If the power went out for several days, would you and your family be ready? How about in the middle of winter? What if you were given a half hour’s notice that you had to evacuate your home or if there was a pandemic and you had to stay in your home for a week or two?
If you have never given these questions serious thought, now is the time to learn as 70 vendors, instructors, and demonstrators come to the Porter County Expo Center for the first Indiana Prepper/Survival Expo, the largest preparedness and sustainable living event in Northwest Indiana, on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Expo coordinator Natalie Pratt said, “This is the first time we’ve come to Valparaiso but we offer this expo in Wisconsin and they are tremendously popular. Especially with shows on television that have brought attention to the movement, people are becoming interested in prepping. People want to prepare, not so much for the extreme stuff, but for natural disasters like tornados and storms.”
The free expo features workshops, demonstrations and self-defense classes all day for both days. Topics range from animal husbandry and backyard farming, alternative energy and biofuels, beekeeping, breathing and oxygen systems, building a root cellar, canning and other food preservation techniques, to cooking off the grid and the eco-kitchen. Other topics are first aid, safe and fast evacuation, foraging for wild plants, fuel storage and battery supplies, hydroponics and aquaponics, MRE’s, raising chickens and rabbits, training for disaster, water purification and filtration, wind and water power, and more.
In addition to the vendor exhibit hall, the expo will offer a skill-building pavilion, certification classes, club recruitment, first aid training, rescue demonstrations, animal swap, farmer’s market, and hands-on activities.
Heather Augustyn is a freelance reporter.
.