Springing into action

Sunny skies, temperatures in the mid-70s and super low humidity on Saturday helped erase the memory of last year's snowy, slushy nightmare for organizers, vendors and attendees of this year's 29th annual Southeastern Wildlife Exposition.

Anyone who drove to downtown Charleston knew something was going on. Streets and sidewalks leading to Marion Square and Gaillard Auditorium, two of the expo's multiple venues, stayed congested most of the day as people flocked to an array of events.

"Our crowds have been really big," said Ashley Slane, the expo's marketing director. "People seem to be having a good time at both our new events and old favorites."

Those new events included the Living with Wolves presentation, Certified South Carolina cooking demonstrations and new nature film screenings. At Brittlebank Park, the ever-popular Dock Dogs competition kept crowds amused. Dock Dogs continues today with Speed Retrieve and Long Jump finals starting at 4 p.m.

If you missed it, or part of it, on Friday and Saturday, the event's final day today will be just as good. Tickets are half price, $10 for adults, and the weather is still expected to be above average, with a forecast of 65 degrees and partly sunny skies changing to partly cloudy in the afternoon.

"It will still be nice," said National Weather Service meteorologist John Quagliariello, who noted that a 10 percent humidity reading at Charleston International Airport was about the lowest he's seen the level in three years.

So how good is SEWE so far?

No one with the festival is venturing to say whether this will be a record year or not, but all were ecstatic about the timing of the good weather with this year's festival.

Barry McKenzie, the site director at Brittlebank Park, has worked for the festival for 29 years and said this weekend's weather ranks it among the 10 top expos.

"I'm doubtful on a record because of the economics," Mc- Kenzie said. "With the (improving) economy and the weather, I think we'll have a rebound. We won't know anything definite until Tuesday and Wednesday."

Typically, the average is 35,000 ticket purchases with 60 percent coming from outside the Charleston metropolitan area, according to Slane.

"Sunday is a great day for locals to come out," she added.

Among the locals on Saturday was Mount Pleasant resident Holly Kanich and her young sons, Will and Thomas, who were captivated by a hands-on lesson in tying a fly for fly fishing by Capt. Mike "Mad Mike" Benson of the Charleston Angler.

"They've never tried this before and are definitely having a big ol' time They are very interested in fishing because they fish with their dad," said Kanich. "I like them to be outdoors and this is great for kids.

Kanich, who skipped last year's event because of the foul weather, said the fair weather played a factor in attending this year.

Brittlebank Park, which was added to SEWE as a venue more recently, is the site of one of the biggest Dock Dogs competitions in the United States, according to Dock Dogs staff member Joel Fonzino.

"This is one of our busiest events of the year every year. Every competition is full. We had close to 300 different dogs signed up. In fact, 100 were signed up before we got here," said Fonzino, noting that the Dock Dogs World Championship is held in at the Pontiac Silverdome outside Detroit.

One of the crowd favorites at Dock Dogs on Saturday afternoon was a blue Weimaraner named Alex, owned by Trent Steele of Knoxville, Tenn.

"Everybody loves watching him because he's not a Labrador or Chesapeake Bay retriever," said Steele, who rescued Alex two years ago when the dog was 1 year old. Steele discovered Alex's leaping ability by accident.

"We went to the dock at a local dog park and I threw the ball off the dock and he jumped," Steele said. "After that first jump, a ding went off in my head and I thought Dock Dogs from ESPN. ... Now we've done about 15 competitions and I spend a lot of money on wave (entry) fees and hotel rooms."

While Alex's furthest leap has been 24 feet, 7 inches, he was barely getting to 20 feet on Saturday, though Steele thought they'd make the finals today.

"He wants to do this all the time," Steele said.