SWAN QUARTER — Hyde County Waterfowl Association is gearing up for its seventh annual Mattamuskeet Decoy and Waterfowl Festival Jan. 16-17 at Mattamuskeet High School in Swan Quarter.

The two-day event will feature a little bit of everything — from a gunning decoy competition to a retriever demonstration to a tour of the Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge.

The big weekend actually kicks off the evening of Jan. 15 with the Waterfowl Association’s banquet and auction, including a choice of barbecue chicken, steam shrimp or oyster stew for supper, followed by the auction at 8 p.m. Sign-up for the gunning decoy competition is the official start of the festival and begins the next morning at 9 a.m.

Brad Gurganus, president of the Hyde County Waterfowl Association, said the festival will have the same activities as in years past, and is expected to be just as enjoyable. Despite the months it takes to prepare for it, he has been involved with the festival since year one.

“I put it together and have been doing it ever since,” he said. “The vendors have stuff, from low-end to high-end stuff to buy. … I mean it’s affordable.”

One of his favorite parts of the event is the retriever competition and demonstration, in which participants will test out the retrieving skills of their dogs.

Gurganus said one of the goals is to bring people to Hyde County and celebrate its rich history of “waterfowling.”

“Hyde County has been called ‘The Road Less Traveled’ — major highways and pocket urbanization has not found their way to this wide open wilderness of farms, waterways, forests and tidewater shores,” the Waterfowl Association’s website states.

According to author Jack Dudley, “Waterfowling was a part of the lake’s history long before the arrival of European explorers. The Indians and early white settlers were subsistence hunters. Through the years there are stories of bountiful game, particularly the Canada goose.”

Gurganus said there is something for everyone, and because of the waterfowl history, the festival is a perfect fit for Hyde County.

“We try to bring people into the county,” he said. “And what better place to have a decoy festival with as much history and roots (in waterfowling).”

The seventh annual Mattamuskeet Decoy and Waterfowl Festival will be Jan. 16-17 at Mattamuskeet High School, located at 20392 U.S. Highway 264, Swan Quarter. Tickets are $5 for one-day admission and $8 for a two-day pass. For more information, call Brad Gurganus at 252-944-5636.