Preppers from across America will soon be converging upon Denver for the first Doomsday Expo. For a nominal fee members of the survivalist and homesteading community will be able to see the latest gear and hear from some of the top prepping experts in the country.
Off The Grids News recently sat down with Doomsday Expo organizer Eric Fischbach to discuss the Colorado prepping event. Fischbach’s enthusiasm about the expo is contagious. Denver is a very long drive from southern Ohio, but I am thinking that a road trip might be in order.
OTG – The Doomsday Expo is being billed as one of the largest survival and preparedness events of the year. What has made the gathering so highly-anticipated and is this the first year for the event? (The Denver expo will be held June 27 through 29.)
EF – This is the first year of the Doomsday Expo. The expo was created to give people a more direct and focused event towards preparing for their families and loved ones, whether it be for a natural disaster like a hurricane or a nuclear attack or financial collapse. It is also an event that was created to support our police, fire, EMS, and military departments who are struggling financially, and to also help us with our school safety initiatives that will be paramount in getting safety implemented in our schools immediately.
Most survival and preparedness events out there are disguised as gun shows. This expo is designed to give the novice and expert preppers a more focused and informative solution on all aspects of prepping, rather than just a focus on weapons and ammo. I believe our vision and our agenda is what is generating the excitement behind this event. We have a fantastic slate of speakers and presenters that not only bring real life experience to their presentations, but will also give preppers a broad base of prepping topics that will be important as they start or continue to prepare their families.
We are also doing a number of unique things with our event. We will be holding the first “Dry Food Cook-Off” that will give our attendees the opportunity to actually taste the foods and learn more about which one is best for their family, or be able to know which combination from different companies is best for them. We will have more details on the event 30 days prior to the expo, and the winner will be providing the dinner and refreshments for our concert on Saturday night. We will also be raffling off a truck at each event and all proceeds will go to the Wounded Warrior Project.
Could Famine And Hunger Come To America?
In December we will be visited by Doomsday Santa who will have gifts and treats for the families and children at our event and we will also be collecting toys for Toys for Tots. Many other fun and unique things to come and anyone can sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on what is new with the event.
With the great people we have presenting and the support we are getting, this proves to be the biggest and most educational and exciting survival and preparedness event out there. We look forward to sharing our vision and expo through thirteen cities over the next eighteen months!
OTG – A well-regarded list of expert speakers appear to be on the agenda. What are some of the prepping topics that will be highlighted during the Doomsday Expo?
EF – We are excited about our speakers and working with them across the United States. They will be covering a wide range of topics starting with Jay Blevins and the “Six Foundational Aspects of Prepping”; Scott Hunt and his presentation on “Retreat Design”; Survivor Jane will be doing a presentation on “Survival Preparedness for Women”; and that will be followed by Nicole Sundine with “10 Realistic Safety Strategies Girls and Women Will Need to Survive a Catastrophic Event”—just to name a few.
This way, not only the fathers and husbands can be prepared, but this will give the much-needed information to the mothers, wives, and daughters should something happen and they left to be the primary defense and caretakers for their families. The great thing about connecting with the female audience is that they will be getting it from another female’s prospective. Our full list of speakers and agenda are available on our website for anyone planning to attend the event.
OTG – National Geographic’s Doomsday Preppers will be holding a casting call during the Denver expo. What should prospective cast members expect when meeting with the hit show’s producers?
EF – We are excited to have Doomsday Preppers at our first event, and working with them across the United States. For season three, Doomsday Preppers will be looking for engineers, mechanics, electricians, and preppers with enough skills to build something from scratch. Season three will focus less on your prepping and more on what you can build. Anyone that has a unique DIY invention or product should be at the show to speak with the casting director. The Doomsday Preppers questionnaire will be available on our site for anyone interested that cannot attend. I do suggest anyone interested meet and speak with the casting director in person to make that lasting impression.
OTG – Prepping, at least on some level, has gone more mainstream during the past year. The EMP threat by North Korea, Second Amendment debate, and solar flares are weighing on the minds of a lot of Americans. What type of feedback are you getting from presenters (many of which travel around the country on the prepper speaking circuit) about the primary concerns of survivalists, preppers, and the homesteading community?
EF – When you speak to our presenters and other people we have been in contact with over the last few weeks, every reason for prepping and safety is a hot topic and important to plan for. You cannot just plan for one event. We are focusing not only on long-term survival, which would be the cause of the most recent threats by North Korea should they become real, but it is important to make sure that you are prepared to care for your family in the wake of another hurricane, snow storm, or other natural disaster. Being in the military myself, I am very concerned and in tune with the gun debates and the threats by North Korea and the fear that my family is not prepared if I were to be sent to war.
I would not only have to prepare them for the 7 months to years I could be gone on a deployment, but if I were to be killed in action, they would need to know how to care for themselves if I were unable to return. That is why we feel it is not only the responsibility of the men of the family to be prepared, but to make sure that, should something happen to them, the women in the family are fully prepared as well. That is why we are trying to reach the female audience on a large scale, to give them the information they need to be prepared for any scenario.
OTG – There are many stereotypes about preppers. Can you dispel any of the myths about those with a self-reliant mindset who have a desire to prepare for either man-made or natural disasters?
EF – Really when it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter what situation you are preparing for. The important thing is that you are preparing. The important thing is to be prepared for short term and long term situations and have a plan in place. There really is no way to dispel the stereotypes. I can say the people who think anyone who is prepping and preparing is overreacting or being too cautious, is going to be the one that will be in trouble should something happen. They will be looking to these same people they are judging for assistance to protect and care for their families.
We definitely are not discriminating against anyone or their beliefs in why they are preparing and what for. Like I said, the main goal is just to be prepared for yourself and your family for any situation. Our goal is to make this the most informative and educational event for preppers so everyone can get the basics and advanced information, no matter what stage of prepping they are in.
OTG – The Doomsday Expo is designed to be a family affair. There will be a multitude of booths to browse in between the scheduled events. Do attendees have to be experienced preppers with a lot of cash to spend in order to enjoy the Denver event?
EF – Absolutely not, the great thing about this event is the people. These vendors, sponsors, and speakers are all good people who are really out to inform and educate anyone interested and helping them care for their families and be prepared. Whether you are an expert and have been preparing for twenty years or you are just attending the event to learn where you should start, this is the event to be at.
It is amazing in this network of people how they all look after each other and do whatever they can to help each other, and it is very rewarding and exciting to be involved with such great people and businesses. We look forward to long-term partnerships and relationships with all of our vendors and speakers, whether they are with us for one event or all thirteen planned over the next eighteen months.
We feel very fortunate to be getting the support we are getting and to be working with such great people and are looking forward to many successful events.
Meet the Doomsday Expo Presenters:
Survivor Jane: Like so many women, Jane was a self-professed, oblivious-to-what-was- going-on-around-her city girl. She was clueless about politics, the economy, and the ever-changing weather patterns. It wasn’t until she personally experienced life-threatening assaults, lived through several violent storms, and watched as her 401k dwindled to next to nothing that she began to realize things were getting worse, not better. In 2008 Jane took a huge leap of faith. She quit her corporate job, sold her home, cashed in her 401k, and moved to the Appalachian Mountains to live a more self-sustaining preparedness lifestyle.
Since that time, Jane has made it her mission to educate other women on how to better prepare for uncertain times. As an additional outreach, Jane created the hashtag #PrepperTalk on Twitter to bring preparedness-minded people together.
Rick Austin: Austin is a long time survival, solar, permaculture gardening, and off-grid living expert, and has been using sustainable living and home building practices for 30 years. He is also known as the Survivalist Gardener, and is the author of Secret Garden of Survival: How to Grow a Camouflaged Food-Forest. As previously noted by Off The Grid News, the book is a guide that shows how to create a food garden that only has to be planted once in a lifetime, that takes up very little space, and that will provide food for the next 30 years.
Such gardens can grow five times more food per square foot than traditional or commercial gardening. You never have to weed, never have to use fertilizers, and never have to use pesticide– ever. And the whole garden is disguised to look like overgrown underbrush, so that the unprepared zombie hordes passing by would not even dream that you had food growing there!
Rick has been a guest speaker to agricultural, sustainable building, and survival preparedness conferences where his presentations contain real life examples, photos, and anecdotes that make his seminars informative, entertaining, and a favorite among audiences.
New Survival Seed Bank™ Lets You Plant A Full Acre Crisis Garden!
Jay Blevins: Jay is an author, speaker, prepper, father, husband, believer, and dreamer. Jay has appeared on National Geographic’s Doomsday Preppers, Access Hollywood Live, The Steve Harvey Show, The Today Show, and CNN Headline News’ Jane Velez-Mitchell Show.
Jay has been interviewed on dozens of syndicated and major market radio and web programs, and has been covered by major domestic and international print media outlets to include the Washington Post, USA Today, and Agence France Press.
Patrick J.G. Troy: Troy is the founder of LMS Academy, a boutique self-defense training academy operating in Northern Virginia, a Staff Instructor with Defense Training International, and an NRA certified Pistol Instructor. Patrick has been training people in the use of firearms since 1979 when he was a pistol instructor in the US NAVY. Currently Patrick delivers training courses in Rifle, Shotgun, Pistol, Close Quarters Battle, Force on Force, and Tactical Treatment of Gunshot Wounds.
Scott Hunt: Scott is the owner and manager of Practical Preppers LLC and a consultant for Doomsday Preppers. Hunt helped develop the “How Prepped Are You Test” used on the National Geographic series. He is also a sustainable living design engineer specializing in off the grid water and energy systems.
Nicole Sundine: Sundine is an influential author and speaker. She uses modern methods that resonate with girls and women to teach personal protection skills in an entirely new way. Her “Realistic Safety Strategies” are based on a unique combination of highly effective psychological, interpersonal, and physical components that empower girls and women to protect themselves from a wide spectrum of threats to their safety.
Damien Gardner: Damien is custom knife-maker, the owner of Calvary Knives LLC, and a self-defense specialist. He is passionate about the quality and performance of the custom blades that he makes for his clients and sharing his skills with others. Damien has years of prepping experience, is a former federal law enforcement officer, and has the ability to reach people with his laid back and engaging speaking style.
Dr. Tom Stoner: Stoner is a board certified adult medicine specialist with expertise in gastrointestinal, infectious, and hospitalist medicine. Tom, as he prefers to be addressed, has been in medicine since 1991 and spent ten years in the USAF. Tom has been prepping for over a decade, and both he and his wife Sheila are co-owners of TSSP Inc., a corporation that provides medical prepping counsel and supplies. Tom and his wife Sheila, an ER nurse, have combined medical experience of over 40 years.
Dr. Joel Wallach: Dr. Wallach is the author of two alternative-health, self-help books. The first, Let’s Play Doctor, reviews over 400 diseases and describes his own naturopathic strategies for dealing with each. In his second, Rare Earths: Forbidden Cures, he sounds the alarm concerning the lack of minerals in our range and crop soils, and demonstrates the relationship between impoverished soils, mineral deficiencies in our diet, and degenerative disease.
Dr. Wallach is also the author of the now classic, Dead Doctors Don’t Lie audio tape. On the tape he advocates for a common-sense, low-tech, nutritionally- based approach to health and longevity. In addition, Dr. Wallach hosts his own nationally syndicated radio show, and frequently appears as a guest on radio and TV talk shows across the country.
Ryan McCullough: Ryan is knowledgeable about financial collapse and uses real examples from history to show the chaos and instability produced by financial collapse to different parts of the world. His informative presentations keep people on the edge of their seats. Ryan is a huge proponent of having silver and gold as emergency currency as part of any serious preparers supplies.