I remember walking into an antique store in Brainerd about 22 years ago when I was on a planning trip to start a fish decoy show in my hometown and spotting an incredible-looking fish decoy. I could tell the guy who carved it was an artist! I asked the store clerk for information on it, and they didn't know more but knew the consignor, Ron Holloway. Well, I knew Ron, so I tracked down the info on this guy named Bob Johnson.
Bob made fish decoys and taught a decoy carving class at Brainerd High School. We met, and I expressed my interest in starting a decoy show, and he said he was all in. He taught decoy carving and helped start a local chapter of the MN Dark House Association.
That's how it all started- The Bob Johnson Decoy Show.
After a few years and trouble finding a venue we could afford to host the show, we moved it to the Falls Ballroom in Little Falls, about 30 miles south. The Mn Fishing Museum was just starting up and we decided the show would be a fundraiser for the museum and the NFDA, National Fish Decoy Association.
Bob was a board member of the NFDA, and today we honor him with the Bob Johnson Show, and the Bob Johnson Memorial Junior Contest at The NFDA Nationals held each spring at The Gathering, the Worlds Largest Decoy Show, in Perham, Minnesota.
Bob made fish decoys and taught a decoy carving class at Brainerd High School. We met, and I expressed my interest in starting a decoy show, and he said he was all in. He taught decoy carving and helped start a local chapter of the MN Dark House Association.
That's how it all started- The Bob Johnson Decoy Show.
After a few years and trouble finding a venue we could afford to host the show, we moved it to the Falls Ballroom in Little Falls, about 30 miles south. The Mn Fishing Museum was just starting up and we decided the show would be a fundraiser for the museum and the NFDA, National Fish Decoy Association.
Bob was a board member of the NFDA, and today we honor him with the Bob Johnson Show, and the Bob Johnson Memorial Junior Contest at The NFDA Nationals held each spring at The Gathering, the Worlds Largest Decoy Show, in Perham, Minnesota.