2007 National Pheasant Fest Details
Where: Des Moines, IA
When: January 19-21, 2007
Attendance: 24,510
Held at the Iowa Events Center, the 2007 National Pheasant Fest proved to be another huge success. The event included over 625 exhibitor booths and introduced a myriad of new attractions to the exciting 3-day event.
National Pheasant Fest was the talk of the town due to extensive press coverage by the Des Moines Register, other regional papers and television and radio shows (both local and national).
Listed below are just some of the attractions and events that occurred at the 2007 Pheasant Fest in Des Moines.
- National Pheasant Fest 2007 featured over 650 exhibitor booths displaying, among others, wildlife art, taxidermy displays, habitat equipment, dog breed information and much more.
- Over the three-day event, 181 seminars were presented on topics ranging from wild game cooking to bird dog training to habitat planning. The kids found amusement and information in the Youth Village at the Youth Stage all weekend long.
- Pheasant Fest's newest feature in 2007, the Artisan Fair, allowed up and coming artists to show off their work as well as compete for up to 20 slots in the Pheasants Forever banquet package, which is sold to over 600 chapters.
- Over 70 dogs of 25 different sporting dog breeds from 19 dog organizations kicked off Pheasant Fest 2007 with the Bird Dog Parade, a march through the Des Moines Skywalk. Led by KCCI News Channel 8's meteorologist, Bryan Karrick, and Pheasants Forever's youth mascot, Rudy the Rooster, the parade was a huge hit with the people who lined the skyway for the parade.
- Keeping with the dog theme, the Bird Dog Bonanza, which included dog related exhibitors and hourly seminars/demonstrations from some of the world's foremost bird dog trainers, was THE perfect one-stop shop for those thinking about getting a pup and owners looking for a training tip.
- Thousands of Pheasant Fest attendees helped Waterloo's Rick Morkel paint an original masterpiece, as visitors to the Habitat Forever booth at National Pheasant Fest were invited to pick up brushes and lend their artistic talents to a creation which was auctioned off at the Saturday Night Banquet.
- The seminar room was overflowing as over 400 people attended the FarmBill Forum. Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa and U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minnesota were among the heavyweights participating in this forum about the 2007 Federal Farm Bill.
- The Iowa Build A Wildlife Area Campaign will continued to raise money for public land acquisition at Pheasant Fest 2007 and the first acquisition was unveiled at the Pheasant Fest Saturday Night Banquet.
- The Landowner Habitat Help Room provided landowners with the opportunity to receive free one-on-one habitat advice from expert wildlife biologists.
- For the first time, Quail Forever, started in 2005, became a draw at National Pheasant Fest in 2007 with a booth and a wide variety of seminars and exhibitors dedicated to restoring quail populations.
- Attractions in Rudy's Youth Village included pheasant biology, dog care, taxidermy, fishing and more, not to mention the chance to meet Rudy the Rooster in person.
- Winning entries from the Youth Wildlife Art Contest were prominently displayed every day of National Pheasant Fest 2007.
