Debbie Woody of Duncanville took aim at a target under the watchful eye of Steve Rabe from Project Appleseed at the Self-Reliance Expo at the Mesquite Convention Center on Friday.
Ron Douglas was settled in and prepared to endure a massive Colorado snowstorm four years ago when a pair of unexpected guests showed up on his doorstep.
“Everyone was snowed under,” said Douglas, now 38. “Our neighbors came over and said they had no food. All they had was ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise.”
Douglas, raised by his Army-trained father to be self-reliant, was more than ready to help out with his emergency supply.
“We went down in our basement and said get what you need,” he said.
The brief encounter helped transform the married father of six into a sought-after survivalist whose two-day Self-Reliance Expo landed at the Mesquite Convention Center Friday.
The conference offers a range of exhibits and seminars, such as the “Suture Class” with Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy, “Cooking With the Sun” and “Intro to Bread Baking.”
“I started thinking there’s more and more people who have no idea how to be prepared for a catastrophe or natural disaster,” said Douglas, president of the National Self Reliance Organization and chief executive officer of Red Shed Media, an umbrella group of self-reliance companies.
Now, four years later, Douglas is in the vanguard of a new wave of survivalists, or “preppers,” whose fears of a doomsday event gained new life after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and again with the economic crisis that gripped the country.
“It’s everywhere now,” Douglas said. “You’ve got zombie movies, survivor movies, TV shows. People are concerned about the economy. People are losing their jobs.”
Douglas said he and his partners started their two-day expo in Salt Lake City three years ago and attracted a few thousand people.
“Now, we’ve expanded to four different cities,” Douglas said, adding that he expects 10,000 to 15,000 at each event, including the one that runs through Saturday at the Mesquite Convention Center.
The expos attract a colorful array of visitors and vendors, such as Craig Fairclough, a pitchman for Grandma’s Country Foods, a company he founded in his Sandy, Utah, garage in 1993.
Fairclough began selling spices and then added freeze-dried foods. Now the company, which he sold five years ago, sells dehydrated foods and outdoor camping gear.
“The main thing for those of us here is to be self-reliant so you don’t have to depend on the government or anybody,” said Fairclough. “It’s really tough to be outside in an emergency because people will kill for food.”
Some people drove from as far away as Iowa, Illinois and Alabama for the expo. Others, such as Sherri and Jerry Reid, were delighted the event was close to home.
“This is great,” said Sherri Reid, a 47-year-old consultant who said she and her husband, a retired military veteran, live on a two-acre lot in Rockwall where they grow herbs. “This is bigger than one that I attended in Dallas last year.”
Asked why she was drawn to the expo, the mother of five grown children said, “We’re becoming more mindful of teaching others how to be self-sufficient.”
Kim Heath, 54, a volunteer with Project Appleseed — which teaches American heritage and history as well as traditional rifle marksmanship skills — said more people are worried about their future.
“I really can’t talk politics,” said Heath, who runs the Self-Reliance expo programs with her husband Jim, 55. “The only politics we’ll talk about is 1775, nothing current. But I can say things have been financially tough for people.”
Red Shed Media announced Friday that one of its partners, Project Second Chance, will hold a national contest to select a military family later this year to receive six months of self-reliance classes in finance, food and water storage, gardening, canning and other survival skills.
Then, the family will be given a one-acre lot with a starter home in Iowa and the help of Self-Reliance vendors.
“This is going to be huge,” said Douglas, adding that he expects the program to grow each year once it has been tested.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/mesquite/headlines/20120210-self-reliance-expo-expected-to-draw-thousands-of-preppers-to-mesquite.ece
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