The new Jay’s and Webber Wildlife Education Center is a great place for the entire family to visit.

Tom LounsburyConservation & Wildlife Management

Jay’s & Webber Wildlife Education Center, Clare, MI

July 24, 2024, marked the grand opening of the new Jay’s and Webber Wildlife Education Center located close to Jay’s Sporting Goods in Clare. Stepping through the doorway to the museum is a bit of a breathtaking moment, I can assure you. The first thing to greet you are the full-sized mounts of two zebra stallions fighting, and from there on as you look around and move to each exhibit, you’ll encounter wildlife from all over the world being presented in their distinct habitat. The artwork adorning the walls to enhance each exhibit is nothing short of being spectacular. From the African plains and South American jungles to North America and the Arctic, everything is displayed in exquisite detail in its simulated habitat.

This collection is due to the efforts of Wayne Webber who was a successful Michigan businessman, whose small concrete business grew into a national highway construction company. This allowed Wayne and his wife Joan the opportunity to travel around the world and visit over 30 countries. Wayne was a passionate hunter and conservationist who loved nature and it became a goal for him to hunt and collect animals from the different parts of the world to create an educational museum. Wayne would also perform philanthropy work in assisting the people wherever he and his wife visited by developing wells and systems for clean water and better sanitation, as well as creating waterholes for wildlife in desert environments. Wayne and Joan would also assist in financing the training and equipment for anti-poaching teams in Africa to protect elephants and rhinos.

They would build an Educational Wildlife Museum in Macomb, Michigan, for schools and community groups to visit and learn about nature, conservation and the various forms of wildlife found around the world. However, it was Wayne Webber’s goal to eventually expand the museum and make it available to the public. In 2020, Wayne was visiting Jay’s Sporting Goods in Clare, and by chance ran into Jeff Poet, president of Jay’s. While striking up a conversation, the two men discovered they had a lot in common, and the wheels were soon set in motion to have the museum moved from Macomb to Clare and be constructed right next to Jay’s. Sadly, Wayne Webber passed away in 2021, but the wheels kept turning with painstaking care until the recent Grand Opening.

During the late 1960’s, Jay Poet of Clare began selling sporting goods, first out of the trunk of his car, and as business grew, things soon progressed from his one-car garage. His wife, Arlene, and two sons, Jeff and J.J., were a part of the family business from the start. The eldest son, Jeff, can remember climbing up a narrow staircase to a small opening to the attic in the garage to retrieve or store items, because his father, Jay, was too big to fit through the opening. Eventually, the garage became too small, and Jay would open his first store in downtown Clare, in 1974.

I was on a spring turkey hunt taking place not far from Clare in 1975, and I stopped in at the “New” Jay’s Sporting Goods store located in a blue building to get extra shotgun ammo and to see what new turkey calls might be available (which at that time, could be few and far between, with spring turkey hunting just catching on in Michigan). I was impressed with the store’s offerings as well as with Jay himself, who was very friendly and personable from the get-go, and yep, folks, he had some new turkey calls I hadn’t heard of, and sure knew how to use them! From then on, I made a point of stopping in at “Jay’s” whenever I was in the Clare area, as well as I frequently headed to Clare for just that purpose.

Jay Poet would see a dream come true when he and his family could expand their business farther and create a big store just outside of Clare in 1988. However, it was during that timeframe when Jay was diagnosed with cancer, and sadly, he passed away in 1989. Jeff Poet is now president of Jay’s and his brother J.J. is vice president, in keeping with the family business tradition.

In also keeping with steady growth, Jay’s opened a new sporting goods store in Gaylord in June of 2000. Located just off I-75, no matter if I was headed north or south, I would find myself pulling into the Jay’s Sporting Goods parking lot for a rest break of sorts, mostly shopping, of course. In the spring of 2015, the Gaylord Jay’s store moved downtown to what was once the large K-Mart building. Like the Clare store, it remains to be a bustling and steadily growing business.

The recent Grand Opening of the Jay’s and Webber Wildlife Education Center also featured the Michigan Outdoor Writers Association (MOWA) Outdoor Hall of Fame taking place there with three new inductees: Steve Rinella of the Meat Eater TV show, the late Jim Foote, noted wildlife artist and Denny Geurink, noted outdoor writer, TV show host and hunting guide. The MOWA Outdoor Hall of Fame, which recognizes individuals and businesses that have contributed much to the great outdoors, was originally at a state park in Cadillac, and its recent move to Jay’s at Clare is a perfect fit.

The same applies to the wonderful work and accomplishments of Wayne Webber and Jay Poet in creating a great legacy for all generations to come and enjoy.

Tom Lounsbury
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