MUNCY TOWNSHIP -- The Pennsylvania Outdoor Life Expo is off to a great start at the Lycoming Mall and part of that success is being attributed to the cancellation of a popular outdoors show in Harrisburg a few months back.
Earlier this year, a lot of vendors here were left high and dry when an even bigger outdoor show in Harrisburg cancelled.
With more than 120 vendors at the Pennsylvania Outdoor Life Expo near Muncy, there's something for everyone. Some of these vendors, including Hall's Marine from Lycoming County unexpectedly were left with quite a bit of inventory when one of the biggest outdoors shows of the year in Pennsylvania was cancelled in January.
"That didn't work out very well at all this year, no, we found out about a week before that show was to happen that it was going south," said Chad Hall.
Hall says thanks to the POL expo, he's been able to sell about half a dozen boats already, helping to make up for the cancelled Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg.
"I think we'll be ahead a bit because of you guys, not because of them," Hall added.
Gloria Kim had been selling her bags at the Harrisburg show for 30 years until a controversy over banned firearm displays caused vendors to pull out of that show by the hundreds.
"My stuff has to be ordered two weeks out. We did not get notification until a week out," Kim said.
Much like the POL Expo at the Lycoming Mall, the Harrisburg outdoor show had been going on for decades until this year, it was cancelled. And so a lot of people were looking for a similar type experience, and here they found it.
"This is a nice show," said John Gardner of Mildred. "Has just about everything you need."
POL host Don Jacobs says there was so much interest after the Harrisburg show was cancelled that the expo had to turn people away.
"The big show was cancelled and a lot of people and said, 'you know, we just look forward to getting out in the spring and talking hunting, and fishing in the great outdoors.' And they had no place to do that," said Jacobs.