Library of Congress Bicentennial Celebration Presentation - Page 5
THE "CONTEMPORARY" CARVERS
California sunshine, discussing with his host the merits of a New Jersey
Blackduck decoy, and a pair of magnificently snouted "Shang" Wheeler
cork scoters.
In the decade of the 70's, contests had expanded in format and geography. The Nationals had returned to Long Island; the Great Lakes now supported two annual shows, the Canadian Nationals at Toronto, and the Michigan Duck Hunters contest on Lake Erie, while the International Decoy Contest was established at the annual Mississippi Valley Fair, at Davenport, Iowa. Smaller shows included the Central Flyway Contest at Lincoln, Nebraska; the Maine Decoy Contest as Bangor; the Chincoteague Refuge Decoy Contest on Virginia's eastern shore, and at Salisbury, Maryland the Ward Foundation, directed by the energetic Knute Bartrug, had held its first decoy contest - exactly three months before Don Yost and his ad hoc Tule Rats "committee" borrowed some wooden chairs and a plastic kiddie wading pool, setting it all down at the Berkeley boatyard.