The expo will be held from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at the White Stone Firehouse, 579 Chesapeake Drive, White Stone. Entry is $10 per person with children 12 and younger free.
In essence, the expo replaces the Rappahannock River Waterfowl Show, last held in 2024 under the leadership of William and Pat Bruce, who organized the event the entirety of its 43 years. Following their “retirement” last year, volunteer firefighters decided to continue the tradition with perhaps a few changes.
“We haven’t changed much for this year,” said expo committee member Ryan Stephens. “We wanted to prove that we could continue with what had been done before changing things. “We didn’t announce it last year at the end of the show that it would continue somehow because we wanted to make sure it would. Pat has been very helpful with giving us pointers, preview night mailers and information about the artists,” said Stephens.
In its first year, the expo will feature 41 exhibitors, including over 30 from past years. John Obolewicz is the expo’s Artist of the Year with his show print “Four Sons working the Rappahannock.” Everyone purchasing a ticket for the expo will receive a free print courtesy of W.F. Booth & Son Inc. of Kilmarnock.
As in past years, a ticketed preview night gala will be held March 14 and the door prize will be a carving by Charles Jobes of Havre de Grace, Md. The expo door prize is a painting by Art LaMay of Palm Coast, Fla.
The decoy and waterfowl carving contest, sponsored by the Rappahannock Decoy Carving Guild, will be held Saturday at the Women’s Club of White Stone, 560 Chesapeake Drive, White Stone.
