Super Good Camping Podcast

How A Morning Coffee Sparked A Two-Day Outdoor Festival

• Pamela and Tim Good • Season 3 • Episode 12

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You can feel the spark from the first minute: a morning coffee turned into a grassroots outdoor festival that now spans a Friday night film showcase, three packed halls, and a winter courtyard buzzing with dog sleds, fire pits, hot tents, and live demos. We’re joined by Jason and Bretton from the Hamilton Adventure Expo to trace how they kept the show independent, community-centred, and hands-on while doubling its size and raising the bar for Canadian outdoor events.

We dive into the new Adventure Film Festival at the historic Westdale Theatre—nine films, intimate Q&As, and a 350-seat room where creators and fans meet face to face. Then we map the weekend across the Ancaster Fairgrounds: indoor tunnels connecting vendor halls, a dedicated speaker space, acoustic music sessions, a kids’ corner, and a coffee-and-treats hub that makes every room feel alive. Outside, winter takes centre stage with Abitibi Dog Sledding rides, Esker hot tent demos and cocoa, live knife forging, sled-pulling workshops, and collaborative camp kitchen sessions. It’s an immersive way to learn winter skills, talk to experts, and turn questions into confidence.

The speaker lineup is stacked: Adam Shoalts, Joe Robinet, Kevin Callan, Kylan Marone, Tori Baird, Ken Whiting, Ray Zahab, Ben Beauchamp, Marty Morcette, and Evan LaFive. We talk about why these voices matter, how their stories move people from YouTube to trailheads, and why Saturday and Sunday each offer unique sessions worth seeing. You’ll also hear how last year’s sellout lines shaped smarter crowd flow, added volunteers, and a VIP entrance for weekend pass holders—without losing the indie spirit. And if you like great odds, every ticket enters you to win a Nova Craft ToughStuff 16’ Prospector canoe, ready to kick off your paddling season.

Join us for a warm, honest look at the Canadian outdoor community—where makers, guides, filmmakers, and fans come together to learn, collaborate, and head outside. Tickets go live November 24. Grab yours, share this episode with an adventure friend, and leave a review to help more people find the show. We’ll see you at Westdale on Jan 23 and at the Ancaster Fairgrounds Jan 24–25.

hamiltonadventureexpo.com

https://www.instagram.com/hamiltonadventureexpo/

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SPEAKER_00:

Hello and good day. Welcome to the Super Good Camping Podcast. My name is Pamela.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm Tim.

SPEAKER_00:

And we are from SupergoodCamping.com. We're here because we're on a mission to inspire other people to get outside and enjoy camping adventures such as we have as a family. Today's guests are the creators and organizers of an amazing outdoor adventure expo here in Southern Ontario. We had the pleasure of attending the inaugural event earlier this year and are really looking forward to the upcoming second annual gathering of like-minded folks in 2026. Please welcome back Jason and Bretton from the Hamilton Adventure Expo.

SPEAKER_05:

Yay, welcome.

SPEAKER_03:

Thanks for coming out, guys. Yeah, thanks for having us. Hey, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah, tell us, well, for anyone that didn't listen to their first episode, go back and listen to the first episode. Yes. But just give us like the little quick short version of like how this came to be. Alright, go for it.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, so this is our second year, season two. We're super excited of the Hamilton Adventure Expo. Um, last year, this in 2025, it all came about over just some morning coffee. Uh, Jason and myself have gone to quite a few trade shows and festivals, and we wanted to create something unique to the area that had more of like an outdoor community festival vibe.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, more of a like a grass, grassroots vibe, like getting local businesses together, as local as we can get them, speakers who inspire people to get outside. So, whether you know, YouTube celebrities or podcasters or or filmmakers, people that inspired us to get outside. We wanted to kind of bring them all together and and make like a big you know festival. Like last year was a one-day event. Uh it was kind of a proof of concept for us just to make sure that we weren't, you know, going down the wrong path. But it was a wild success. So this year we're back for season two over the course of two days, technically three days if you count the uh the film festival that we're we're putting on on the Friday night. Yeah, so it's uh it's a community, community-based event for sure.

SPEAKER_03:

So uh we'll get into the the meat of the Adventure Expo, but tell me about the film fest, because that's a I think that's a really cool thing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so that's a new addition for this year. Um it's super exciting. Like most of our speakers, if not all of them, are either uh content creators or filmmakers, or they've like starred in documentaries themselves. So we're like, why don't we give them an opportunity to get this on a big screen in front of an audience? It's quite intimate, it's like 350 seats at the theater, but they're already doing it, and we thought this would be a great way to tie the whole weekend together. Uh and everyone's really excited. I'm excited.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, a lot of people, what we found from just chatting with people at the expo last year, uh, either at the the first um, you know, uh the foyer walking in, asking people where they're from, or just walking around the venue and talking to folks. A lot of people came from far away and they were spending the weekend just for that one day. So Brett and I were talking, we're like, how do we kind of make it worth somebody's while? Like if they're coming all the way. Like we talked to the first people that came through the door, they were super early and they had driven all the way uh from Quebec uh overnight to show up. And we're like, like, how do we so cool? Yeah, so cool. So, how do we how do we make this really worth their while if someone's coming from far, you know, if they're coming in on a Friday, you know, if they got something to do Friday night, and then two slammed days of uh of exposition taking place at that the show. Um, yeah, that's that's kind of what started the the idea of us doing the Friday night show. Um and it was just natural, like a lot of the speakers that we are bringing on over the the course of the weekend, they're filmmakers themselves. So it was a natural kind of pivot to to add that piece on.

SPEAKER_01:

I think I'll get people really excited too, especially if you don't necessarily know one of the speakers. Maybe you'll catch their film on Friday and then you'll be like, wow, I can't wait to see them speak on Saturday or Sunday. So it's a nice way to just, yeah, like I said, tie it all together.

SPEAKER_03:

Cool. Well, who are who are some of the some of the folks that are putting their films in?

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, so we've got uh Nerves with Joe Robina. We're really excited about that. The actual filmmaker is going to be there as well. Marty Morset is showcasing a film. We've got Evan LaFive, we've got Steve from Salute. We have nine films. There's quite a few, so I'm not gonna get them all, but um Kylan Morone's going to be doing one. We're trying to really do like a diverse um kind of a mix of a mix of activities, like outdoor activities. Uh so there's kind of something for everybody. And then you also have a chance to like meet the creators, meet the stars, short Q ⁇ A's, all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02:

And it's being sponsored by by one of our vendors this year, Canoe Earth Adventures, and they're gonna be uh showcasing a short film as well. So we're excited about that. We're glad to have them on board. Cool. Yeah, it's gonna be red carpet.

SPEAKER_01:

Red carpet, that'd be cool. It's already just such a stunning venue. It's an Art Deco theater in Westdale.

SPEAKER_02:

Really, really nice, really cool theater.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, it's got that like really community theater vibe to it. So I don't know if it's necessary, but maybe maybe we'll get one.

SPEAKER_02:

I think the carpets are red. Maybe they're wrong. They might be red. No, they might be red. But it's gonna feel that way. Like to for us, the you know, all these folks that are gonna be a speaking at the show, let alone the folks that are both speaking and and uh showcasing a film, they're all celebrities for sure. They're celebrities to us and and maybe to someone who's you know in a niche outdoor um kind of activity stream, activity stream. If they haven't you know been introduced to some of these, you know, celebs, they will be, right? They'll you know get a ticket to the movie, uh sorry, get a ticket to the film fest and then be introduced, you know, to to you know, if you know Joe, then maybe you'll be introduced to to Marty, right? Or if you know Marty, maybe you'll be introduced to Joe. So uh that's that's our really our our our hope that people are able to kind of expand, you know, who uh who who they're interested in, or maybe they'll they'll kind of go down that road themselves once they uh view a film and then be excited to see them over the course of the weekend at the expo.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Well, that's been the joy of the podcast for us. Part of it is meeting meeting like that's why, okay.

SPEAKER_02:

This is why I I personally started the expo in the first place because it was an excuse to meet all the selectors I love. Uh and then before you know it, you're just emailing them.

SPEAKER_01:

It is so weird for someone in the lobby learning from for years, and then they're just like in my inbox. Yeah, like what's bizarre.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's it's it's very cool to to show up at at things like the Hamilton Adventure Expo and and you know, get it get a giant hug from Dennis Rogers or whatever, like you're walking around some game, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's it's super it's really cool. Like for me, I don't care about like, I don't know, Kim Kardashian or something. Like these are my celebrities.

SPEAKER_00:

So it's very cool. Yeah, I agree with you 100%. Never watch watch Empire.

SPEAKER_02:

No.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean we feel so honored to have that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, we feel so honored to have these like these rock stars coming out for for the expo. I mean, this was like a small little idea that the two of us you know came up with and were hoping that it was gonna you know work out. And now we've got truly rock stars showing up um and participating. So we're we're super excited. And we're very, very excited about the the vendors as well. We have like a stellar lineup of vendors, which we uh couldn't even begin to start naming off here.

SPEAKER_01:

No, don't ask us.

SPEAKER_02:

So check our website. Um but we have so many great makers, um, local companies, people that make things you know with their hands, people products that are made here, um, services that are gonna take you to some far-flung away places, or services that could introduce you to what's exciting just in your own backyard, right? Um, so it kind of runs the gambit of uh of experiences and products. And so we're we're very, very excited about uh everyone who's come on board so far.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, well that what so when I have been through uh your especially every time it updates, but I I've been through the websites, checked out all the vendors, all the all the speakers and stuff, and that was it. Gambit was the word that came to my mind as well. It's like, oh, this covers everything, like it, even the tiny little niche pockets of outdoor adventures. Like it, I think it's awesome.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you want to paddle a local river, we've got somebody for that. You want to get on a float plane and go somewhere extremely far flung, we've got that. So we're so we're so glad to have you know this diverse group of of outdoor um vendors and services to to to have at our at our show. We feel super lucky.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and they're super enthusiastic too, like because we've obviously we've chatted with a bunch of them and and they're just like, yeah, oh, I love doing what I do. Do you make any money at it? Nope.

SPEAKER_00:

For the love of it. No, no, it's um for people that were there last year, um, comparatively, uh how how big is it going to be space-wise this year?

SPEAKER_01:

So we've added a third building and a winter fest component in hopes of um a having way more vendors. So we've nearly doubled our vendors this year. And then we also kind of wanted to spread the crowd out a little bit, give people a few more things to do throughout the day. Um, so yeah, you can expect about double the vendors, double the speakers, and a whole outdoor winter festival component.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So we've uh so for anyone who's listening who remembers from the previous show, the the hall that had like the speakers, that is now all vendor space. So that will all be booths in there. And those buildings will be connected with the tunnel. So I know there was like a little bit, that's where the food trucks were and the sauna. There was a bit of a wind tunnel in there, and uh the poor folks at the next door were suffering. So in order to handle that, we've tunneled between those two buildings. So you'll be essentially be indoors for that that that whole segment of uh of vendor space. And we've added a third building um behind that that building where the speakers will be. Now, in order to get there, there's a about a courtyard which is about 50 meters across and a lot more long, uh, maybe about 100-120 meters uh the other way. Um and uh we're gonna put on a winter festival there. So a bunch of winter activities, as Brenton can name them off, what we've got going on there.

SPEAKER_01:

Sure. So we have uh Abitibi Dog Sledding coming all the way from Timmins. You can purchase a ticket and like literally go dog sledding at the show, which is amazing. Uh, we've have Coursefield Knives out there, they're doing live boxes, I think, Cody. And then we also have Esker Tents coming out, they're doing live hot tent demos and hot chocolate samples. Uh, throughout the day, we have various vendors like doing demos, like a no whiskey jack outdoor co is going to be doing like a sled pulling so you can experience what that's like. Camp Kitchen and Agua is going to be doing like a cooking collaboration uh and more to come. So, and we have fire pits out there. Yeah, fire pits with seating.

SPEAKER_02:

Last year, what we learned where we had the fire pits in the front, which aesthetically looked nice when coming in, but no one was really sitting around them. So this year um people will be congregating. In a dedicated area for that, dedicated in a place where people will actually be because they'll have to cross between to get to the buildings. So, you know, I mean there's no way of getting around, you know, people being outside to get to the to the speakers' hall. So we were just discussing like other people can you know be kind of upset about having to be outside in the in the winter, or we can really lean into the winter aspect, let people know beforehand, come bundled up uh because there's a lot of outdoor activity that's gonna be taking place as well.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's very unique to our show. Like most shows are at big convention halls in cities, right? So who else gets the opportunity to bring in like dog sledding and fire pits and things like that?

SPEAKER_02:

So it's it's well too. Yeah, the zoning, the zoning allows for it. So we're totally gonna do it. We can have open fires and all kinds of stuff. So yeah, we love it.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, an experience in an actual hot tent for those of us that haven't done winter camping. Yeah. I think that's a really, a really great way to introduce people to it.

SPEAKER_02:

For sure. Hopefully it's the temperatures outside are gonna be you know appropriate to give you that experience of you know, the contrast of you know, cold outside, and you get into an escrow tent, they've got the the stove ripping, and you can feel the you know, feel the difference. And maybe maybe this will be for you, maybe this will be for a lot of people, right? If they give it a shot.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's a very like um specific way of camping that is not always super accessible to people.

SPEAKER_02:

So yeah, I wouldn't say accessible to law unless you know somebody or willing to take the leap and buy all the gear or rent it from Thames Valley out to the city.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it's it's it's not something it's not easy to get into. So, you know, to have a you know a live example taking place, yeah, yeah, I think it'll be well and it's a mental leap as well.

SPEAKER_00:

So you're going like, yeah, I know how to camp in the summertime and it's cool and it's nice and warm in my tent, whatever. But to be outside all the time and then and not know, like, am I gonna be able to sleep? Am I gonna be too cold at night? Is it gonna be brittle? But anyway, so I think that's a really cool idea.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, well, and to be able to talk to like experts, people that do it, you know, to go like, okay, so so what's the trick with like it's not a big stove. How do I have to wake up every four hours and and restock it? How does that play out? Um, you know, don't worry, the cold will wake you up. You don't have to set an alarm, it'll be fine.

SPEAKER_01:

You wake up, you wake up freezing every time.

SPEAKER_02:

Unless unless you get up, unless you get up to get up, stalk the hell out of it before you go to bed, and then hope to God that you wake up just before all the coals are out. You throw another one in and then just go right back to bed.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's that's an excellent idea. I hadn't uh you guys are good with the planning. I like that.

SPEAKER_02:

We're trying, we're trying to we're trying to nail down all the things that would. I mean, we've said this last year on the podcast, and we've probably said this on you know to other folks as well when being asked, but I'll say it again. Um, we wanted to make the show that we would go to. Um, you know, whatever, whatever we think is, I'm not gonna say lacking in, you know, in other experiences that we've had, but when we go somewhere, I always, and Brenton definitely always thinks, uh, what would what would we love to see here? And then that that's what we want to incorporate into our show. And that's why we're so open to to to feedback as well. Um uh you know, we send out a survey to to everyone who participated uh at last year's show asking them you know what they'd like to see. And we're open to feedback from you know guests that come to the show, um, what would they would like to see for next year? So we're we're totally open. So the food truck area is gonna be a tunnel now. Are you still gonna have food trucks?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, that'll be in the courtyard in the courtyard.

SPEAKER_02:

In that kind of window.

SPEAKER_01:

So it's all in kind of one spot.

SPEAKER_02:

So all the outdoor stuff. There'll be more food trucks. Um, because last year, you know, we last year it truly was a proof of concept. We had we was we weren't sure what to expect. We weren't sure how long.

SPEAKER_01:

Like three food trucks will be enough, and then the food trucks are like, we're running out of food. I'm like, that's a good problem for you to have, but uh we need more next year.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, definitely need more.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, yeah, so there'll be more food trucks out there. It'll be nice because you'll be able to get like your food and sit down around the fire and you know, have that whole experience. So it's better to have it all in one spot, I think.

SPEAKER_00:

And music? Are you having music again this year?

SPEAKER_01:

We are so in the one hall, there's we're trying to make it so every hall has a different kind of experience. So in the first hall, Merritt Hall, there's going to be a photo booth, there's going to be a kids' area, um, and a coffee trailer, tea trailer, treats. Then in concession, the next vendor hall, we plan on doing other winter, more winter-focused activities, as well as like the campfire acoustic music sessions. So literally every room you go in, you know, there's going to be something going on.

SPEAKER_03:

All right. So just just saying now, we we've had a chat about uh doing some some live streaming and some some podcast sort of stuff in in uh in a in one of the booths. You keep talking about all these cool things. I don't think I'm gonna spend any time in the booth. So I want to wander around and check all the stuff.

SPEAKER_02:

It was 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_03:

That's it. Fine, that's all you get.

SPEAKER_00:

Like if you find it in the one with the music, it might be a better odds, but you'll stay.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah, a lot of the vendors are like, I gotta bring in staff this year because I want to go see whoever like speaking. So it's uh I think it's cool that the people that are in this community that are the businesses in this community are excited about the show. Maybe it's like proof that it's like it's a cool show. Yeah, because it's it's your show.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, right. That's that that's what we want. It is your show. That's it's not we're it's just the two of us running it. Like there's no corporation behind us, you know, telling us, you know, what to do. It's just the two of us. And uh we're doing it for obviously for ourselves, because this is the show that we'd want to go to, but we're doing it for for the community. We love you know the sense of community that's that's around this hobby, sport, activity, this culture. So um we want to keep that going. And if we can be like a small little part of you know, throwing a log onto the fire to keep it going, then that's that's that's where we want to be.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, I so we we just did a uh podcast uh with uh wanderlust kitchen, and they they're like, oh do you think we should go to the show? Yes, there's it's it it it a it's your it's your target market from as far as you know from a business perspective, but but you're going to want to go and check all the stuff out. Like it is so exactly why you're doing what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. That was like a really special thing last year, like just seeing people. I don't know, I guess it's kind of corny, but just seeing people interact and and like meet for the first time and do business collaborations and all those things. It was just very like it was like special to bring everybody together.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, a lot of these businesses, they or these makers, creators, they all follow each other on social media. So for a lot of them, it's like a first-time experience seeing one another in person. Yeah, and then after the show, like a lot of businesses that maybe have just met for the first time at the show, they ended up collaborating and doing business together. That was like that was a big surprise for us. Like it's something that we had hoped for, but we didn't expect that it was gonna take off the way that it did. So we saw a lot of collabs uh taking place uh after the show from people that had met at the expo. So we were really happy about that.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, no, it it is very cool to because you're you're absolutely right. It's a bit arm's length because it's we're we all interact through social media, but then in real life and go, wow, you're taller than I thought you were.

SPEAKER_01:

Dennis, that's Dennis.

SPEAKER_03:

That's Dennis.

SPEAKER_01:

I I think too, like to that point, like a lot of us love to get outdoors for our mental health and to get offline, to get unplugged, and we kind of lose a lot of that. Um what am I trying to say? Like we're we lose the uh human-to-human experience by just everything being online. So I think it's just this really cool way to connect in a really tangible way by being a part of the show or coming to the show.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Camping or outdoor adventures, I I find is I mean, it's it is much more enjoyable to do it by the other people, I think personally, some people like solo, but more enjoyable to do it to other people. But it's kind of nice to see, all right. I see this person's stuff online. It seems like somebody that I might enjoy doing something with in person, but meeting them in person, being able to vet them and go, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

You guys are really good.

SPEAKER_00:

And then and then doing something together collaboratively would be cool.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, absolutely agree.

SPEAKER_00:

Um was there anything else that came out of the show that was kind of surprising, unexpected, kind of a pleasant surprise from last year?

SPEAKER_02:

Um I'm trying to think post-show, if anything post-show happened. I think I think the biggest surprise was how much demand there was for the show in the first place. I think that was the biggest surprise for us. Um, you know, we were just kind of taking a chance and hoping that it was gonna work out. But then we started seeing, you know, you know, the interest was picking up online leading up to it, and then we put the tickets on sale. Now we we now we know a little bit more about you know human psychology when it comes to uh purchasing tickets and things like that. So at first, you know, tickets you know bumped up and people were buying, and then it just kind of stalled for a bit, and then we go, I don't know. Brent didn't get nervous, I got nervous. Yeah, she was like, we're gonna be fine.

SPEAKER_01:

And then the week before the show, like everything just then it was like thousands, yeah. Just and then I'm like, oh my god, we have to actually stop. We have to stop tickets, selling tickets because we're going to be in a situation at the door.

SPEAKER_02:

Um so yeah, we just uh I think that was the biggest surprise was just the the demand that there was uh for for this type of uh experience here. So we're we're we're glad to to meet the need.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, for sure. I know uh there's a picture that comes up on our smart screen in the kitchen that Tim took of a cold January snowy day, and there's this huge line. And that was the lineup for the Hamilton Adventure Expo.

SPEAKER_02:

So we're making it mitigating that this year. Um so over the you know, the fact that the show is taking place over the course of two days will spread out the the crowd. We're gonna have a lot more staff on hand to check people in. We've got a bunch of volunteers that are gonna be joining as well. We're also gonna have like you know a separate entrance area for people that get weekend passes to kind of you know spread out and aware people enter the venue. So we we're we're cooking up some ideas to to yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

We know it's cold out there, everyone was a trooper.

SPEAKER_00:

Um well, I wasn't saying that as negative, more just that so much interest in.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah, but it also was a negative. We did get a lot of you know, people bringing that up, you know, that they had to wait in line.

SPEAKER_01:

We just didn't expect it. And it was honestly like everybody showed up first thing in the morning, yeah. Like typically a trade show or a festival, it's going to be like kind of throughout the day, but it was all at once.

SPEAKER_02:

All at once, first thing in the morning. Everyone just wanted to be there, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So so it's very cool, but uh yeah, we're gonna definitely mitigate that this year. I also have like a friend of mine did a drone over the building and the parking lot just people out on the grass. I'm like, it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, well, I can say personally going in, I I knew that it it had the right flavor for the the like-minded community, and they I was still was like, wow, that's a lot of cars in the parking lot, man. We're we're what are we at the right show? Just the horse show. That's the lineup. Holy Cremoly, man. I gotta go, Thomas. You stand in line. I gotta go get a shot of this.

SPEAKER_01:

It was that that's so cool. Um yeah, it was very, very exciting for us. It was a bit scary, but it was very exciting to see that.

SPEAKER_03:

Cool. Well, and your note about uh about of your volunteers, uh it oddly, they're all community people as well. Right. Maybe not big content creators, but definitely people that that weigh in on things. Or, you know, when Dennis had his the Canoe Hound show, they're people that were in the chat all the time. So it's I that's very cool.

SPEAKER_01:

That's uh I think that's where Jay came from, didn't he? Jay Jay Byrne and Gary and Gary and Marty, and then of course we have like all the volunteers from Ancaster Outdoors Club, and honestly, like we are a very small show. We we we don't have any corporate backing, nor do we want it. So volunteers are so integral to like making this happen. So I can't like thank them enough. And they're just so sweet, and they're coming back, they're like whenever you need us. So it's awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, they were great. Uh the people we interacted with anyway.

SPEAKER_03:

Yep, yep, absolutely. Yeah, Gary's Gary, Gary's one of my favorite guys.

SPEAKER_02:

It's just that yeah, he's a cool guy.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my god, and they kept their shirts too, and and like they love to go out to like El Gonk, whenever whatever, and like they're posing in their plants.

SPEAKER_02:

Every once in a while, we'll get a photo of them out in the woods wearing the uh the staff shirt. We're like, yeah, keep it going.

SPEAKER_01:

I love it.

SPEAKER_03:

So very cool, very cool. Um, so we talked about who's presenting some some of the presenters at the film festival. What's the give us some of the presenters for like speaking at the show itself?

SPEAKER_02:

Ron's gonna bring up the list so she can yeah, rattle them all.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, it's it's huge. I keep looking at it and then forgetting that. Oh, yeah, okay, them too. Yeah, oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so I'm just gonna read them out to you. So we've got Adam Schultz coming back, uh, Joe Robinet, Kevin Callan, Kylan Marone, Tori Baird, Ken Whiting, Raza Hap, Ben Beauchamp, Marty Morcette, and Evan LaFive.

SPEAKER_02:

Cool.

SPEAKER_01:

So it's pretty stellar.

SPEAKER_02:

Pretty stacked line.

SPEAKER_01:

I feel like I could talk individually about every one of them, but then we'll be here for like three days.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But uh every single person on this list is someone that I would want to sit down and listen to.

SPEAKER_00:

So I mean when we caught I caught some of them. Tim caught, I think, most of them last year, and yeah, we'd absolutely go listen to them again.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah, we've got some some people coming back, and then we've got some new, some new faces, some new names uh this year. So I think it's gonna be stacked. It will be the type of show where you know, if you come on Saturday, you'll you'll be you'll be remiss if if you don't come on Sunday. Yep. Check it out. So yeah, it'll it it it'll be that type of show.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, sometimes shows like this will repeat speakers on Saturday and Sunday, but we've screwed everybody up by doing sorry. You have to go to both days if you want to see somebody.

SPEAKER_03:

That's terrible. That's also why you're only gonna get me in the booth for 12 minutes. That's that's awesome. I I saw Marty's name show up and I went great, because he is a really good, he's a really good speaker, like he really knows his stuff, and you can just feel the passion coming out of him. And I I've been sort of surprised to not have seen him at industry type shows like like this community.

SPEAKER_01:

Ontario cross like I I can't explain it. Like Marty, we love Marty because Marty got us to Sagne. So we did the Sagne Fjords a few years ago, and all thanks to Marty his YouTube content, and it was so good. Like he's one of those content creators that like literally show you what site he's at and like his route, and we love that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, he makes it super accessible. He's not cagey with the details, he tells you you know what he did or or even some of the problems that he had getting in, or how did he dealt with them? So he's a real troubleshooter and a great you know documentary.

SPEAKER_01:

We literally planned the exact same trip off of his video, and we had the time of our life, it was amazing.

SPEAKER_02:

So we definitely had uh have him to thank for that, which is why we definitely wanted to make sure that we we had him.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and then there's Ray Zahab, he's also coming from Quebec, and like again, like this guy's a rock star. Like, if you look him up, he's unbelievable. One of the best adventurers in Canada by far.

SPEAKER_02:

It's an ultra ultra distance runner. He's ran across the Sahara. There's a documentary about him on Apple TV.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he's he's currently somewhere in Chile with and oh yeah, he owns a charity called Impossible to Possible, where he gets youth out on these expeditions.

SPEAKER_02:

Like Ray is perhaps one of the most inspiring human beings alive today. Um we're so excited to have him because he's he's he's he's firing on all cylinders all the time. I don't know how how he has the energy to do it. Um, but yeah, we're we're really blessed to have to have him there.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so I think it's really cool. Like, obviously, the show has a very Ontario focus, but it's also a Canadian show. So to be able to bring people from other provinces that maybe you haven't heard of, and then to be like, holy shit, this person's incredible. Like it's a very uh unique thing to our show that we like to do.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, and Quebec is is awesome. I lost to have crossed over into northern Quebec to do adventures and camping, and and it's just it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01:

Northern Quebec is probably one of my favorite places in Canada.

SPEAKER_03:

Quebec is gorgeous. Yeah, they've got and they have a boatload of wilderness too, like to get out and do that. So I'll just that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02:

Also in similar environments as well. So whales. Yeah, we got whales. We saw them.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Uh but yeah, like everybody's just stellar. We're super, super excited. Um again, I want to talk about them individually, but it's just gonna take too long.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, no, no, I I hear you. I would love to, but yes, we do, we do have to be able to have time to edit this and publish it.

SPEAKER_02:

Um we're excited to have that that kind of podcast section as well, right? Where you know you folks be able to take advantage of that and you know, meet some people and either produce some content for yourselves helps us a lot because it helps promote the show just like we're doing now. So thanks again for having us on here. And it's all about you know building a community. So, you know, finding other folks to to take advantage of that space and kind of maybe do their own interviews. And uh I think that's that was something that we wanted to make sure that we carved out this year, is that having like a having a community space for for content creators to create their own. Um, that was something that was important to us this year.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, well, uh biased opinion, obviously, but I I think it's a great idea. Like I think it's it'll it'll turn into a lovely little sort of meeting space for for the lot of us. Uh I I also think it's a wonderful thing that I can leverage the fact that you have these presenters all in one place and steal them for 15 or 20 minutes.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, just bang off a bunch of you know killer interviews uh over the course of a weekend, right? Like I think that would help.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's awesome because I I reach out all the time to giant names and sometimes I end up in a spam folder somewhere. So it's it's great to actually be able to get them there in person.

SPEAKER_00:

I think that's awesome. Well, and I we love the community aspect of it too, and it yeah, without exception, every single person we've met, talked to, interviewed for this podcast has been just an awesome person.

SPEAKER_01:

So we've never met someone without that is like uh in having like an events background, because I used to do corporate events and like concerts and things like that. These are my favorite people to deal with.

SPEAKER_02:

Like nobody is like Yeah, she's dealt with musicians, so that's up for that.

SPEAKER_01:

Not like our lovely acoustic musicians at the show, like band bands, um, you know, asking me to go get them American cigarettes for their like green room, and I'm like, how? But um Just dealing with like really humble, like-minded people has been so easy. And yeah, I don't yeah. I got out of the event space because it was so jarring at times, but then getting back into it with these people has like changed my perspective. I'm like, this could be actually really fun. This is cool.

SPEAKER_02:

So I think I think sp spending time enough time in the outdoors, um, you know, it takes a bit of the edge off a lot of folks, takes a lot of the ego out of a lot of folks. Um, outside is hard. You know what I mean? Everything is hard. And that was like one of the when I got into you know camping in the first place. The whenever anyone I would ask me about it who didn't have experience, like what's it like? And the first thing I would say is everything is hard, right? Everything adds a level. You want to get somewhere, it's not easy, it's cold or it's too hot. Oh, I want to drink a water. Well, did you filter it? No. Okay, well, get at it. Um, so everything is hard, and having people to you know work with to help get tasks done. Um, I mean, that helps build that type of character. Um, and like I said, it takes a lot of the ego out of it as well. So I feel like you know, all the folks that are into into this, you know, in this community, um, kind of like-minded, which is something that you brought up earlier today. You know, you know, like-mindedness is you know part of it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, absolutely. Because it's not a it's not it's not a straight line, it's not an average, everyday person sort of a thing to do. Like you, you make the choice. I'm sure that it happens accidentally sometimes, but you make the choice to go out there and do those things, those hard things, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, because we were talking with um uh director of Boss, which is a company that does outdoor adventures in it's Utah, I think, right? Uh, anyways, yes, uh, he was saying like some of the adventures are really hard, and people are conditioned to think everything should be comfortable and everything should be easy, and and then when they get out there and then they're hungry, and it's like you know, you're not gonna die because you feel hungry.

SPEAKER_02:

You're gonna discomfort won't kill you. There are things that will kill you for sure, but discomfort won't. And and and I feel like putting ourselves into uncomfortable positions um is just generally good for us. It makes you um, you know, thankful for the comforts that do exist. Um, makes you a little more resilient, and like I said, it takes a lot of the ego out of you. So yeah, that's what that's why I like doing it personally.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. That's for sure a lot of the same points that he made was like, yes, it it gets you to realize your own resilience too. So you realize, oh, I can be hungry for a day and not eat, and I'll survive.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, good for your mental health and all the things. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, so so I understand you guys are doing a uh a draw for uh one of the one of the tickets for the for the entry. Tell me all about it.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, so we have partnered this year with Novicraft Canoe, and we are doing this grand door prize where you can actually win one of their Tough Stuff canoes. It's their 16-foot prospector. So basically, if you purchase a ticket for the show, you are automatically entered. And a few days after the show, we will announce the winner. Uh, when you go purchase a ticket, there'll be more information about the canoe, but it is one of their like top of the line.

SPEAKER_02:

Top, top of the line.

SPEAKER_01:

Beautiful canoes.

SPEAKER_02:

And there's a check out our Instagram. There's a great photo of uh Kevin Callan in the canoe.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so so yeah, check that out. Uh it's an amazing prize.

SPEAKER_02:

We wish you could we could win, but we even had people, we had somebody, I don't know who who they were, somebody reach out and say that they weren't even able to come to the show, but they wanted to just buy a ticket to be entered into the draw. Like that's how stellar of a prize this is. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

Sure, that worth entering because I mean it's much better odds than 649 or than that. Way better odds than 64.

SPEAKER_03:

Are you saying my retirement plan is no good? It's no good.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh yeah, be an amazing way to kick off your canoeing season in in this canoe.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, it just and then obviously all the conditions you know will be in the uh, you know, when you purchase the your ticket, just explaining like that we're not gonna ship this out, so hopefully you're local or you're able to pick it up. If you do indeed win. Um, and I think they can you know the pick it up in London or pick it up in Toronto. I think that one, yeah. So two locations that you can potentially pick up, or pick it up here. I'll I'll grab it. Someone can pick it up here in Hamilton. Oh I'll pick it up in Toronto.

SPEAKER_01:

You're like, I won't.

SPEAKER_03:

Excellent. All right, so tickets go on sale on November 24th, which is when this is airing. If you're listening to it, if you're downloading it on the first day, get them today. Get them today. Pretty sure that's what I did last year. I think I bought them on the first day. Um you did.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And just to note that like we did sell out of advanced tickets last year, so we definitely encourage people to you know purchase them in advance. Um, we tend to like hold some at the door for walk-ins, and then we have like a block for advanced tickets. So and your weekend pass holder, you do get like a priority access to the building, so that might incentivize you to do that as well.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, and make it less hassle. Um, sorry, weekend pass holder is the film festival a separate ticket and then the weekend pass holder.

SPEAKER_01:

We are doing it separately just because it's a bit of a logistical nightmare to do it as one thing. Um, because there are so few tickets to the film festival, we do anticipate it will sell out pretty quickly. Um, so that will be uh ticketed separately. Um, and also like Westdale kind of advertises that to the community, so yeah, it's just going to be separate. But the two days of show, like the 24th and 25th, can be purchased uh at a slightly discounted rate um as a weekend pass.

SPEAKER_02:

And they'll have their own separate entrance um VIP entrance. Yeah, VIP entrance. Kind of just to really to mitigate the you know the crowds and you know the lineups.

SPEAKER_03:

I I I wanted the the lanyard in the whole nine yards, man.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, you're gonna get them. You're gonna get one. You'll get one. You get the backstage pass.

SPEAKER_02:

That's like that's what I want, yes. Get access to the green room. We'll show you what that is.

SPEAKER_00:

I'll be sleeping in there.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, she'll be napping in there.

SPEAKER_00:

We don't want the American cigarettes, though. We can do it. Are you sure?

SPEAKER_03:

All these American cigarettes green MMs.

SPEAKER_01:

Green MMs.

SPEAKER_03:

Damn it.

SPEAKER_01:

Just green and like Beyonce.

SPEAKER_03:

All right, that's good for me.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, that's it for us for today. Please do check out Jason and Bretton. Uh, Hamilton Adventure Expo.com is their website. You'll find all their social links on there too. And that's where you can purchase tickets on November the 24th. And that's for the January 23rd Adventure Film Festival at Westdale Theater in Hamilton and the January 24th, 25th at Ancaster Fairgrounds, the Hamilton Adventure Expo. We will be there and we hope to see everybody else there. And please do reach out to us if you'd like to talk to us anytime. We are at high at supergoodcamping.com and on all the social media. And we'll talk to you again soon. Bye bye. Bye bye.

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Pamela Frank

Host
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Tim Good

Host

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