The World’s Fair Is Back In A Big Way

There is no official definition of a World’s Fair, also known as Expos or Expositions, and the concept has been around since the 18^th Century. But the grandfather/mother of the modern concept is generally considered the international 1851 event held at London’s Crystal Palace, which kicked off a golden era of World’s Fairs. Paris in 1889 gave us the Eiffel Tower, and the famed 1893 Chicago version – inspiration for the acclaimed bestseller Devil in the White City -helped the city morph from cow town to major global metropolis, while introducing the Ferris Wheel. More recently, these kinds of events have been positioned as World Expos, though they have lost a little luster.

But quite the opposite is true when it comes to the World’s Fishing Fair, which is bigger than ever. In fact, it is expected to be the largest event in the history of angling.

The first iteration was held in 1988, hosted by then nascent but ascending retailer Bass Pro Shops. Founder and owner Johnny Morris, now an upper tier member of the Forbes 400, famously launched his empire with a single glass counter full of lures within his father’s Springfield, Missouri liquor store. In an epic story of the American Dream come true, Morris now owns not only the nationwide Bass Pro Shops outdoor sporting goods chain, but its former biggest rival Cabela’s, and many of the largest brands in boating, including legendary yacht and saltwater sportfishing boat manufacturer Hatteras, the nation’s bestselling fishing boat brand for the past four decades, Tracker, along with Mako, Ranger, Triton, Tahoe and many others. When it comes to the stuff people use to boat, paddle, fish, hunt, camp or otherwise enjoy the outdoors, there’s a good chance Johnny Morris has a hand in it. He also has built a parallel hospitality empire with multiple hotels, resorts, countless restaurants and one of the country’s very best golf resorts, Big Cedar Lodge. This is home to five courses by superstar designers, including Payne’s Valley, the only public Tiger Woods course in America, and the three best publics in Missouri. This year Payne’s Valley became the second course at Big Cedar to receive Golf Digest’s highest debut honor, Best New Course in North America.

Morris created the World’s Fishing Fair to showcase Bass Pro’s diverse product lines and generate attention and it worked extremely well. 34 years ago, over 250,000 people from the U.S. and around the world made the pilgrimage to Springfield, Missouri, and the spectacle helped take the brand truly national and is attributed with increased sales in all 50 states. But despite its marketing success, the concept has been shelved – until now.

This year Bass Pro Shops is celebrating its 50^th anniversary, and to do that, Morris brought back the World’s Fishing Fair, but on an even bigger scale. The 5-day fest (March 30 – April 3, 2022) will include a series of “Concerts for Conservation,” headlined by several country music superstars such as Hank Williams, Jr., Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley, Chris Janson and others. Fishing legends will be here too, speaking, advising, running seminars and demonstrating, including Roland Martin, Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston, Kevin VanDam, and even Morris himself, a one-time professional bass fishing competitor who holds several world records. Autographs and selfies will be hot tickets, and in this vein, Morris is also appealing to sports fans by bringing in some star NASCAR drivers, as Bass Pro has been a longtime race car sponsor.

Of course, there is a big equipment and a retail component, with more than 200 exhibitors representing over 150 manufacturers across boating, fishing and outdoor gear, with factory representatives on hand to demonstrate and explain products. There will be more than 500,000 square feet of merchandize, much of it on sale at reduced prices, from boats to rods to clothing. Enormous bargain tents are devoted just to factory overstocks and closeouts. There will also be ongoing prize giveaways throughout, totaling a quarter of a million dollars. If sports-centric retail therapy is your thing, this may well be the event of the year.

The Fair sounds like nirvana for anglers and outdoor enthusiasts, but as if often the case with Johnny Morris, a longtime large-scale philanthropist, the big winner looks to be conservation. For over a decade, his privately owned company has invested an average of 10% of its earnings into support for conservation causes. Since 1978, Morris has worked with every presidential administration from both sides of the aisle to advance significant conservation issues, served on high level committees, and has been awarded many top conservation honors, including the Audubon Society’s coveted Audubon Medal and the Teddy Roosevelt Conservationist Award by President George Bush.

Following this tradition, he has earmarked 50% of the proceeds from all admission events at the Fair, including both general admission and separate tickets to the “Concerts for Conservation,” to conservation donations. Admission to the Fair is free for kids 8 and under, while one-day tickets are $8 for ages 9-15 and $20 for 16 and up. Two-day passes are $10 and $25 respectively and three-days $12 and $30. Concert schedule and pricing as well as seminar lineups have not been announced yet, but the World’s Fishing Fair website will be updated on an ongoing basis with more details.

All of this action is taking place at the flagship Bass Pro Shops store/campus in Springfield, Missouri, which even in normal times draws visitors from all over the world, about 4 million each year, about the same as the state’s most famous tourist attraction, the Gateway Arch. Every Bass Pro Shops superstore around the country is full of live fish displays, elaborate dioramas and other entertainment attractions – Morris has often been called the “Walt Disney of Retail” – but the flagship has a lot more of these beyond-retail elements. It is a destination on many outdoor lovers’ Bucket Lists, and the Fair offers a unique opportunity to combine two different highlights. The global flagship is home to numerous mini-museums, and one not so mini attraction. Within the retail store are the National Bass Fishing Hall of Fame, the International Game Fish Association Hall of Fame, the American Fly Fishing Museum, and the Archery Hall of Fame. Connected to it is the Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium, which contains 1.3 million gallons of aquatic displays and was just named “America’s Best Aquarium” by USA Today – for the third time.

Given the size of Springfield and how many people came to the area for the last World’s Fishing Fair, lodging might become the hardest part of the visitor equation. The closest option, immediately adjacent to the flagship store, is one of the two debut location of the company’s newest hospitality brand, the fishing themed Angler’s Lodge, but there are a lot of other hotel options in and around Springfield, including multiple brands from the biggest companies such as Hilton, Marriott and IHG. For the full Bass Pro immersion, the choice is Big Cedar Lodge, a world-class golf, fishing and family friendly resort that has repeatedly been named the Number One resort hotel in the Midwest by Travel + Leisure Magazine and was also Golf Magazine’s pick as the nation’s best family friendly golf resort. Big Cedar is just outside Branson, about 45 minutes away, and Branson itself is a famed music, theme park and entertainment tourism destination that attracts more than 9 million annual visitors. This is another good option for Fair visitors to combine multiple vacation highlights into one trip, as there is always a lot going on in Branson, and a lot more hotel rooms (click here for the Branson visitor’s bureau site).