Been there...done that....many times, and I tell myself I don't need to go again. But after a long winter, I always get the bug to see paddling related stuff and people. I also tell myself that I don't need anymore gear, but something always tempts me. I do have the weekend off, so I will be there Saturday more than likely.

Who's going?

We will be there with our 20' booth next to the bathroom and gifts for the BWCA.com dinner! Third year in a row...

FYI Canoecopia is the second weekend of March (13-15) in Madison, WI at the convention center. It's a rather large convention of paddle sports hosted by a Madison company called Rutabaga.

My wife and I will be there.

I'm doing a presentation on Quetico Friday evening and Saturday morning. Sharing facts and how-to information for folks who might want to take a trip to Q, but don't know where to start in their planning. Going to be fun!

I will be there. I’m presenting on ‘Alaska River Fishing’ on Sunday at 11:30 am in the Bear room. If Alaska is on your radar, you will want to catch this one.

Jackfish: "My wife and I will be there.

I'm doing a presentation on Quetico Friday evening and Saturday morning. Sharing facts and how-to information for folks who might want to take a trip to Q, but don't know where to start in their planning. Going to be fun!"

Pete,
Hope to make your presentation, but there is a SUP Yoga demonstration at the same time.

Me and the band! Can't wait! I also have a feeling I'll be ticking the credit card balance a little bit more than usual.

I have never gone and I think this year it is doable. I would probably just go on Saturday, but who knows at this point.

I am planning to be at Canoecopia March 13-15 2020.

I will be giving my first presentation with Waterway Jay. It will be on a River trip I did this past September on the San Juan River in Utah. Went with a few folks I knew and some I wouldn't meet till we got to Bluff Utah. Had a great time on the river and getting to know everyone. Jerry Vandiver and others would play guitar and sing in the evening around campfires that went into the night. The canyons and rapids were great.

Most the time I will be hanging out in the Cooke Custom Sewing booth, shaking hands and swapping stories with folks. Come by and say hi.

I'm hoping to make it down with a couple others from MN/WI. Hoping to leave with more information than goods. :)

Not this year. a crappie fishing trip to Granada Lake , Ms..

I'll be there. Friday to Sunday AM. It should be a lot of fun as always.

I'll be there and I hope we have a banquet?? I'm bringing some long time B'Dubbers who have never been to 'Copia.
I convinced them that was sacrilegious.

I'll be there. Never had time in my work or parenting schedules for this weekend in March, so it will be a first for me too. It would be so nice to meet board members.

It would also be great to meet someone to ask some questions about trip planning at Wabakimi. Hoping to visit with the Friends of Wabakimi booth.

jillpine: "I'll be there. Never had time in my work or parenting schedules for this weekend in March, so it will be a first for me too. It would be so nice to meet board members.

It would also be great to meet someone to ask some questions about trip planning at Wabakimi. Hoping to visit with the Friends of Wabakimi booth.
"

Jillpine, I've paddled Wabakimi twice and there are a couple of folks on this board who have done lots more than that, esp as participants in the Wabakimi Project.

I'll bring some maps along (different than BW maps) and you can see how they work. The Friends of Wabakimi have those maps and are incredibly helpful

See ya there!

KarlBAndersen1: "I'll be there and I hope we have a banquet?? I'm bringing some long time B'Dubbers who have never been to 'Copia.
I convinced them that was sacrilegious.
"

Karl,
I have it on good authority that there will be a banquet and it'll be back at the place where we have had it before.

OneMatch: "

jillpine: "I'll be there. Never had time in my work or parenting schedules for this weekend in March, so it will be a first for me too. It would be so nice to meet board members.


It would also be great to meet someone to ask some questions about trip planning at Wabakimi. Hoping to visit with the Friends of Wabakimi booth.
"

Jillpine, I've paddled Wabakimi twice and there are a couple of folks on this board who have done lots more than that, esp as participants in the Wabakimi Project.


I'll bring some maps along (different than BW maps) and you can see how they work. The Friends of Wabakimi have those maps and are incredibly helpful
See ya there!
"

That'd be great! I have the wabakimi planning map and was going to bring it in a cardboard tube. Thank you! See you there!

I plan to go, but maybe not on Saturday. Last year the crowd of people on Saturday was so large that I found it slightly stressful.

I will be there and like a lot of old timers seeing old friends is the main draw. I will be with the Quiet Journey forum group at the Country Inn and Suites. If you want to ask about Quetico, Woodland Caribou, Atikaki or Alaska check out the info at Quiet Journey. No matter what group's after show event you drop in at be sure to bring a map you can mark up. The show's presenters are good but can't point out the nice camps much less some ones hot fishing spot.

I'll be there this year, God willing. Missed last year for the first time in 20 years, due to a broken leg. I may not need much additional gear, but I'll enjoy the programs and I also need more "Fits" socks.

Jackfish: "My wife and I will be there.

I'm doing a presentation on Quetico Friday evening and Saturday morning. Sharing facts and how-to information for folks who might want to take a trip to Q, but don't know where to start in their planning. Going to be fun!"

I may need to attend. I still haven't been to the other side!

Marten: "I will be there and like a lot of old timers seeing old friends is the main draw. I will be with the Quiet Journey forum group at the Country Inn and Suites. If you want to ask about Quetico, Woodland Caribou, Atikaki or Alaska check out the info at Quiet Journey. No matter what group's after show event you drop in at be sure to bring a map you can mark up. The show's presenters are good but can't point out the nice camps much less some ones hot fishing spot."

Likewise. I'll be hanging out with the QJ group. The Friday & Saturday night sessions we have are the principle reasons I go to 'copia. I've also got some trip planning to do with some of my QJ mates ahead of our June/July trip. I'll likely drop by the show on Saturday.

Pete -

I hope to drop by your session to at least say "Hi."

dd

awbrown: "I'll be there this year, God willing. Missed last year for the first time in 20 years, due to a broken leg. I may not need much additional gear, but I'll enjoy the programs and I also need more "Fits" socks."

I get a pair of those every time I go!

Rumor has it that I will be in attendance. Looking forward to the dinner and putting names to real names and faces.

adam: "Rumor has it that I will be in attendance. Looking forward to the dinner and putting names to real names and faces.
"

That's a great rumor. Hope it comes true!

awbrown: "I'll be there this year, God willing. Missed last year for the first time in 20 years, due to a broken leg. I may not need much additional gear, but I'll enjoy the programs and I also need more "Fits" socks."

Plan on spending 20 minutes on stage telling jokes. I miss them.

Will be working at the show doing setup Thurs/Friday and show staff Friday/Saturday.

Canoe42: "

awbrown: "I'll be there this year, God willing. Missed last year for the first time in 20 years, due to a broken leg. I may not need much additional gear, but I'll enjoy the programs and I also need more "Fits" socks."

Plan on spending 20 minutes on stage telling jokes. I miss them."

But do they miss you?

SOB made reservations and asked if I wanted to go!

See ya there!

butthead

I’ll be bringing a group from central Indiana from CIWC. Any word on the BWCA.com dinner?

John & I will be there! Hope to see you all (& more) at Canoecopia and at the Clarion when many of us will be gathering to enjoy each other's company.

John will be down for breakfast at the Clarion too. I on the other hand, probably will not get up early enough to do that, but I am planning on the evening gatherings! :-)

Looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Who is in charge of the dinner reservations & stuff?

I went last year with my son. To be honest I was underwhelmed. I won't be going back.

VoyageurNorth: "Who is in charge of the dinner reservations & stuff?"

I have a feeling we'll be hearing from Hans Solo on that very soon.

bombinbrian: "I went last year with my son. To be honest I was underwhelmed. I won't be going back. "

LOL... there's one in every crowd.

Jackfish: "

bombinbrian: "I went last year with my son. To be honest I was underwhelmed. I won't be going back. "

LOL... there's one in every crowd."

Glad you said that. I was thinking maybe we had gone to two different Caneocopias. Underwhelmed is not something I was expecting to hear from anyone attending this event. Overwhemed, yes.

bombinbrian: "I went last year with my son. To be honest I was underwhelmed. I won't be going back. "

Just curious how many programs you attended?

I've been to some that I might describe as underwhelming but have never put together a full day that wasn't informative and inspiring. No better place to get first hand knowledge of so many different paddling destinations.

I'm headed to Hawaii this year, so no Copia........

PDF of the Show Guide

Canoecopia 2020 Show Guide

I’ll be hanging with the QJ guys. Saturday should be fun! Hope to meet new faces! Wear your Bwca.com shirts, hats... slap a sticker on too. Haha.

Jackfish: "

bombinbrian: "I went last year with my son. To be honest I was underwhelmed. I won't be going back. "

LOL... there's one in every crowd."

Too bad he can't state his opinion without getting put down for it. To each their own.

Just because I need even less new gear than I did last year, and the year before, doesn't mean I would skip going. And coming home with more new upgrades that I really don't need. Seems like every year I come home with more things than I intended to get.

I will be there. Looking forward to seeing many of you once again. I will be with both the Quiet Journey and BWCA.com folks. Any info on the BWCA.com dinner yet?

Frenchy19: "

Jackfish: "

bombinbrian: "I went last year with my son. To be honest I was underwhelmed. I won't be going back. "

LOL... there's one in every crowd."

Too bad he can't state his opinion without getting put down for it. To each their own."

Maybe it was that my expectations were set too high.

I went to a few of the talks. They mostly consisted of a sales rep trying to sell me their product, in my opinion, instead of talking about the overall topic.

I expected to see more tents, food and gear, instead of just canoeing things. I expected it to be more rounded experience about canoeing/ canoe camping.

To be fair, I didn't know that it was one retailer that put it on with support from a bunch of their sales reps.

I was really looking forward to this event and just left wanting a lot more from the event. I'm not saying I'm right, it's just my opinion.

OneMatch: "

VoyageurNorth: "Who is in charge of the dinner reservations & stuff?"

I have a feeling we'll be hearing from Hans Solo on that very soon."

The 2020 bwca.com member's dinner will once again be in "The Grotto" at Angelo's Italian Restaurant.

I contacted Christine of Angelo's on October 7th, 2019 to see how the restaurant reconstruction had gone since their unfortunate kitchen fire one-year ago. Provided that Angelo's was once again operational, I also wanted to reserve "The Grotto" for Saturday March 14, 2020 at that time.

As some of you probably recall, the kitchen fire effectively shut them down for several months last year and forced us to make other arrangements for the annual dinner.
As of October, 2019 Christine sent me an email that read;

"Hi Mark!
It was quite the process and pictures still need to be put back up along with décor, but it pretty much looks the same. I definitely have that date for you!! I will reserve it right now. So glad to see you coming back. Hope all is well with you.
Christine"

I sent Christine an email last week for a final confirmation and to insure we were good to go so I could post on the bwca.com website and start the RSVP process. She replied:

"Hi Mark!!
It’s ready to go!! No problems. Have you down for pizza/pasta buffet too. Look forward to seeing you again this year?? Nothing has changed in basement, but a new floor. So it’s the same. So post away!!!
Christine"

I will create a separate post sometime this upcoming week with further details and RSVP requests so we can develop an approximate head count. But for those of you that have attended the dinner in past years, (with the exception of the make-shift dinner we had catered at the Clarion last year), everything is essentially the same as it has been when we've had the dinner at Angelo's.

Hans Solo

Thanks Mark.

Terrific and bless you for making the effort.

It looks like we won't make it this year. I don't have my follow up appointment with the surgeon until March 13th, and it is too far to go for just one day. Also, not sure I'll be up for quite that much of a trip this year.

We hope to see Jerry, and also Kevin Callan, at the Quiet Water Symposium in East Lansing the Saturday before that.

I love to go to 'Copia. We have been many times, and we will plan to see you folks in 2021.

You both will be missed.

Frenchy19: "

Jackfish: "

bombinbrian: "I went last year with my son. To be honest I was underwhelmed. I won't be going back. "

LOL... there's one in every crowd."

Too bad he can't state his opinion without getting put down for it. To each their own."

I think we both have been around long enough to know jackfish would never put ANYONE down. So, knowing the heart makes a difference. I personally can see Brian’s point. Even some of the vendors aren’t always the most helpful, or the ones that are are so busy they have little time for anyone really.

Over the years they’ve tried to spice up the talks by having guys like Stu and Rob debate different styles of camping and such. Jerry always seems to change up his show every year, and others I thought do, too. Having gotten to know a number of people is nice and many can look forward to putting a face to names... screen names usually. That has meant a lot to many of us.

Northstar Canoes does a good job of having enough or as many as anybody to talk canoes. I know Dan puts on a great seminar whether it be tarp configurations or about crazy cool trips he’s taken. Brian’s point is well taken... one might get spoiled a bit by BWCA.com where the wealth of information is geared for what we do 100%... That’s why people get way more out of Canoecopia meeting up with fellow BWCA.com members.

I’ve not seen what I came to see at the show and people like Butthead can usually point to and actually be the greater voice for a product then the actual vendor. Same with seminars... maybe ask about what seminars would be the most beneficial from veteran seminar attenders. Good seminars are usually standing room only.

It’s a big undertaking to put on a show like this... I applaud Darren for making this as good as it is. Many would go through withdrawals if it didn’t happen.

Attending for the first time this year with my wife!

I will be there for the 3 days, but I really go for the Saturday dinner, a chance to have a fun time with a lot of good people.

Broke a long string by having to miss it last year, but have my room booked as of yesterday. Clarion sold out, so rather than calling every couple days to see if anything opens up (and that usually does work), i grabbed a room at the brand new place right across Rimrock. Looking forward to all the stuff, all the presentations, and seeing friends from CCBB and here!

Won't make it this year. I will be ice fishing on Lake Winnipeg that weekend.
This is my off year anyway, seems like I make it about every other year.

I’ll probably show up for 1 day, but not sure which day. Fridays only 1/2 a day, Saturday will be packed. Looks like Sunday!

I'll be there Saturday. I spend almost of my time there listening to various speakers.

JJ396: "I’ll probably show up for 1 day, but not sure which day. Fridays only 1/2 a day, Saturday will be packed. Looks like Sunday!"

Sunday is such a great time to go. See you there.

bombinbrian: "I went last year with my son. To be honest I was underwhelmed. I won't be going back. "

If you went to check out canoes, then yes, it is underwhelming compared to what it used to be. The few canoe vendors who are there are excellent, but the key word is few. I spend more time than ever listening to the speakers. If I need something then I'll buy it there.

Blatz: "

bombinbrian: "I went last year with my son. To be honest I was underwhelmed. I won't be going back. "

If you went to check out canoes, then yes, it is underwhelming compared to what it used to be. The few canoe vendors who are there are excellent, but the key word is few. I spend more time than ever listening to the speakers. If I need something then I'll buy it there."

I think the ones that really count are there - Northstar, Wenonah, Savage River, Nova Craft, Meramac, Old Towne and Swift. That's quite a bit. Mad River used to be there, but they are now part of Confluence. What other worthy canoe manufacturer is not there? Just curious.

OneMatch: "

Blatz: "

bombinbrian: "I went last year with my son. To be honest I was underwhelmed. I won't be going back. "

If you went to check out canoes, then yes, it is underwhelming compared to what it used to be. The few canoe vendors who are there are excellent, but the key word is few. I spend more time than ever listening to the speakers. If I need something then I'll buy it there."

I think the ones that really count are there - Northstar, Wenonah, Savage River, Nova Craft, Meramac, Old Towne and Swift. That's quite a bit. Mad River used to be there, but they are now part of Confluence. What other worthy canoe manufacturer is not there? Just curious.
"

I wasn't necessarily going to look for canoes. I was hoping to see more tents, I think I saw two from Big Agnes, bags, packs, food, camping supplies in general for canoe camping.

Maybe I shouldn't have said anything here. After a couple of comments here, I'll be a lot more careful in expressing my opinion on here. It is always talked up on here so I wanted to check it out. Maybe I should have done more research on my own.

bombinbrian: "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything here. "

Hey if you do show up I'll buy you a beer.

Rockwood: "

bombinbrian: "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything here. "

Hey if you do show up I'll buy you a beer. "

That's cool.