HARRISBURG (KYW Newsradio) -- The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is conducting a "virtual outdoor expo" this week.
This is traditionally the time of year for the big outdoor shows at places like the Expo Center in Oaks, Montgomery County, and the Farm Show Arena in Harrisburg. But not this year, because of COVID-19 crowd restrictions.
"The way that we’re going to do this is introduce people through our Facebook Page to several virtual sessions where we will host it like a video chat or a podcast with a guest or two from different areas of our agency, and give the public the opportunity to ask some questions if they’d like," explained Mike Parker, the commission’s communications director.
"These are going to be about 30 to 40 minutes, tops," he said. "So, hopefully convenient, listenable, won’t take up too much of your time. But we’ll give you some of that opportunity to hear about Fish and Boat Commission programs when we really just can’t get together with people in person."
Parker said some of the segments will be pre-produced, such as a visit to one of the state’s trout hatcheries in the State College area.
He said being unable to do outdoor shows this year means the agency is missing valuable face time with the public.
"The Fish and Boat Commission usually sets up a booth at these places, sells fishing licenses," Parker said. "It gives us some really valuable one-on-one time with the public who want to ask us questions."
He said it just made sense to reach out on Facebook this year.
"The technology’s there," Parker said. "We’re just making our folks available to interact with the public at a time when we can’t, unfortunately, do it one-on-one."
Among the interactive daily sessions is Wednesday’s "Kayaking 101." Parker says it's the fastest growing segment of boating in Pennsylvania.
"A lot of people getting into it. So, a lot of people have questions, and we’ll hope to answer that with a few of our experts.”
If you miss any of the Virtual Outdoor Expo events this week, he said, they will be archived on the Fish and Boat Commission’s YouTube channel and on its website.