SEWE came and conquered

The 29th annual Southeast Wildlife Expo brought out the best of all during the festival's three-day stay in Marion Square as well as other parts of downtown Charleston.

Saturday's spectacular weather brought troves of festival goers to Marion Square. While creating nothing short of a traffic nightmare in the surrounding streets, the festival itself was a fairly orderly event.

In the spirit of a festival to celebrate wildlife, leashed Labradors and retrievers of all types meandered alongside their human companions while several more lap-ish looking dogs watched.

A myriad of tents sprawled across the square's green and boasted a variety of activities for event-goers, including virtual hunting and wildlife rescue.

A perennial favorite of the festival, the birds of prey tent bustled with patrons while hooded falcons observed the crowd atop their handlers' shoulders.

And, of course, it wouldn't be SEWE without a report of an escaped falcon later in the afternoon.

By far the most crowded tent in Marion Square was the petting zoo, which seemed nothing short of a pop-up zoo in the middle of downtown.

A menagerie of exotic animals, including an adorable zebra and peppery porcupine ignored the crowds of children and adults trying to offer animal treats.

Dock Dogs finals

Perhaps one of the must underutilized outdoor spaces in Charleston, Brittlebank Park played host to the Dock Dogs finals on a glorious Sunday afternoon.

Held on the last day of SEWE's run of the Holy City, the crowds came in full force to watch hunting dogs of all sorts jump from the dock into a pool of water.

Aiming for the best time, each hound and handler were full of excitement as they waited for the big moment.

Meanwhile, the announcer presented something of a humorous running commentary, hyping each contender prior to launch.

Alas, though, for the un-trained eye, once you've seen three puppies jump, you've kind of seen them all.

Fortunately, the assembled collection of tents provided plenty of entertainment once guests tired of the competition.

A crowd favorite was the chain-saw carvings with live demonstrations. While a fairly folksy arts endeavor, the ability to carve ornate works via chain saw is something of an incredible talent.

The best crowd photo-op was certainly the booth featuring two giant taxidermied bears, one reared to well over 8 feet tall.

As the sun set, and SEWE wound to a close, it's safe to say, the Charleston festival season has officially begun.

Welcome to a long summer season.