Annual Nature Expo To Feature More Than 30 Vendors, Exhibitions

APOLLO BEACH, FL — Bird watchers and nature lovers are invited to come together for the annual Florida Birding and Nature Festival's Nature Expo on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 13-14, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Suncoast Youth Conservation Center at 6650 Dickman Road in Apollo Beach, south of the Manatee Viewing Center.

More than 30 exhibitors will offer the public the opportunity to buy nature products or learn about environmental programs. Offered for purchase will be Peter Gerbert’s landscape paintings, Realistic Bird Carvings, Little Red Wagon’s native plants, binoculars from Land, Sea & Sky or Swarovski, and bird feeders and other products from Wild Birds Unlimited and Book Lovers’ Bookstore.

Conservation organizations will share information about their activities and opportunities for public volunteer participation, including the local Audubon Society chapters, Sierra Club’s Tampa Bay Group, Tampa Bay Watch, the Tampa Bay Conservancy, the Florida Ornithological Society, Friends of the Tampa Bay National Wildlife Refuge and Audubon Florida.

Government environmental organizations also will hand out materials about their programs, including the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Aquatic Preserve Program, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail, the Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County and the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

Travel companies and nature experiences will showcase their offerings, including Birding with David Simpson, Holbrook Travel, TECO’s Manatee Viewing Center and Carefree Birding Tours.

And rehabilitation centers will share their work caring for injured birds and other animals, including the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary, the Raptor Rescue of Tampa Bay and Sarasota Dolphin Research.

"Our area offers spectacular habitats and special birds and wildlife living here," said Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Kemp. "Leaders have thoughtfully committed resources for decades to protect them. From Theodore Roosevelt designating Passage Key a Federal Bird Reservation in 1905 to today’s conservation lands acquisitions by Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Polk, Sarasota and Pinellas counties to National Wildlife Refuge lands, state parks, city parks and local conservation organizations, this means that thousands of acres in this part of Florida are currently managed as native lands."

The mission of the Florida Birding & Nature Festival is to promote appreciation and conservation of Florida’s birds, its wildlife and their habitats through responsible nature-based tourism and public awareness.

For more information, contact Ann Paul, Nature Expo coordinator, at annpaul26@gmail.com or 813-624-3149, or Andee Richards, administrator at info@fbnfestival.org or 813-764-7010 or click here.