My Outdoor Life, consolidated

review: Outdoor Adventure Show, Toronto

• Posted on February 23, 2008 at 12:06 PM
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My swag from the show was limited to a bunch of brochures and a pack of pepperettes.

Went to the Outdoor Adventure Show at the International Centre yesterday. For what it's worth, here's my take on it.

Synopsis:

Why do I go back year after year? It's generally very disappointing.

Details:

The show is always in hall 5, which is a medium-size trade show venue. And luckily, they fill it pretty well. My gripe is mostly that there's not a lot of adventure in the show. It's pretty low-grade stuff. And there aren't a lot of deals to be had either. A few show specials, if they happen to be selling exactly what you're looking for you may be in luck.

I had incredibly crappy service from a few of the vendors. Talking to the guy at MKC was annoying he basically interrupted our conversation to chat for a full 3 minutes with someone who was passing by, then eventually picked up where we left off when he realized we were still there, waiting. Disappointing, since I have a fondness for the organization. (Took my first paddling course there.) No show specials, either, except for weekend rafting trips.
The Wilderness Tours guys, on the other hand, were really helpful, and offered me 20% off their rates if I booked at the show. THAT's what I expect from a good show. A bit of incentive to do more than walk around.

It's strange that organizations make the effort to be there, but don't fully commit to trying to win you over. Ontario Parks has a huge booth, and pretty engaged and engaging staff. Spoke to them at length looking for good hiking routes in or around Muskoka. (Anyone have any suggestions?) So far so good. But I'd have expected more maps and that sort of thing to be available. They sell some great topo maps and trail maps, which they have to charge for since they're third-party maps and not their own, but still, it's odd that they'll push for tourism but stop short of hooking you when they have the chance.

There are a lot of off-topic vendors there: the huge whirlpool vendor booth, the people selling socks, a bunch of massage therapy and chiropractic and holistic this-or-that booths. The Dr. Oetker's pizza booth at least had free samples (I'm all for that). A lot of things that I wouldn't consider Outdoor Adventure, like running.

Best Reason to Go:

Too much of the show is vacation providers. But some of them are at least adventure vacation providers, so if that's what you are looking for -- a full-service vacation abroad, or in Canada, with a soft adventure component like canoeing or jungle-trekking or snorkelling -- you'll probably get your money's worth. I've never seen the booths super-busy, either, so they should have plenty of time to talk to you.

Stuff I Learned:

Though I have a lot to learn about outdoor adventures, there wasn't much for me at the show. But I did discover:
- Humber College has a bunch of courses you can take, either on their own or toward an Outdoor Education Certificate Program. I'm not about to pursue this for the certificate, but would love to take classes like Wilderness Survival Skills, GPS Navigation and Identifying Wild Edibles. The best part: the courses are cheap (most expensive is $245 for Wilderness First Aid), and the fee includes a weekend trip at the end of the course, where you apply what you learned, in a wilderness setting. I totally want to do the Wilderness Survival thing.
- MEC's Paddlefest takes place June 14-15 at Sunnyside Beach. They'll have boat demos, and a bunch courses and workshops you can take for $5 each (I think that's right). I'll post a Guidebook entry when I have a chance.
- Ontario Tourism has an online contest for seven days at Sleeping Giant provincial park, near Thunder Bay. Enter here. It's a $12,500 prize that includes a sailing trip, a fly-over of the park, camping, two Nikon cameras, binoculars, airfare, car rental, and other stuff. If you enter because of my blurb, and you win, I don't actually expect you to take me. But let me know, would ya?

We entered a bunch of draws, because I'm a sucker and an eternal optimist. And because I won the kayak "hammock" that I store my EZ on at the show a few years ago. One of this year's contests was for IcelandAir. The cool thing about IcelandAir is that they now fly from Toronto to a bunch of places in Europe, and with any ticket, you can stop over in Iceland for up to 7 days! How cool is that. I'd never make the effort to go to Iceland (I'd love to, but don't have the time), but if I can combine it with another trip, I'd love to go.