Texas Avid Outdoor's History In Texas we often like to brag that everything is bigger here and bigger is always better - right? The answer is usually yes, but not necessarily always. The Texas Fall Outdoor Expo started with four friends sitting around a camp site in north Texas, already dreading the fact the next day meant packing up and going home to go back to work. The conversation shifted to how nice it would be to make a living in the outdoor industry.
The feedback we got was tremendous! Attendees loved that they didn't have to drive for days to get to another overland event. They loved that we were coming to them. The loved the community we were building. Vendors told us that they loved the location, the feel, and the community. Many even proclaimed that due to all of the just mentioned reasons, that we are the new go to event in the country. One of our vendors brought an example to my attention recently. He mentioned that at the bigger events, he feels like he has 10-20 seconds to interact with each attendee. In contrast, he said that at our event he can get anywhere from 10 - 15 minutes or more with each attendee. |
A few weeks later Texas Avid Outdoors was born. A few months after, the idea for the first Fall Outdoor Expo began to take shape. We found a local neighborhood community center, invited some vendors, our friends and family, and began posting on Facebook. Little did we know that approximately 250 people would show up. From that first event, we have grown each year to become what we are now - one of the fastest growing overland events in the country. Until recently we were a Texas phenomenon. Texas itself has a strong, passionate overland community. We plugged in to that community and they helped us grow. Along the way we changed venues, we added days to our event and we began to attract vendors and attendees from outside of Texas and, very exciting to us, outside of the United States.
How can that be? Well that's where the bigger is not always better idea that I mentioned earlier. We are not as big as the biggest shows. We have less vendors and less attendees but what that translates to is quality over quantity. We are putting ourselves on the map by providing a less stressful, more community based overland event where family is just as important as anything else we do. We invite you to come to Texas and see for yourself. We promise you won't be disappointed. |
History of Events
2019 - Oxford RanchOur third even at Oxford ranch and 6th overall. Our improvements this year included registration, quiet areas, additional 40 acres of camping and a presentation tent.
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2018 - Oxford RanchOur second event at Oxford Ranch with improvements to vendor infrastructure, including wifi access for their card readers.
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2017 - Oxford RanchOur first event at Oxford Ranch. This was the first time camping was available to vendors and families.
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2016 - Community CenterOur third event showed us that people were interested in an entire weekend event and not just an afternoon. More and more attendees wanted more overlanding information.
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2015 - Community CenterOur second event at the community center. We had a lot more sponsors this year as-well-as more families.
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2014 - Community CenterOur first event and our first try at running an expo. Held at a small community center in Shady Hollow Texas we had more than 100 families show up.
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