Been to the Outdoor Adventure show twice.
Pros:
1)Discounts: if you are in the market to buy something. Tent City usually has a booth and I got a good deal on a canoe pack. Canadian Outdoor Equipment had a good booth, too. Eureka has tents displayed. Swift and other canoe retailers are there.I always stock up my first aid kit from the medical supply booth...best prices on bandages, splints, etc, and surgical clamps you can use to remove a fish hook ;-)
2)Presentations: They can be interesting. I saw a presentation on Pukaskwa, which made me go there last summer; on the wolf howl program at Algonquin, which made me NOT want to go there.
3)People: I met Max Finkelstein (Cdn Heritage Rivers, cross-Canada paddler), Kevin Callan (Happy Camper), David Lee (Passionate Paddler), Jeffrey M (from this site, of Jeff'sMaps fame), etc...
Cons:
1) A lot of stuff that is not so interesting. The usual dreck at trade shows. Some new gadget or ginsu knife, etc. If you're not interested in scuba diving, that corner is not worth visiting. Lots of tourism booths from countries in the Caribbean, China, Korea, Japan, etc. Every US state or region this side of the Rockies has a booth. I felt sorry for some of them. Not too many people from Toronto planning adventures in Missouri...
2) Noisy. Sometimes it was hard to hear the presentations in the main room because of the zipline going overhead, etc. Guess I'm getting old, complaining about folks having fun... Get off my lawn, too!
3) Its a three day show, and often the best seminars are on different days and times, so you always miss something you'd like to see because you're not gonna trek all the way back out to the airport on the same weekend.
I think it's fun to go. What else are you gonna do on a weekend in February if you live in Toronto and you don't have a hot tent? That said, it is often on the same weekend as the Wilderness Canoe Symposium, and I've never been there, and it looks mighty interesting...
Last edited by LaLoche (1/16/2016 11:10 am)
