By Matt Sigler

The Natchez Democrat

Vidalia — Bruce McCall finally got a moment to take a look around the Vidalia Conference and Convention Center Thursday night, and what he saw was months of work.

“We’ve been working for a long time,” he said. “It takes us about six months to build up and get ready. We have at least 100 of our church folks here, giving up their time.”

The eighth annual Highland Wildlife Expo filled the conference center with outdoorsmen and women, booths and children and McCall couldn’t have been happier.

“It looks pretty busy to me,” he said. “I was worried about some booths showing up, but it is a pretty full turnout tonight. We’ve had about 1,200 people show up the last two years.”

The event, hosted by Highland Baptist Church, featured 32 booths dealing with everything outdoors, while the children were set up with their own area where they could build birdhouses, interact with live animals and learn more about the environment.

“I love to talk to the people and let them touch the snakes,” said Kay McNeil, who was handling a corn snake at the event. “I love to tell them that not all snakes are bad.”

Children, some more fearful than others, lined up to hold the snake and most embraced the opportunity with a smile.

“I love it because I saw myself when I was young,” McNeil said.

McCall said it was their mission to provide a free family-oriented event for the community to where people can go and have a good time, a meal, a chance at winning a prize and some good entertainment.

While the expo provided fun and games for the family, it was also an outreach event for the church.

“It isn’t a revival service or alter call,” McCall said. “But we’re letting our folks mingle with the people and show them the love of Jesus. Maybe someone shows up lost and doesn’t know Jesus, and after the event and meeting us, they feel more comfortable in asking and we could help somebody in that way.”