Following a year lost to the pandemic and countless setbacks, challenges, hurdles and uncertainties, the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition (SEWE) is roaring towards its 40th year in downtown Charleston.
“We’re excited to be back,” said SEWE Executive Director John Powell. “It’s something we get excited about anyway, but this feels like more of a reunion than any show we’ve ever had.”
First held in 1983 as a way to share a love of wildlife, art and conservation, SEWE now hosts some 500 artists, exhibitors and wildlife experts and attracts 40,000 attendees each year. Over the years, the event has weathered ice storms, snow storms and near-hurricanes, and can now add a pandemic to that list.
The call to cancel last year’s show was difficult, Powell said, but he and theorganizers almost immediately set to work preparing for 2022. They started with the usual template of five exhibit sites (Brittlebank Park, the Charleston Marriott, Charleston Place, the Gaillard Center and Marion Square) and then went artist by artist and exhibit by exhibit, picking each carefully to create a balance between classic standbys (like the dog jumping-and-retrieval shows and the petting zoo) and new faces, such as guest artist of northern California Kathleen Dunphy.
Popular events remain
Many of the finer details remain unchanged this year. General admission tickets are $35 for Friday and Saturday and $28 for Sunday. A three-day pass costs $70. Kids under 10 get in for free.
Other popular events include the SCWA Annual Sportsman’s Ball on Feb. 18, the Lowcountry Social on Feb. 19, and the Birds of a Feather Ladies Brunch Benefit on Feb. 19, which features a “three-course lunch and all-inclusive bar service, including a Fords Gin martini fountain, a live auction and a raffle with one-of-a-kind items.” Proceeds from the latter event go toward the Rhino Momma Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and regrowing the rhinoceros population.
Powell has been involved with the exposition — which operates as a nonprofit — for 17 years, but he reckons with the yearlong gap and evidence of general enthusiasm for community events, demonstrated by VIP tickets selling out earlier than ever before, this year’s SEWE might be the most sought after he’s ever been a part of.
“There’s pent-up demand,” the 43-year-old said. “We’re going to have a really healthy crowd, in all senses of the word.”
Forty years later
SEWE President Jimmy Huggins marvels today at how the event has grown and developed. He says he never imagined what it has become, but notes several themes have remained constant, such as the idea that SEWE was and remains a community gathering and the kickoff to spring in the Lowcountry.
“It’s more like a reunion this year with not just our attendees but our artists and exhibitors and everyone involved with the show,” Huggins said. “It’s a constant nurturing game here in trying to keep the show fresh and alive.”
Art and artists have always been at the heart of the event, and this year is no different. Along with Dunphy, the crop includes featured artist Julia Rogers, a returnee from the eastern shore of Maryland whose work features animals from her backyard and travels to Africa. Mark Kelvin Horton, last year’s featured artist and a Mount Pleasant local, also returns to display his tonal landscapes of the South Carolina coast.
“Fortunately, SEWE is so popular that artists and exhibitors from all over the country and beyond want to be a part of it and so we get to choose some of the best,” Powell said.
Partnerships are vital
After a two-year span that has tested individuals and organizations alike, SEWE’s mission to partner with wildlife and conservation groups feels particularly critical. On top of the estimated $50 million in economic impact every year, the event provides exposure for and facilitates donations to a handful of partner nonprofits, agencies and organizations, including Audubon South Carolina, Ducks Unlimited and the S.C Department of Natural Resources.
“There are conversations about conservation that are being had across an exhibitor booth, and there are also conversations being had over dinner with landowners and those that want to donate to some of these organizations,” Powell said. “That’s a perfect case of where we have art and conservation all tied together with a lot of our benefactors.”
“We provide a platform of 40,000 people that they don’t ever have access to,” he added of the participating organizations. “To be able to give them that stage to where they can recruit volunteers or dollars is really important. They missed that opportunity in 2021 and so we’re excited to have them back.”
That impact spreads through the local economy, Powell noted, with attendees often spending time before and after SEWE exploring Charleston and the surrounding area.
“We’ve never felt a greater responsibility than in 2022 to kickstart the tourism season, to provide that economic boost and to show the city and those outside looking in that we’re safe, open for business and ready for people to return to Charleston like they do each year,” he said.
In his years of working with the event, Powell has seen a lot, from rowdy incidents with animals to an early near-hurricane. But the magic of the event hasn’t faded. If anything, the pandemic has renewed his love for SEWE and the surrounding community he has helped build.
“You feel very much like a caretaker of something that’s precious not only to the city but to each individual that is a participant or attendee,” Powell said. “The responsibility we feel is to artists and attendees to have this great product that they’ve come to expect. We’re ready to have a full show and show people we’re back.”
“No one 40 years ago could have anticipated what this show would become. We started off with a couple hundred exhibitors and artists and it took off immediately and through the years we’ve grown to what we are now,” Huggins added. “The sky’s the limit with this event.”
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit sewe.com.
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