On Labor Day, most of the country does the version everyone recognizes: grills going, a parade somewhere, one last swim before the pools close. Colusa had already done its version of the send-off, a week and a half early, on the last Saturday and Sunday of August. It didn't sound like a barbecue. It sounded like a few hundred people at Memorial Park trying to convince each other, and a panel of judges, that they could talk like a duck better than the person standing next to them.
That's the California State Duck Calling Championship and Waterfowl Expo, hosted every year by Kittle's Outdoor & Sport, and if you weren't at Memorial Park on August 29 and 30, here's what you missed: two people walked away from that weekend with a trip to Arkansas, while Stuart McCullough was already returning to defend his title.
Two New Tickets To Arkansas, Plus A Return
The event runs in two layers, and the layering is the part most people driving past the park don't clock. Saturday is the Butte Sink Regional Duck Calling Qualifier, one of the sanctioned regional contests that feed into the World's Championship Duck Calling Contest in Stuttgart, Arkansas. Sunday is the California State Duck Calling Championship, the state-level version of the same funnel. Win either one in Colusa and you have a seat at the biggest stage the sport has.
This year, three callers connected to the Colusa event were headed to Stuttgart.
The Territorial Dispatch reported that Dillon White, a 35-year-old cattleman from Atwater, took the state title on Sunday. He's been competing since 2011 and had only made it to Stuttgart once in fifteen years of trying. The Territorial Dispatch quoted White after the win: "It's been a while so I'm looking forward to going." White grew up calling on a ranch, taught by his father starting at age four.
Ryan Huff, 23, of Los Banos, won the Butte Sink Regional a day earlier, on his third competition ever. He picked up a call around age 12. The Territorial Dispatch quoted Huff describing the win simply: "I'm super pumped." Huff is headed to his first World's Championship.
Stuart McCullough placed second in the state contest but is returning to Stuttgart anyway, to defend a title he already holds. He summed up the weekend better than a recap could, as the Territorial Dispatch quoted him: "Two really good quality callers are going to represent our state. I'm going to go back for the senior world again."
White and Huff each received $1,000 from the event to help cover travel to Arkansas. Both trips point to the same date: November 28, when the 91st annual World's Championship Duck Calling Contest kicks off the Wings Over the Prairie Festival, an event that regularly pulls tens of thousands of people to a small town in Arkansas for one weekend. Two of California's qualifiers came out of one park in Colusa, while Stuart McCullough was returning to defend his title.
Who Else Took Home Something
The state and regional titles get the headline, but the weekend had other results worth knowing if you were anywhere near Memorial Park:
- Weston Grunst of Truckee won the Intermediate Specklebelly Goose Calling Championship, with Will Herrnberger placing second.
- Anthony Wallace finished third in the state duck calling championship.
- The weekend also included junior calling contests.
The Expo Grew Up Around The Contest
The calling contest is the reason people show up, but the weekend has stopped being just a contest. Vendors this year included Foiles Migrators, a duck call manufacturer traveling in from Illinois, and a returning exhibitor who made the trip from Florida. Kittle's also used the weekend to introduce Eberhart Decoys as a new product line sold exclusively through the store.
Food followed the same pattern of small-town names doing the heavy lifting. Campas Pizza of Arbuckle worked the vendor row both days. The Colusa County Chamber of Commerce ran breakfast. Daily Habit handled lunch. None of that is dramatic on its own, but it's the difference between an event that draws a crowd and one that has become something the whole town helps run.
Pat Kittle, who has organized the event since Kittle's Outdoor & Sport took it over in 2011, has watched the guest list stretch well past Colusa County borders. The Territorial Dispatch quoted Kittle saying, "The group that has gathered around this state calling contest has grown tremendously." He added, "The proof is having out-of-state vendors, duck hunting enthusiasts reaching out and wanting to be a part of it. It's a great thing for Colusa."
Fifteen Years Of Kittle's Running The Show
Kittle's has been outfitting hunters and anglers out of Colusa County since 1999, long enough that the store and the contest have basically grown up together. 2026 marked its fifteenth year running the event, a stretch that's turned a regional calling contest into something with out-of-state vendors and a waiting list of callers who want a shot at qualifying here specifically.
Kittle himself has a history with this stage that goes back further than the store. He competed at the Colusa County Fairgrounds as a caller decades before he started organizing the event that now sends other people to Arkansas in his place. It's the kind of detail that only means something if you already know the town, which is exactly the point of a weekend like this one. Nobody flies in from Illinois for an event nobody local cares about.
Circle November 28
If you want to see how this ends, the World's Championship Duck Calling Contest happens November 28 in Stuttgart, Arkansas, as part of the Wings Over the Prairie Festival. Dillon White and Ryan Huff will both be there representing California, with Stuart McCullough back to defend his own title. White and Huff earned their trips on a Saturday and Sunday in Colusa, a weekend most of the country never heard about because most of the country was busy planning its actual Labor Day weekend.
Colusa did its version first. It just didn't need fireworks to do it.
If moments like this are part of why Colusa County feels like home to you, or why you're thinking about making it home, Amber W. Torres would love to hear from you. Reach out anytime to talk about the town, the market, or what a move here might look like, and if you're ready to see where you stand, request your free home valuation whenever the time is right.
