Outdoor retailer is a gathering of friends, and new faces

August 14, 2005

The Jackson family has been here at OR for the past
three days, with today being our last one. Jackson Kayak doesn’t
have a booth here, but we have plenty of things to do. There are people
here from all over the world that work in the industry. Jan Kelner, 1991
World Freestyle Champion, works for Eskimo in Germany. Bob Cambell from
Pyranha, along with all of the rest of them, from England, Celliers from
South Africa of Fluid, etc., etc. The thing that I like best about walking
around the show is seeing friends that I have known for a long time, and
seeing them successfully working in the industry doing what they love.
There are athletes, like World Champion from 1995, Jamie Simon, who work
at Red Bull in marketing, that brainchild an idea, like Outside’s
new Faces Magazine. This magazine is a collection of beautiful photos
featuring a chosen 20 outdoor icons printed in the most impressive way.
Last night she put on a party that was first class and whole thing was
overwhelmingly well done, not bad for a past member of Team USA. Every
night a party lured those invited out for another late night where the
drinks are often free, the music begging you to dance, along with the
female kayakers who love to dance for hours on end. Kristine and I went
out on Thursday night, went to bed early Friday night, and then went out
last night to Jamie’s Red Bull party. We braved the wee hours by
going to the party after the party last night run by Brent Topper of Colorado,
called an All-Ages party from 1am- to 4am. Emily came for a little while
and danced with her boyfriend Connor, that was a little weird, but I am
sure she was thinking the same thing. We walked back to our hotel afterwards
together, she is still sleeping.

Sure there are lots of cool toys here to look at. I
don’t have time to write about them right now, going back to the
show for one last day. See more friends, and say goodbye.

🙂 EJ