Last weekend I found myself driving to Grand Junction for an outdoor gear festival.  For some reason leaving my family behind for 24 hours was excruciating.  I had left them before but I really felt nervous this time.

I had to set up my outdoor ‘booth’ by 8 a.m. on Saturday.  Things did not look so good when I woke up – the sky was thick with clouds and the first thunder showers of the day had already commenced.  Also, when I arrived at the festival location, every other retailer had wonderful displays, tents that had their logo, fancy looking banners, and a lot of gear to sell.  My (wet) OutdoorBaby.net space consisted of a white folding table, a lawn sign displaying my logo and a few props to interest visitors.

My plan had been to set up with chairs to make people feel comfortable to stop and take a rest, but the weather was terrible.  I was feeling cold, very pregnant and out of place.  At least I had been inspired to use my car to create a tail gate ‘booth.’ I sat in the back of my car with the rear door up and my table scooted all the way to the bumper.  I stayed relatively dry while my promotional materials got wet.

Laken, Playoutdoors.com, Bridgedale Socks and Lara bar kindly offered me some free samples and raffle prizes.  That is what made 50 people stop at my booth in the span of 7 hours.  Other than that I got comments like:  “What are you selling?  Nothing?”  “Oh,… “  and they would walk away. Or when a couple stopped by, one woman started to laugh uncomfortably and then she said, “Babies outdoors, that is just wrong!” as she slapped her partner’s shoulder.  I also was asked, “What is an  outdoor baby net?”

Maybe I sound discouraged or disappointed about my experience but in the end I really was not.  I felt very uncomfortable because of the wetness and my swelling body and the weird crushed position that I had to stay in, but other than that I reconnected with old friends (we lived in Grand Junction for two years), met some amazing new families and made many new contacts with people who are excited about doing things in the outdoors with their families.

I also realized how I am swimming in a vast pool of amazing resource like the support I get from Jen Taylor at Mountain Sprout. Or the funny interaction I had with a father who looked at my hiking boots that I had placed on my table as a prop and commented on how used they were.  He asked me if they were comfortable and how the tread was holding up.  I said they were amazing boots with great treads and picked them up and showed him the bottom: They were all worn out with gaping holes and huge cracks on the bottom.  We both laughed and he said “You are the real thing man, I can tell you backpack with heavy packs or a kid on your back. I hope you get new boots soon!”

One difficulty that I realize that I am facing is that people love to be consumers, not consumers of free information, but of goods they can spend cash on. Since I don’t provide that kind of service I lose some clientele that may be interested in what I have to say.

A friend who is starting a high school outdoor program in the Grand Junction area said to me:  It should be a requirement for people to stop at your booth and the Leave No trace booth before they are allowed to purchase anything. That way they would get the proper education in how to use all this gear in a responsible way.”  I wish everyone thought that way.

Heidi