Established in 1975 by a life-long outdoorsman who grew up outside Chico, California and relocated to Vancouver, International Sportsmen’s Expos (ISE) continues to make promoting outdoor activities and heritage sports their priority.
As John Kirk, director of communications, explained it, “We like to say anyone can buy anything any day or time online but, buying outdoor adventures, people still want to have face-to-face interaction.”
Kirk seems to be a living, breathing student of his company’s founder, Ed Rice, who was inducted into the California Outdoors Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Federation of Fly Fishers Hall of Fame in 2007. Rice is known as a Grand Master in the fly fishing realm; is one of the top five fishermen in the world; has fished in 40 countries on six continents; and, according to Tom Stienstra of the San Francisco Chronicle, has “caught 242 species of sport fish on a fly rod.”
A description of Rice’s ISE from the California Outdoors Hall of Fame site states:
“As a maverick promoter, Rice invented a new kind of sports show that featured instruction by experts, which has become the model for outdoor shows in North America. He also was the only promoter in America to donate free booth space to conservation groups.”
This is the foundation of ISE, whose corporate offices are located on Chkalov Drive in Vancouver. Sold to Brian Layng in 1998, ISE has a four-management staff with a total of 12 employees who put on successful shows in Denver, Sacramento, Scottsdale and Salt Lake City annually. In the early days, widely-attended Portland and Seattle shows were part of their lineup, but after another promoter moved into the area, ISE chose to focus their energies on other regions. That single business decision doubled the size of their Rocky Mountain shows.
With exhibitors traveling from all over the United States as well as western Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, Central and South America, Mexico and Australia, the ‘international’ in ISE draws anywhere from 300 to more than 600 exhibitors per city offering fishing, hunting, related products, services and destination travel to each show over a four-day period where paid attendees range from 20,000 to 32,000. As a demonstration of commitment to the future of outdoor adventure, children under 16 are allowed free admission and a youth fair hosted by local nonprofit enthusiasts and that state’s parks and wildlife department provides hands-on activities and learning opportunities.
According to Kirk, ISE is a $5 million company that creates a several million dollar economic impact at each event with attendees overnighting from surrounding states and 80 percent of the exhibitors residing out-of-state or out-of-country.
The nuances of each location continue to fascinate Kirk. Scottsdale, with its vast desert terrain, is popular for off-roading. Sacramento is dubbed as Northern California’s largest boat show due to the amount of rivers and lakes close to downtown, but also has the diversity of a strong farming culture. This mix presents the challenge of coaxing rural folks into downtown and, once there, fitting them into urban-sized parking spaces with large trucks used for their lifestyle.
Trends ebb and flow like four-wheeling vs. three wheeling, wake boarding, more general travel instead of solely hunting and fishing-related, a huge growth in kayaking and kayak fishing as well as SUPs (stand up paddle boards). Also, with the rise of a social media culture, advertising has morphed from newspaper, T.V. and radio to over a dozen variations that tweak within themselves from community to community.
“It’s kind of a wild West-y feel,” Kirk said. “You must know business, but it takes an entrepreneurial spirit in a big way to make each show work. You have to possess that spirit of adventure and exploration which is nice since that’s what all our shows promote.”
International Sportsmen’s Expos
705 SE Chkalov Drive Vancouver www.sportsexpos.com Founded 1975 12 employees
