10 Years Gone: Overland Expo, Then and Now

Dave

Dave

Adventurist
Founder
Senior Staff
Editor
Enjoy the ride as we look back at TEN YEARS of Overland Expo! Lodestone Events has entered the game, and 2019 is shaping up to be even bigger than previous years. Please stop by and say hi at the American Adventurist booth at site PS1, we’ll have a cold beer ready for you courtesy of Wanderlust Brewing in Flagstaff, bring your cup!

In 2009 at the Yavapai Fairgrounds in Prescott, Arizona, an ambitious group of like minded travelers gathered for something new. Something called Overland Expo.
Before 2009, roof top tents, 4WD vans, off-road campers, Glamping, Overlanding, all of it was virtually unknown in North America. Yes, some of the gear was around, and car camping was hardly a new thing, but Yakima didn’t sell awnings yet, and Walmart wasn’t dabbling in 12 volt fridge/freezers. It was more of a “you need to know a guy” to get a roof top tent or 12 volt fridge back then.
Overland style gear and builds were quite rare in the mid to...
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Continue reading...

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Since we're celebrating ten years, if you stop by and see us at the show you might be able to get one of these while they last!

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It's amazing to see how this event and the industry itself has grown exponentially over a seemingly short period of time, and even how it is still expanding!

Thank you to the Hanson's for starting this event to bring us all together!
 
Equipt said:
It's been a long strange trip Dave. A dozen years for us, right? What an incredible ride. Thanks for the mosey down memory lane.

Cheers,
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It’s been an incredible journey Paul, glad you enjoyed it. Seems like more than a dozen years really, seems a lifetime ago.

Expedition Trophy 2007... Good times :clang
 
My first Expo was the first year in Amado. I got meet Baja Taco builder Chris and stole many ideas from him for my build. To actually see and touch all the cool equipment I had been reading about was like being a child at Toys are Us before Christmas!
 
Hard to believe its been a decade of events and dreaming of attending West. This event has come such a long ways. I am looking forward to what the future holds for this event and the overlanding community!
 
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In your opinion, how did the new management group do? I haven’t heard anything positive or negative - the weather looked decent.
 
kmacafee said:
In your opinion, how did the new management group do? I haven’t heard anything positive or negative - the weather looked decent.
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In all honesty, from the outside looking in I was very impressed with the seamless nature of this transition. Lodestone stepped up and I felt like it ran smoothly. This bodes very well for Expo East 2019 in it's new location :)
 
My fourth visit this year. Added two wheels to the modes of adventure this year. It is pretty amazing how this thing has grown in just the past 5 years.
 
Kevin LaCroix said:
My fourth visit this year. Added two wheels to the modes of adventure this year. It is pretty amazing how this thing has grown in just the past 5 years.
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You got that right. 2014 was tiny compared to this year’s WEST...

:tent
 
kmacafee said:
In your opinion, how did the new management group do? I haven’t heard anything positive or negative - the weather looked decent.
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I thought they did a great job all weekend. They had plenty of outhouses and seemed to empty and clean them more than once a day. Plenty of trash cans around and none overflowing. When the wind was crazy Thursday the staff pulled down tents, kept people back and brought in concrete blocks and drums of water to secure them better.

They also had an organized system of bussing people in and back to offsite parking. Staff I interacted with was nice. I stayed in the Sportsmobile Village but was mixing with everyone all weekend.

Was it as exciting as Snoverland at Mormon Lake that one year.....no way nothing can match that.
 
KTMRIDER said:
Was it as exciting as Snoverland at Mormon Lake that one year.....no way nothing can match that.
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I’m not sure exciting is the word I’d use there but it was definitely memorable. Overall, this year was great. It was well organized, well managed, and well thought out from a layout perspective. This is pretty amazing given the growth from last year, alone. I didn’t get out to the more remote camping area but the camping area close to the event booths seemed to be well populated but not too crowded. The folks I talked with there seemed pretty pleased.

I was a little surprised an event of this size didn’t have an app. Just a little constructive criticism, we had a number of folks who stopped by our booth looking for another booth. I didn’t have the layout memorized so all I could give them was a ‍♂️. It’d be nice to have an app with a booth map so folks could find their way around a little easier.
 
kmacafee said:
In your opinion, how did the new management group do? I haven’t heard anything positive or negative - the weather looked decent.
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Seemed to flow quite well. As others stated, plenty of sani-cans, trash barrels. Did not see a lot trash blowing around. Checkin went reasonable quickly. Motorcycle training area needs to be bigger.
 
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