SylvanSport, a Brevard, NC-based maker of the lightweight pop up camping trailer the GO, has teamed up with AdvantageWest to present 15 Western North Carolina gear-making companies in a special Outdoor Gear Builders Village at the 13th annual Mountain Sports Festival in Asheville, NC, on May 24-26.


Upwards of 15,000 visitors are expected to attend the festival. The Outdoor Gear Builders Village will be the inception for a new network of over 30 local gear-making companies uniting to form the Outdoor Gear Builders of Western North Carolina.
 
Inspired by a Growing Industry
 
For SylvanSport, the inspiration to create a local gear-manufacturing network to debut in the Mountain Sports Festival made perfect sense. Hosted in Asheville, NC-the hub of outdoor living on the East Coast-Mountain Sports Festival invites visitors to explore and compete in a myriad of mountain sports, with music, entertainment and exhibitors rounding out the festivities.

While attendees might be familiar with the bounty of mountain sports offered-from hiking, kayaking, biking and beyond-they may be surprised to learn how many gear manufacturers are operating out of the region. With the Outdoor Gear Builders Village, the festival will highlight 15 local outdoor adventure gear manufacturers, including:


 


  • ENO,
  • SylvanSport,
  • Watershed,
  • Three Minute Egg,
  • Tsuga Canopies,
  • SkinFare,
  • Bellyak,
  • Outrider USA,
  • EarthSports Design,
  • Rightline Gear,
  • REEB Bikes and more.

The idea for the Outdoor Gear Builders Village grew out of our desire to help Western North Carolina grow the outdoor manufacturing industry, said Kyle Mundt, director of marketing at SylvanSport. We thought it would be cool to invite some other interesting bike and paddle companies, and exhibit together like the Open Air Demo at the Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake City. The Outdoor Retailer Summer and Winter shows, in Salt Lake City, UT, are the largest outdoor sports shows of their kind.
 
An opportunity to engage
 
The Outdoor Gear Builders Village at Mountain Sports Festival is a chance for outdoor adventure gear manufacturers, like SylvanSport, to show off their wares alongside other local companies, with hands-on interactive demos and small clinics for attendees. SylvanSport will promote their GO camping trailer at the event-a sleek, lightweight, easy-to-tow, camping and gear-hauling camper that can be seen in the new 2013 Nissan Pathfinder commercial.


The advent of the Outdoor Gear Builders of Western North Carolina network will put Western North Carolina outdoor enthusiasts on the same map as the local manufacturers who make their gear. The network will also stand to gain attention from the bigger gear companies traditionally rooted in the West. With the recent boom in breweries like Sierra Nevada, Oskar Blues, and New Belgium opening east coast operations in Western North Carolina, the bigger players in the outdoor industry may soon follow suit.


Mountain Sports Festival Lineup
 
The Outdoor Gear Builders Village will be open throughout the three-day event, with races and entertainment starting on Friday, May 24th. Mountain Sports Festival competitions include a trail run, Disc Golf Challenge, Asheville Cyclocross Race, Girls on the Run Rise & Shine 5k, French Broad Challenge Triathlon, Dodgeball Tournament, Sand Volleyball Tournament, and more. Musical headliners are locals Brushfire Stankgrass on Friday and New Orleans-based Bonerama on Saturday Night. The full lineup includes Jeff Sipe Trio, The Fritz, The Packway Handle Band, Jason Daniello, Jon Stickley Trio, Bear Down Easy, The Whiskey Grins, Chalwa, Cedric Burnside & Eleanor Underhill Solo.
 
SylvanSport & Mountain Sports Festival
 
For more information on SylvanSport, their upcoming events, and videos of the GO in action, visit SylvanSport.com. To see the full Mountain Sports Festival schedule, and to learn more about the event, go to Mountainsportsfestival.com