Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Elk Films DVDs and Books to be available at Elk Expo-Artisans to appear

Elk DVDs to be available at Expo
PA Wildlife Photographer Films "Running Wild In Pennsylvania Elk Country" and "The Truth About Pennsylvania's Elk Herd" will be available at the Benezett Store Booth at the Elk Expo.
By now most elk enthusiast are aware that he Elk Expo will be returning on August 17th & 18th. after a five year hiatus. For the first time, it will be held at the Elk Country Visitor Center on Winslow Hill.  The theme of this year's Expo will be "Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the restoration of elk in Pennsylvania's Great Outdoors".

Be sure to visit The Elk Expo website for full details.  An important point to remember is that as best as I can understand it there will not be public parking at the Visitor Center as the parking areas will be occupied by exhibitors, etc.  Instead parking will be at the Benezette Municipal Building and visitors will be shuttled to and from the Expo Site.

The store will feature a variety of souvenirs and other elk related merchandise, both at the store in Benezette and at their booth at the Expo.  They will also feature appearances by some of the Artisans who produce products for sale at the store.   Artists scheduled to appear are Elk County natives Jim Burke and Ralph Harrison.

 Mr. Burke is known for writing, “Pioneers of Second Fork,” which traces the history of 16 families of early pioneers who came to settle in western Pennsylvania at  Second Fork, which is  known today as Bennett’s Valley.

Mr. Harrison was born in Dent’s Run in 1928 and has lived there most of his life except for a stint in the military.  Ralph went to work for what was then know as the Department of Forest and Waters in 1951 and worked for them for the next forty years. While "elk management" was not a part of his official job description, he dedicated his life to their re-establishment and was instrumental in sparking the resurgence of the elk herd which began in the 1970s.  Mr.  Harrison has written at least four books during his career,  two of which, "The History of Pennsylvania Elk" and his most recent book, "Quehanna: The Blemished Jewel Restored" are currently available at Benezett Store.

Also scheduled to appear is elk enthusiast and photographer Marci Geise.  Ms. Geise is well known for  her first photo book "Elk Scenic Drive" and for hosting several wildlife oriented Facebook Pages throughout her career.  Marci plans to release her newest photo book, "Pennsylvania Elk", at The Expo.  The book is a co-operative effort among several elk photographers, which has been edited and assembled by Geise. Photographers whose work appears include; David Anderson, Jim Borden, Richard Coy, Tom Dorsey, Marci Geise, Coy Hill, Willard Hill, Ronald "Buckwheat" Saffer and Paul Staniszewski.

Both of my DVD-films, "The Truth About Pennsylvania's Elk Herd" and "Running Wild In Pennsylvania Elk Country", are to be available for purchase at the Benezett Store Booth and I  plan on being at there for a significant period of time on both days.  At this point I am not sure if they will be able to play sample clips of the videos at the booth, but I will be glad to discuss the videos, elk, and photography and filming with you if you stop by.

Artisans will autograph your copy of their work upon request.

 Also be sure to check out the new blog page I recently added to display sample clips for the "Running Wild in Pennsylvania Elk  Country" film.  Look for the page in the tabs directly below the blog header.


Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.