Timberwinds Nursery to host the 2025 St. Louis Koi Show and Pond Expo

 (Published in a recent copy of West Newsmagazine)

In Japanese, ‘koi’ has a variety of meanings. Just a few of them are ‘strong,’ ‘love,’ and ‘come here.’

Who knew that part of their value to the Japanese culture is the great strength of a koi’s ability to swim upstream? Also, how can one not have love and affection for those beautiful creatures that are also considered to bring luck to community waterways and area ponds?

The ‘come here’ part is an open invitation for everyone to head to Timberwinds Nursery in Ellisville on the weekend of Sept. 19-21. The hours are 3-5pm on Friday, 9am-5pm on Saturday, and 10 am-2 pm on Sunday.

It’s there that the non-profit Gateway Koi and Pond Club will host the 23rd Annual Northern Midwest ZNA (Zen Nippon Airinkai) Koi Show & Pond Expo.

Timberwinds owner Mike Curran agreed to hosting the event back in 2018 after being contacted by a regular customer. It’s been the event site every single year since.

“It’s a free event, it’s family-oriented, it’s a national event, it’s been going great, and Mike’s loved it and loves us being there!” said the non-profit’s President Pam Jokerst, who is also the show’s chairperson. “It’s been a really good opportunity for all of us. It brings a lot of people into the nursery for their business, and it’s a really nice location for us to have our show.”

And what a show it is for roughly 2,500 attendees!

The main focus is exhibitors bringing the fish they’ve taken care of in their own ponds. They have traveled here from all over the Midwest, from the East coast, one from the West coast and another from Hawaii.

“This year, we are the ZNA Eastern District Koi Show. So, there’s even going to be judges from all across the country for our judges’ meeting. Just like a horse show or a dog show, there’s different varieties of koi, and also different size categories depending on their length. That also depends on what variety they are. So, there’s different categories they can compete in depending on the characteristics of that fish with different championship categories.”

The koi in general are referred to as gosanke. The three main varieties or families of gosanke are kohaku, sanke, and showa. Those are the ‘A’ fish. The rest are in the ‘B’ category, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less. It’s just how they’re categorized. One judge named Sato, will be coming in from Japan for this show.”

The show and judging of what Jokerst labeled as ‘show-quality koi with high-quality bloodlines,’ are mostly purchased from seasoned handlers in Japan. She added that their breeding is similar to horses with certain sires.

How valuable are the koi to their Japanese breeders? Jokerst said they actually put the koi in their wills.

The event will also feature different koi vendors, koi food, an herbalist who displays her own health products, ones for garden products, plus vendors offering other products. In addition, there will be food trucks and possibly an ice cream or gelato person.

And there is yet another event highlight that often attracts visitors of all ages.

“The Star Wars people who will be here is a local charity that’s called Bad Guys Doing Good, which is just their name because they’re not convicts or anything like that! They dress up as Star Wars characters. Last year, we had Chewbacca there and several others which is for photo ops with adults and children. Our club donates to their charity.

“We also have raffles of items donated by different companies. They could be things for one’s pond, a piece of artwork, or a lawn & garden item. Those are all on our raffle table and done throughout the weekend. At our awards banquet, we have signed artwork, woodworking items like huge windchimes that will be auctioned off at the silent or live auction the night of Saturday’s banquet.”

There are also different judges lined up to give seminars in the retail sales building, set up with chairs and a screen. Those are on various topics having to do with fish, gardening, and the like. Their 40-45-minute programs are followed by 15-min Q&A sessions. Those are posted at the welcome table and open to all attendees.

Meanwhile, the Gateway Koi and Pond Club has over 175 members and more than 500 Facebook members, including ones across state lines.

“Everybody is friends in our club. You don’t just go to the club and go home. We get together and do pond tours, we have member evenings where we get together at somebody’s house and just stay there and have a social activity there. We do field trips and have monthly educational meetings. So, we have educational opportunities. We want to let people know what to do with their pond, how to enhance their pond, and how to take care of their fish because we are based on husbandry—good quality water, good quality food, and you’ll get the best results.”