Syracuse.com - Cancellation of Northeastern Sports Show this January not a surprise to some

[HuntingNY-News]

Over the years, fewer clubs from the local area participated in the event. The majority of the exhibitors at recent shows were not from the area, and many were from Canada.

It’s with regret that I reported last week that the Northeastern Sports Show, which was scheduled for Jan. 27-29 at the state fairgrounds, was canceled.

Efforts to reach the show’s manager, Cindy Hengst, whose Hamilton-based company, CKH Productions, has run the show, were unsuccessful. The annual three-day event, with its many vendors, exhibits and seminars for local hunters, anglers and trappers, had been the state’s longest-running outdoors sports show. It had a run of 58 years.

“This difficult decision was reached following a thorough review of current market conditions and rising costs associated with conducting a quality event,” according to the event’s website. For some, the show’s demise did not come as a complete surprise.

“The Northeastern Sports Show did fill a niche in the Central New York sporting community,” said Stephen Wowelko, president of the Onondaga Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs. “Over the years, however, fewer clubs from the federation participated in the event. The majority of the exhibitors at recent shows were not from the area, and many were from Canada.”

Wowelko pointed out that the federation holds its Honeywell Sportsmen’s Days at Carpenter’s Brook Fish Hatchery each September. He said the event’s committee will be exploring the possibility of expanding to include charter captains and outfitters, in addition to the hands-on educational demonstrations that are popular at the event.

Ron Falkowski, president of the CNY Wildfowlers, said each year his group held raffles and sold wood duck boxes at the Sportsmen’s Show. Money was raised for the club’s various causes, he said, including sending kids to the state Department of Environmental Conservation summer camp.

“We also used it to educate people what we’re about it — waterfowl hunting, the laws, guides,” he said.

Falkowski agreed with Wowelko that the show has gone “downhill” for the past few years.

“There’s been more commercial-related vendors selling things like boats and campers, and less of the local outdoor-related groups. It’s a shame,” he said.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog