34 Nebraskaland • August-September 2025
and the Better Ponca Foundation silent
auction, which helps fund the expo.
The area surrounding the visitor center
is where activities such as kayaking,
fi shing, the rock wall, ropes course and
dog shows are located.
The shooter's village is the third
venue of the expo. Although the
shooting area has been there since the
park was established in 1934, a formal
shooting range was built in 2013 thanks
to memorial dollars from the family of
Eric Wiebe, a former Game and Parks
conservation offi cer and one of the
expo's earliest proponents, who died
of cancer in 2009, in conjunction with
corporate and nonprofi t donations,
including from Scheels.
During the expo, visitors can shoot
archery, shotgun, muzzleloader, .22
long rifl e, pellet guns, slingshot, atlatl
and tomahawk — all equipment
provided — at the complex.
In the early years, the expo off ered
20 to 40 activities. Now, the event
has grown twice as large. The expo's
blueprint covers nearly 57 acres of
beautiful, hilly terrain.
Gap Year
There was no expo in 2020 as
COVID-19 forced restrictions around
the globe. At the time, Ponca staff felt
they could not do the event justice
while maintaining social distancing.
But skipping a year had its risks. As
organizers saw across the country,
many events and activities did not
return after the pandemic.
In 2004, the Missouri River Outdoor
Expo was one of maybe seven or eight in
the Midwestern area. Over time, it has
outlasted most in the country, Fields
Former Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Biologist Tom Welstead teaches a boy how to shoot a muzzleloader.
JENNY NGUYEN-WHEATLEY, NEBRASKALAND
