BROOKFIELD, Wis. — Thousands of Wisconsinites had the chance to learn about fishing lodges up north this weekend at the All-Canada Show.

The show returned after a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The show has been around for 40 years, providing a place for Canadian lodges to promote their hunting and fishing opportunities.

Jeff Moreau, manager of the Temple Bay Lodge in Northwestern Ontario, has attended the expo for nearly fifteen years. He is happy to be back after the pandemic paused the show. The pandemic made a big impact on tourism in Canada.

“It hurt every single lodge because every single lodge up there that I know is 99.9% U.S. based for traffic,” said Moreau. “When COVID shut things down you either got really creative or you had to find another job. So we had to get really creative.”

While the Canadian border is back to normal regulations on getting in from the U.S., tourism is slowly making its way back to pre-pandemic numbers.

“I would say 40% drop maybe in people and so I’m hoping it’s going to come back again now that we’re back to sports shows and people are going to come back to Canada,” said Moreau.

Current owner of the All-Canada Show, Scott Poutz has been a part of it for 10 years. He said they tour in Milwaukee, Green Bay and Chicago.

“The old owner was interested in fishing and hunting in Canada and bringing in all these lodges to U.S. residents and that’s how it got started,” said Poutz.

He’s hopeful the show will continue to be the middle ground for U.S. residents to learn more about visiting Canada and exploring what it has to offer.