A carved miniature chickadee by Bob Berry.

Woodcarvers and admirers of wildlife art will descend on Astoria this month for the Columbia Flyway Wildlife Show.

Scheduled to run Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Clatsop County Fair & Expo, the show is one of five national woodcarving events, according to Rick Pass, an event coordinator. It is both a wildlife woodcarving competition and art festival, incorporating wildfowl, mammal and fish statues along with Indigenous art.

“It’s artists, from beginners to people who are professionals, taking a piece of wood and creating some type of wildfowl out of that,” Pass said. “The best way to describe (it) is to look at it.”

Carvers put tremendous detail into their wildfowl decoys and various statues, something reflected in their nearly lifelike appearances. The show and its various contests offer carvers of varying skill levels the chance to enter their creations for prizes and recognition.

“When you’re there in person, you can get your eyes and nose right up to it and look at the detail of the highly decorative works,” Pass said, adding that he anticipates having five or six woodcarving champions at this year’s event.

“The quality of work and the quality of artists is there,” he continued. “And of course, we have the people who are just learning.”

On Saturday morning, Cynthia Longhat-Adams will join the event for the first time to teach a fire painting class.

Longhat-Adams uses different techniques to burn wood to fashion art designs, offering a free four-hour class to demonstrate ways to create with heat.

Del Herbert, a champion carver, will teach an all-day class on Friday for hands-on painting instruction. Seminars will run throughout the weekend and cover a wide array of all things decoy and woodcarving.

Carvers flock from all over the United States to come to the show, Pass said, especially in Western states. He added he’s grateful that renowned wood artists like Longhat-Adams and Herbert come to the North Coast to share their craft.

“It’s really amazing we can get these people to come up here and do these classes,” Pass said.

New to the event this year is the International Single Decoy Contest. Pass said it’s unique because it’s open to both intermediate and novice carvers. Decoys — fake, lifelike birds — are gathered up and floated, meaning each is placed in a tank and tested for buoyancy, a key factor in determining their contest worthiness.

Decoy collectors and vendors will be at the show, too.

The wildlife show isn’t new, but this is only its second year hosted in Astoria. Pass said organizers weren’t sure how the debut year in 2022 would turn out, but hundreds of guests and artists attended.

“Last year was our largest show ever,” Pass said. The show was previously hosted in the Portland and Vancouver, Washington, area.

Raffles and auctions will run on Saturday and Sunday. Carved wildfowl pieces donated by artists to fund the show will be up for bidding. A concession stand will be on-site Saturday and Sunday, along with chowder, cheese and a bar.

“Astoria is the decoy capital of the Pacific Northwest,” he said, noting Astoria alone is home to several notable carvers.

Columbia Flyway Wildlife Show

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Clatsop County Fair & Expo, 92937 Walluski Loop, Astoria

www.columbiaflywaywildlifeshow.com