By By MIKE VOSS
Contributing Editor
Another international competition has been added to the lineup of the East Carolina Wildlife Arts Festival and North Carolina Decoy Carving Championships.
The 2010 International Wildfowl Carvers Association’s National Shorebird Style Championship will be part of the carving competitions at the 15th-annual East Carolina Wildlife Arts Festival and North Carolina Decoy Carving Championships set for Feb. 5-7 in Washington.
Also, the East Carolina Young Guns Youth Competition has been added as a division of the carving championships this year, according to material from the East Carolina Wildfowl Guild, organizer of the festival. The Young Guns contest is for carvers 17 years old or younger. Entries will be judged in three categories: ages 9 and under, ages 10-13 and ages 14-17. The contest is for working decoys only.
For the first time in the festival’s history, the Southern Classic Duck, Goose and Swan Calling Championships will be conducted during a two-day period. In previous years, the calling contests were conducted on one day during the festival.
“We had to go to that because it had gotten so big we couldn’t manage it in one day,” said Shawn Bennett, the Southern Classic chairman. “It was tough on my judges, my volunteers and my callers and their families.”
Bennett said expanding the Southern Classic to two days “indicates it’s growing in popularity.”
“This year, we’ve got callers coming from Tennessee and Pennsylvania, states we’ve never had callers from before,” Bennett said.
The Southern Classic includes the North Carolina duck-calling championship, the winner of which will represent North Carolina at the World Championship Duck Calling Contest in Stuttgart, Ark., during Thanksgiving weekend this year.
The calling competitions include the Pamlico Regional Duck Calling Competition. That competition, formerly known as the Swamp Fox Regional Duck Calling Competition, made its first appearance at the festival three years ago. It used to be held in South Carolina. The event’s name was changed because of it being conducted in the Pamlico River watershed.
The winner of the regional event qualifies to compete in the World Championship Duck Calling Contest.
The North Carolina goose-calling and the world swan-calling competitions also are part of the festival lineup, as will be the Southern Classic Open Goose Calling Competition.
Also part of the lineup are junior-level competitions in the state duck-, state goose- and world swan-calling contests.
The Pamlico Regional Duck Calling Competition, Southern Classic Goose Calling Competition and the World Swan Calling Championship will be held Feb. 6 at the western end of Stewart Parkway. The other competitions will be held Feb. 7.
Although the festival’s core is at the Washington Civic Center, many events and activities take place in areas such as Stewart Parkway along the Pamlico River. The carving competitions will take place at the Red Men’s Lodge on East Third Street. The DockDogs competitions take place each day of the festival at Kugler Field at the intersection of East Fourth and Hudnell streets.
Admission to the festival is $10 for a three-day pass.
For additional information about the festival, including schedules of major events, see future editions of the Washington Daily News.