Frostbite Symposium 2018

Well that's all folks another great event done, Frostbite 2018 is in the bag. So what did we have happen this time around? Well this year was as big as last year, 128 ish people. But this year we added 4 vendors and a food truck! and I think everyone liked it a lot.

So of the great things to happen this year were all the classes, but some stand out to me. Jay Seely made leather sheaths for Mora Knives and they turned out amazing! Brenda Holder gave 2 great classes one on salves and lotions and the other on emergency dental care. The dental care workshop was so good a former Army Medic came to me to tell me how impressed he was that there was real medicine and not some kind of witchcraft being taught. David did a great call on making toboggans it was small but I know the students in that class walked away with something very special that they will have for years. Laurie Breeuwsma did a great workshop or 3! on felting and bead work, lucky for me I can go out and get a private class! we had a total of 22 instructors and to talk about them all would take me awhile but these are just some off the top of my head.

Next our Key Notes so Bruce started off on Friday and gave a great talk about what you really need to knw in the bush vs. what people tell you and then a bit about his career in teaching the great outdoors for over 2 decades! We then had Caleb talk to us about his heritage and pre contact tools and traditions of the first nations of Ontario and well really the great lakes area. It was a very interesting talk and I even had an archologist come and tell me how exciting that talk was because there was so much history in it!

Lastly I wasn't to talk about some of the true legends of Bushcraft that were there AGAIN, So we had Mors Kochanski and Don Kevilus of Four Dog Stoves. Mors gave a great talk about his time and reflections of teaching outdoor education over the last 45 ish years. Also I know that Mors made alot of people happy by taking the time to talk one on one with him for soetimes hours! those are memories that will last forever. He's truely top notch! Don just came to check it out, and got to wander around and see what we had to offer. The best part for me with Don was he's been where I am, he set up The Winter Camping Symposium 20 years ago, and knows the goods and the bads of an event, and he had lots to offer and I listened and tried to take mental note of whatever I could. He was generous with his knowledge and always fun to be around I look forward to seeing him again in the future.

Well that's about it, there was so much more and I hope you check out our event next year, because Year 5 will be a big one!