork of famed taxidermist Robert Parkey of Parkey’s
Taxidermy. Bob operates one of the busiest shops in northern
Michigan and his huge display of full mammal mounts always delights
visitors of the show.
The Grand Traverse Area Sport Fishing Association will have their
trout pond for kids set up right on the show floor. Area
youngsters can try their hands at angling for trout. This is a
popular attraction at the show and for some kids, its their first
and only opportunity to go fishing.
Bow shooting booths by Zeroed In Range and
Oneida Eagle Bows will be on hand as well as trophy scoring
by Commemorative Bucks of Michigan. Outfitters from
Canada, Alaska and Africa will be available to discuss hunting and
fishing opportunities and organizations such as Quality Deer
Management are there to help visitors of the show as well.
The Traverse City Hunting and Fishing Expo returns to the Civic
Center March 18-20, 2011. Daily admission is $6 for adults and $4 for teens. The 16th annual event
is made possible in part by local sponsors TV 7 & 4, and radio stations WKLT
and the FOX.
In 17 years the show has weathered everything from weather to war. People
still keep coming to see it. Not only because in gets them out of the "cabin,"
but because every year the show has been able to bring fresh attractions and
interesting exhibitors to a most eager and responsive public.
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