Prepper Expo Comes To North Texas
ARLINGTON (CBSDFW.COM) - It is where community service, and carbon nanotubes for stopping bullets, come together. While thousands are expected to fill Cowboy Stadium Saturday for radio host Glen Beck's "Restoring Love" event, just down the road at the Arlington Convention Center people are also spending time at the Self Reliance Expo.
Billed as the largest prepper expo in the nation, exhibitors have filled the convention center with everything from non-genetically modified seeds, to bomb shelters that can double as a second home. Promoter Rob Douglas said it actually fits right in with Becks regular message on being prepared.
"Don't rely on the government," he said Friday. "If you really need them, that's fine. But there's a lot of things you don't need them for."
Douglas started the expos after a neighbor in Colorado asked to borrow his truck during a snow storm because he was out of food. It was an incomprehensible problem for Douglas, who said he learned from his father and grandfather to be prepared for the worst.
"That's what we teach. It's just the lifestyle, the way we live."
The lifestyle has become popular, with five expos planned this year. There is a survivalist gear operation display, including body armor. Much of the expo though is focused on supplies, energy, water and even currency.
The Feuerdorn family from Irving did not even know the Beck event was going on across the street. Their four boys were learning marksmanship with air rifles at the expo. It is fun now, but Kristin Feuerdorn said it is something the family is interested in doing more with.
"I'm hoping to build a foundation from the fun to where we can learn a lot more once they get older and can understand more about self-defense, and their beliefs."
