The recent 19^th-annual East Carolina Wildlife Arts Festival and North Carolina Decoy Carving Championships attracted many visitor, vendors and exhibitors — not to mention money.

During a report on the event’s fiscal impact in Washington, Washington’s City Council learned festival organizers consider the event a success. Lynn Wingate, the city’s tourism-development director and the show’s chairwoman, gave the report. The festival was presented by the Washington Tourism Development Authority and the East Carolina Wildfowl Guild, originators of the event.

“By engaging more partners and individuals, we were able to introduce some new ideas and attract some new audiences,” Wingate told the council.
According to Wingate, the returns of the VantageSouth Bank Sportsman Tent and the waterfowl calling competitions added to the success of the 2014 event. Although the two items attracted crowds in the past, they were not part of the 2013 festival. Wingate believes locating the sportsmen tent at Festival Park allowed for additional activities such as the boatbuilding demonstration provided by Jimmy Amspacher and Archery Alley, which allowed people to experience the sport of archery.

Wingate said the newly reopened Turnage Theater was the perfect venue for the waterfowl calling contests.

According to Wingate, the WTDA’s involvement was not just in the interest of presenting the annual festival.  In keeping with its mission, the WTDA wanted to attract more tourists to Washington. A combination of additional marketing outside of the immediate area and using multiple venues in the harbor district proved successful, she said. Merchants observed the additional traffic in the downtown area during the festival weekend, and visitors were able to see the scenic waterfront, she noted.
“Information was collected from show attendees to help better understand audience demographics. From that data, the WTDA reports having visitors from Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, and Ohio,” reads the report. “This does not include the demographics of show exhibitors, which added five additional states to the list. North Carolina produced the most show attendance with 69 counties represented. An estimated 2,000 people attended the show.”
Input from exhibitors, attendees, and event volunteers are being considered as plans are made for a 2015 show that would mark the 20th anniversary of one of Washington’s signature events, Wingate said.