Orvis Hosts Twelfth Annual Game Fair
This weekend, Orvis Sandanona held its twelfth Game Fair and Country Sporting event. The Sandanona Shooting ground has been a staple of the Hudson Valley’s outdoor activities since 1892. The fair, known for its historic venue, included various wildlife demonstrations, teaching sessions and over 70 vendor tents. The shooting ground is open almost year-round as a hotspot for outdoor lovers in the Hudson Valley, as Orvis employee Paul Romano noted.
“363 days a year we’re here providing fly fishing and shooting for the area,” Romano said, “This is the fair’s twelfth year and it’s open for two days per year.”
The fair is a free event that is open to the public. The fair’s availability and notoriety has drawn people from all over the Northeast to attend. Debbie and Jon, from New Milford, Connecticut, traveled over an hour to attend this year’s fair. “The best part of the fair is the Birds of Prey,” Debbie said.
This event showcases various rare bird species that are trained and owned by Falconry Excursions, a local falconry in the Hudson Valley. “This is our first time back at the fair in about six years and it was definitely worth the drive,” Thomas Cullen, a demonstrator for the falconry, noted. “We love being able to pick Tom’s brain and ask questions about the birds,” said Debbie, “It is just so phenomenal. These birds are just the most beautiful.”
The Birds of Prey tent included several live bird-chasing demonstrations as well. Cullen, the leader of the demonstration, noted that these are some of the most well trained birds around. Their impressively competent birds are even used by some organizations to help clear out pigeons and other nuisances. “We’ve done JFK, keeping the seagulls away, and we recently did Grand Central station because of their pigeon problem,” Cullen said during his demonstration.
“We had six days from 2 to 5 a.m. to get 16 pigeons out of Grand Central. It was fun and a big, open space,” he noted. Cullen and his falcons captured and removed all 16 pigeons, alive, from the station.
The fair included other demonstrations like dog training, fly fishing, and shooting for novices. Prospective shooters could approach the novice shooting station and learn to hit clay pigeons on the spot. One new sportsman, Ariel from Brooklyn, New York, shot his first gun at the fair. “It was a lot of fun and was much harder than it looks.”
The Orvis Game Fair and Country Sporting Weekend hosted many different people from a vast array of locations. The fair is accessible for all types of people and fun can be had no matter the age. Already in its twelfth year of existence, it seems likely that it this tradition will continue well into the future.
