Thoughts on the Outdoor Adventure Show

It had been at least ten years since I'd last attended the Outdoor Adventure Show in Toronto, but with three others in tow on the Saturday, I braved the trip across the city to Airport Road to attend this year's show. As with the last time, it didn't disappoint.

Presented by Ontario Tourism and produced by National Event Management, the Outdoor Adventure Show caters to adventure enthusiasts, with more than 300 exhibitors that offer products and services that include travel, diving, cycling, hiking, camping, canoeing and kayaking, and eco-tourism.

Arriving shortly after opening, I walked into the hall and right into the Tent City booth, where I discovered several good deals on pieces of gear. With no interest in toting around bags of loot from the get-go, I made a note of the booth and decided to return on my way out.

The most interesting exhibitors were the ones related to camping, even though most of those were there to sell equipment to the outdoors enthusiasts visiting the show. I kept my spending to a minimum but made mental notes about several suppliers and vendors (to be looked up at a later date online).

Perhaps the show's biggest downfall is the myriad of exhibitors that had nothing to do with the outdoors or adventure and made little effort to connect themselves with the overall theme. Whether it was someone trying to get me to sign up for a Visa or Scotiabank offering a new type of savings account or Sony sporting its brand of high-def TVs (putting outdoors shows on the TVs doesn't really count), the show was scattered with examples of vendors that really shouldn't have been on the floor.

Even some of the travel destinations weren't trying very hard. While the Caribbean tourism boards in attendance talked mostly about diving, there were a few others that were more focused on simply getting people to go hang out on resorts or take luxury cruises. The spirit of the show was lost on those exhibitors.

Thankfully, the useless vendors were far outnumbered by vendors who really understood the show's mentality. We ended up spending more than four hours wandering the hall, ending our day waiting for the youngest member of our group to meet Terry "Mantracker" Grant and have his picture taken with him.

All in all, the Outdoor Adventure Show was a day well spent. I saw a lot of cool things, made note of a few places I would like to go in the future, and returned home with a far lighter wallet.