Kalamazoo Traditional Archery Expo 2009

Winter Archery Expo Held Annually in Michigan.

Vendors at Kalamazoo

After several years of wanting to go to the annual traditional archery expo in Kalamazoo, MI I finally got my chance this spring - though I figured that 24 hours of driving (round trip) would go much faster with somebody to talk to. After doing some checking, I found out that Vince Smith (Lonesome Wind Longbows) was going with his family, and they graciously said I could ride with them. After some initial car trouble on my part, I drove down near Fremont, NE on Friday (the 30th) and met up with the Smiths.

The Expo begins on Friday evening and runs through Sunday afternoon, though due to our Friday travel time we were not able to attend the show until Saturday morning. When we arrived at the fairgrounds at 9:30am we were greeted with a line of newcomers so long that it extended out the door of the expo hall. We figured that was a hopeful sign that attendance was up, despite the poor economy. It seemed like the Saturday morning turnout was good, and regulars to the show generally agreed (though they felt there were fewer vendors than in prior years). Being my first time there, I was greatly impressed with both the number and variety of vendors - bowyers, broadheads, bow woods, camoflage, knives, and more. It was nice to see a number of lesser-known bowyers in attendance as well - leaving good odds that most anyone could find new bows they have never shot before. (When considering attendance, keep in mind that most of my pictures here were taken early Sunday morning, which is why the aisles appear so empty)

Fred Asbell at his Booth

In addition to the vendors, one of the highlights of the expo is the list of seminars that go on throughout the weekend. This year there were sessions by G. Fred Asbell (Basics of Accurate Shooting), David Petersen (Bowhunting Elk and Dr. Ashby Arrow Lethality overview), Denny Sturgis & Darryl Quidort (excerpts of their hunting videos with commentary). I only made it to Asbell's and Sturgis's seminars but would have been interested in attending the Ashby seminar as well if time had permitted. A number of free workshops occurred throughout the weekend (including flint knapping, flemish string making and selfbows) on a more informal basis. One aspect about the seminars which should excite most archers is that a listener can stop and ask one-on-one questions to well-known presenters after the seminar (or later while wandering the expo hall). For most of us, those are rare opportunities to come by! (On a related note, it's also not everyday that most folks can chit chat with folks like Ron LaClair, G. Fred Asbell, Rod Jenkins, and Denny Sturgis in person!)

Bow Collection on Display

I spent quite a bit of time talking to Tom Colstad on Saturday. Tom is the new owner/editor/publisher of the Bowyer's Journal magazine (now renamed as Trad Archer's World). He was excited about breathing new life into the magazine and switching it over to its new identity. If you haven't checked it out yet, I would recommend you pick up an issue.

Another booth of interest was St. Joe Rivers Bows. I met Dick Swager, talked with him for a while, and shot a few of his bows. St. Joe River Bows is another shop that is under new ownership, bought by him in June of 2008. For having bought the company just recently, Dick already builds fantastic bows - fast, with little or no handshock. I shoot an older 66lb longbow at home and the 64lb St. Joe that I shot in Kalamazoo was amazing in comparison (with regards to both handshock and speed). I'll be putting together more of an article on St. Joe River Bows sometime later this month, so check back for that!

Keep in mind that there are ample opportunities to shoot bows that vendors have available. There were two small ranges setup with 4 targets each, allowing a constant flow of archers to shoot without much lineup. I'm rather confident that you could try-out bows all day and not run out.

In addition to the shops and vendors, a number of archery collections were also on display. The Michigan Broadhead Collectors had a wide selection of broadheads on display, and there were Bear, Howard Hill, and Native American displays featuring original bows and archery tackle.

St. Joe River Bows Booth

To sum up, I would certainly recommend making the drive to the Kalamazoo Expo next year (2010) if you can manage it. Any fan of traditional archery can occupy themselves for all day Saturday (at least), and quite likely part of Sunday as well. One major benefit with this Expo is the lack of scheduling conflicts with other events - during the summer there are almost always traditional archery events overlapping each other. But in the middle of winter, there is not much else going on. $10 gets you in for the weekend, so it's hard to beat that kind of value!