VIDALIA — For the first time since it began, the Highland Baptist Wildlife Expo will take place somewhere other than the church’s sanctuary.

As Highland gears up for its fourth annual expo at 6 p.m. Thursday, the church has relocated to the Vidalia Conference and Convention Center to host the event.

Team leader Bruce McCall said the move was made in anticipation of the continued growth the event has experienced since the church first started putting it on in 2007.

“We had about 505 people last year, and it was standing room only. This year we expect between 800 and 1,000, because we’ve grown by several hundred each year,” McCall said.

And a big reason he expects such dramatic growth this year is because of the names and prizes that will be seen at the expo Thursday.

“We have Preston Pittman, who’s from Mississippi and has his name attached to Pittman Game Calls and Longleaf Camo,” McCall said.

“Anyone who shops for hunting stuff around here knows who he is, and he’ll be showing off new products. We’re also going to be giving away a Polaris 300 Sportsman ATV as one of our grand door prizes.”

When the event begins, the first hour will be dedicated to letting visitors tour the 30 vendor booths in the convention center. Free food will also be available, McCall said.

“We’ll be cooking jambalaya, and will have iced tea and drinks. It’s not going to be a sit-down meal. Visitors will be walking around looking at the booths while they’re eating,” McCall said.

Following that, area game wardens will host a segment outlining new rule changes for this coming hunting season, and will host a questions and answers session afterward.

Pittman’s session will follow the game wardens’, and Jason Cruise, host of the outdoors TV show “Me and Dad,” will close out the guest speaker portion of the expo.

“He’s our focus speaker, and he’ll be talking about what serving the Lord has meant to him,” McCall said.

The expo will wrap up with the grand door prizes being handed out, which includes the Polaris 300, a hunter’s getaway package, a Blackhawk hunting trip and a loaded Hoyt bow package. Redneck Adventures will also be giving away a trip to its annual squirrel hunt.

A separate event for children in grades 1 through 3 will also take place during the expo, which will feature snake and bee handlers, McCall said.

“It’s hard to listen to the game wardens or Pittman when your 6-year-old is whining, so we have somewhere they can go,” McCall said.

The event is free and open to the public.