The Outdoorama festival is celebrating its 50th anniversary Feb. 23-26 at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi with more than five acres of conservation displays, boats, hunting and fishing gear, marine accessories, educational and informative seminars, and outfitters from across the country, Canada, and beyond.
“For five decades we have been combining family fun, conservation and outdoors education to make Outdoorama the best and longest-running outdoors show in southeast Michigan,” says Show Manager Ben Nielsen.
“With winter weather gripping Michigan, and outdoors people being cramped up at home, this year’s show offers some outdoors relief in an indoor setting to shake off the winter doldrums and get ready for the warmth of spring, which isn’t far away. We’re excited about this year’s show and can’t wait for the doors to open at 1 p.m. on Feb. 23.”
Whether it’s watching head-to-head Timberworks Lumberjack competitions, enjoying an up-close encounter with Live Birds of Prey, catching a trout in the Trout Pond, or attending one of the non-stop educational seminars, there is something for everyone, young and old.
Conservation continues to be the foundation of Outdoorama, but family fun also keeps folks coming back. Patrons can see Big Buck Night (Thursday only) and some of the biggest racks taken from Michigan in 2022, battle a king salmon or a dorado on the Video Fishing Simulator, plink around at the Pellet Shooting Range, or pig out at the Ultimate Sportsman’s Hog Roast.
Patrons will find door-buster deals at Outdoorama on boat, hunting and fishing gear, and more.
Returning to Outdoorama this year by popular demand is the Timberworks Lumberjack Show. These lumberjack world championship competitors use the same skills used in logging camps in the 1900s to thrill the crowds with entertaining dialog and head-to-head competition in skills including log rolling, pole climbing, ax throwing, crosscut sawing and more.
Big Buck Night-East, an annual family staple on Michigan Out-of-Doors TV and a crowd pleaser at Outdoorama, will be filmed on Thursday beginning at 6 p.m. It’s free with admission and doors open at 5:30 p.m.
On Saturday, deer hunters can learn how to process their own deer when Steve Francis, owner of Country Smokehouse in Almont, gives a demonstration on field dressing, skinning, butchering, and packaging a whitetail.
The Michigan B.A.S.S. Federation Nation will again provide one of the best indoor Trout Ponds in the state. For a nominal fee kids can try their luck at catching a live rainbow trout. In addition, there is a Pellet Shooting Range with certified instructors offering free lessons and an Archery Range for kids, staffed by members of the Michigan Bowhunters Association.
The Outfitters Expo provides show patrons with nearly unlimited family vacation and adventure travel, including hunting and fishing destinations throughout North America and beyond. Guests can book a fishing trip to Canada, an elk hunt in Idaho, a family houseboat adventure in Kentucky, a safari in Africa, or any of a number of other trips and destinations.
Continual seminars are scheduled over the four days and cover topics ranging from fishing and hunting to training your bird dog or grooming your land for wildlife or hunting. All seminars are free with admission.
The first 250 attendees on Thursday and Friday receive a free, collectible Dardevle spoon from Eppinger Manufacturing Co. in Dearborn. The first 250 attendees on Saturday and Sunday will receive a K&E Bass Stopper lure from Stopper Lures in Hastings.
A bonus for Outdoorama patrons is free crossover admission to the 16th annual Cottage & Lakefront Living Show, held concurrently at Suburban Collection Showplace.
Show hours are Thursday, 1 p.m.-8p.m.; Friday, 12 p.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Admission: $12 adults, $5 children 6-14, free for children 5 and under. On-site parking is $5.
For more information, click here or call 800-328-6550.
