The 52nd Bi-annual (not sure if that means they count those twice!) Outdoor Adventure Expo is this coming Fri-Sunday in Minneapolis, at Midwest Mountaineering adjacent to the University of Minnesota campus. Many exhibitors and talks to attend, free of charge. Last year I think I gained five pounds just by being too close to the Cache Lake food people, who were serving up everything they make.
Grand Portage Isle Royale Transportation Lines (Capt Don's Voyageur and Sea Hunter III) will have a booth, staffed by yours truly and my brother in law/hiking partner. (Don is where we all want him - Getting the boats ready for their pending seasons!)
If you happen to go, please stop by and say hello, or even stay for a chat. It's always fun to meet folks from the forum.
Sorry we missed you, head2north! I would have been great to meet you. The booth was under the name "Grand Portage Isle Royale Transportation" which might have thrown you. We were booth 16, in the tent area that was closest to the actual store. We were in a row of "North Shore" attractions, adjacent to Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply, and across from the Cook County Visitor's bureau. If you stopped to sample food from Cache Lake, we were in the short aisle right behind you. WAAAAYYY to close for my waistline. I think all the other North-woods vendors cast dispersions our way for having an actual moose rack on our table. Great conversation starter.
It was fun to meet the many folks who came our way asking about Isle Royale, and perhaps a few new faces will join the forum, too...
Tom, I was looking for Don's booth and i am still in disbelief that i coulding find it walking around so many times.
I even had a map and location of booth #16 and passed by eating samples of Cache Lake food stuffs several times.
I am dizzy right now trying to think how i could possibly not find our booth.
Anyways, hope we better weather for this Fall's expo.
"Now I see the secret of making the best person: it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with earth" - Walt Whitman
This Midwest Mountaineering Expo sounds like super fun. 3 questions...I live in Chicago, so driving to Minnesota is quite a distance, do they ever hold it in other places? Is the spring and fall expo's similar in size and offerings? Does the site list all vendors that are going to be at the booths ahead of time? I really want to try a boat load of this Cache food I hear so much about. It would be nice to try all their samples so I can bulk up on the good stuff and disregard the stuff I dont care for that much. The whole trial and error process of finding out what you like from certain companies can be costly. Ive already did it once when it came to buying almost one of ever item mountain house had to offer, and with what it cost me, I wont be doing another little experiment like that any time soon.
I haven't been to the fall expo in a fair number of years, but the vendors tend to be 'seasonal' to some degree - Summer like things for the spring, winter for the fall, in general. The website does list all the vendors and speakers as they come in, and a final "newspaper" is issued when as finalized as can be.
I can't say I'd make a trip from Chicago just for the expo; it's nice, but perhaps not at THAT tier. What is nice, like you indicate, is that Cache Lake (based in Minnesota) sets up 'camp', as does Granite Gear, who got their start selling product from Midwest Mountaineering. Fun to talk directly with the owners and designers about what goes into their gear, for sure!
