MOORE Expo's Trailhead Program Is the Best Shot a Small Outdoor Brand Has Ever Had at a Real Stage
The overlanding and off-road industry has always had a complicated relationship with its own emerging talent. On one hand, the culture practically worships the scrappy builder — the guy torching metal in his garage at midnight, the small team that figured out a smarter recovery anchor from first principles, the two-person operation shipping rooftop tent accessories out of a rented warehouse. On the other hand, the economics of getting a young product brand in front of a real buying audience have long been crushing. Booth fees, travel, logistics, graphic design, display hardware — the tab for a first major trade show can easily dwarf a startup's entire quarterly revenue. The gap between having a great product and being seen has been brutally real.
MOORE Expo, the Midwest Overlanding & Off-Road Expo, just announced a program designed to close that gap in a direct and meaningful way. The show, presented by SDMG Events, has announced the launch of the Trailhead Program, a new exhibitor program created for small and early-stage companies working in the overland, off-road, camping and outdoor adventure industry. It's a purpose-built on-ramp for founder-led brands — built not as charity, but as a calculated investment in the future health of the industry itself.
What MOORE Expo Is, and Why It Matters for the Outdoor Space
Before understanding what Trailhead means, it helps to understand what MOORE Expo has become. Now in its seventh year, MOORE Expo has grown from a small regional gathering into a nationally recognized destination for overlanders, off-roaders, and outdoor enthusiasts. That trajectory — from scrappy regional show to pillar of the American overland scene — is itself a powerful piece of context for why a program designed around emerging brands makes so much sense coming from this particular organization.
Each year, the event draws thousands of attendees and features more than 200 industry-leading brands, making it a cornerstone of the U.S. overlanding scene. The show's physical footprint reflects that growth. With 85,000 square feet of climate-controlled space and 290,000 square feet of outdoor exhibits, there's room to wander, ask questions, and get hands-on with the gear enthusiasts have been eyeing.
The experience isn't limited to shopping either. MOORE Expo offers over 70 hours of expert-led training classes, ranging from campfire cooking to hands-on recovery of an overturned vehicle. That curriculum-style programming is rare for an event of this format — and it signals the show's deeper commitment to developing the community, not just selling products into it.
Geography is also a feature, not an afterthought. With Springfield positioned as Missouri's third-largest city — and easily accessible from Kansas City, St. Louis, Tulsa, and Little Rock — MOORE Expo continues to be the "meet in the middle" rally point for overlanders nationwide. The move to the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia for 2027 keeps that accessible-heartland ethos intact. As founder Chris Holloway has put it, "MOORE Expo represents the come-up of our industry in the Midwest. We're proving that you don't have to go to the coast to find the best gear, the best people, and the best stories. It's all happening right here in the heartland — and people are traveling here because of it."
The Trailhead Program: How It Works
Trailhead will debut at MOORE Expo 2027, April 16–17, at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia, Mo. The mechanics are straightforward, which is part of the appeal. The barriers most small brands face when considering their first major expo aren't complicated — they're just expensive and intimidating. Trailhead attacks both problems head-on.
Reduced Pricing and a Dedicated Show Floor Area
The program will offer reduced exhibitor pricing and place participating companies together in a dedicated Trailhead area where attendees can meet the founders, see their products and discover brands they may not have come across before. The clustering of Trailhead brands into one cohesive zone is a smart piece of show design. It doesn't just lower costs — it creates a destination within the larger event, giving casual attendees a reason to specifically seek out the newer, more experimental corners of the floor.
The space breakdown has been detailed as well. Trailhead will include 33 outdoor exhibitor spaces, with 18 twenty-by-twenty-foot spaces and 15 ten-by-ten-foot spaces. The spaces will be grouped together in one Trailhead area, making it easy for attendees to find the participating companies and spend time discovering what they're working on. For a small brand, a 10x10 or even a 20x20 footprint in a dedicated discovery zone at a major expo is an enormous opportunity — especially when the surrounding signage, event marketing, and foot traffic are all working in your favor rather than against you.
Who Can Apply
The program is open to founder-led companies and small teams offering a product or service related to overlanding, off-road recreation, camping, outdoor travel or adventure. That scope is intentionally broad — overlanding as a category has expanded well beyond modified trucks and roof tents, now encompassing everything from navigation technology and satellite communication to portable power stations, lightweight cooking systems, and purpose-built camp furniture. Any early-stage company operating in that wide orbit qualifies to apply.
The application process isn't a rubber stamp. Applicants must meet at least two of three specific requirements, ensuring that the program fills with companies that are genuinely market-ready, not just idea-stage concepts looking for a free venue. This structure protects the quality of the exhibitor pool, which in turn protects the attendee experience and the credibility of the Trailhead brand itself.
Holloway's Vision: Building the Industry's Next Generation
Chris Holloway, who founded MOORE Expo and has watched the show scale into one of the most significant gathering points in American adventure culture, was direct about his reasoning when speaking with trade publications. "We meet people every year who are building really cool products in their garage, shop or small warehouse, but they're looking at the cost of exhibiting at a major event and wondering if they're ready for it," he said.
That observation cuts to the core of a real problem in the outdoor industry: the most innovative ideas often come from people who don't yet have the financial infrastructure to prove them publicly. The cost of a trade show exhibit — when stacked against inventory, operations, and overhead — can effectively make the decision for a founder before the market ever gets a vote. "I don't want cost to be the reason a good company never gets its shot. Trailhead gives these brands a place to start, put their product in people's hands and become part of this industry."
There's also an element of long-term curation in Holloway's thinking. The expo wants to be the launchpad, not just the showcase. "We want to find the companies people are going to be talking about a few years from now," Holloway said. "Some of the biggest names at MOORE today started with a small booth and a big idea. There are more of those companies out there right now. We want them here."
That last line carries real weight when you consider the history of the outdoor gear industry. Brands that now command serious shelf space and online market share often began precisely this way — a founder with a solution to a problem that the established industry hadn't bothered to solve, working a small show booth and hand-selling to anyone who would stop and listen. Trailhead is designed to create more of those origin stories, specifically within the overlanding and off-road world.
The Competitive Layer: Voting, Recognition, and Real Prizes
What separates Trailhead from a simple reduced-fee exhibitor section is the competitive component built into the show weekend itself. During the show, attendees and vendors will vote for their favorite Trailhead exhibitors in two categories: Best New Product — recognizing a product that catches the attention of attendees and brings something fresh to the outdoor market — and Best Booth Experience — recognizing the company that does the best job presenting its brand, telling its story and connecting with attendees.
The prize for winning either category isn't a trophy that collects dust. The winning companies will each receive a prize package valued at $5,000, including premium exhibitor space at MOORE Expo 2028 and added promotion through MOORE Expo. That's a genuinely meaningful outcome. Premium floor space at a show of MOORE's scale, paired with dedicated marketing support, represents exactly the kind of momentum-building that a young brand needs to step from the Trailhead zone into the main floor — and eventually into the conversation with the industry's established players.
The peer-voting structure also creates something that money alone can't buy: authentic market feedback. When actual enthusiasts and industry vendors walk the Trailhead area and cast votes for their favorites, the winners get a credibility signal that resonates far beyond the fairgrounds. It's the kind of third-party validation that a startup can take to a wholesale buyer, a distribution partner, or an investor — and it means something because it came from the people who actually use the gear.
The Broader Expo Experience That Frames Trailhead
It's worth understanding the broader MOORE Expo environment that Trailhead brands will be stepping into, because context shapes the opportunity. This is not a sterile convention center trade show where buyers shuffle between booths with lanyards and clipboards. "The energy at MOORE Expo is unlike anywhere else," said Andrew Kinsman, Marketing Director at Midland Radio. "It's where brands and enthusiasts truly connect — hands-on, face-to-face, and with the authenticity that defines Midwest adventure culture."
The event operates more like a living gear laboratory combined with a community campground. A standout feature of the expo is the Midwest Discovery Route, which provides a unique challenge for attendees to test their navigation skills using maps, compasses, and a professionally crafted road-book. The Midwest Discovery Route, powered by Midland Radio, consists of 300-mile backroad routes built for overlanders who value navigation, teamwork, and discovery — not speed — with launch points from Topeka, KS; Cape Girardeau, MO; Columbia, MO; or Fort Smith, AR.
Overnight culture is woven into the event's DNA as well. The Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia serves as an easy-to-reach home base for Midwestern overlanding and off-road enthusiasts, and Camp Northology offers RV hookups, designated camping, easy VIP afterparty access and more. For a Trailhead brand, that overnight attendance means longer dwell time, more relaxed conversations, and a higher likelihood that attendees will spend real time in the Trailhead zone rather than rushing past it.
The show itself originated from a personal frustration: the founders wanted to attend an expo that matched what they really loved — adventure travel — but between time, cost, and distance, those trips weren't realistic. That origin story gives the whole operation an authenticity that filters down to every programming decision the team makes — including the decision to build Trailhead.
Why This Model Could Reshape How Outdoor Brands Break Through
The outdoor and adventure industry is dotted with incubator programs, pitch competitions, and accelerators — but very few of them put a founder's actual product in front of a live, passionate, purchasing-intent audience at scale. That's what separates Trailhead from a grant application or a mentorship program. It's an experiential launchpad.
The timing also reflects a genuine opportunity in the market. The overlanding space, in particular, has seen a sustained boom since roughly 2020, when interest in vehicle-based travel spiked and hasn't fully retreated. That expansion created enormous demand for new products — and it invited a wave of entrepreneurs who saw a gap and started building. Many of those founders are now two or three years into their companies, past the prototype phase, shipping product, and genuinely ready for a major stage. Trailhead meets them exactly where they are.
The model Holloway is running also creates a virtuous cycle for the expo itself. By consistently seeding the show with emerging brands, MOORE Expo becomes the place where the industry's next chapter gets written — which gives more established brands and serious enthusiasts an even stronger reason to show up every year. Discovery is its own draw. An expo floor that mixes proven names with genuinely new ideas is more interesting than one that doesn't.
Holloway's long-range vision for the program was stated plainly when discussing what success looks like five or ten years out. "We're giving these companies an opportunity in 2027, but I'd love to see Trailhead become the starting point for brands that come back year after year," Holloway said. "Five years from now, I want someone walking through MOORE Expo to be able to say, 'I remember when that company was over in Trailhead.' That would be pretty damn cool."
What It Means for Attendees and Industry Watchers
For the guy who shows up to MOORE Expo every spring to see what's new, Trailhead adds a layer that the show hasn't had before: a curated discovery zone where emerging founders are actively pitching their best work and competing for peer recognition. That's a fundamentally different energy than walking past an established brand's polished booth. It's raw, it's founder-driven, and the people behind the tables are the same people who designed the product, tested it on the trail, and figured out how to package it.
The voting mechanism puts attendees in a position of genuine influence. Casting a ballot for Best New Product or Best Booth Experience isn't a throwaway interaction — it's a direct signal to an early-stage company about what the market actually values. For brands, that feedback is worth more than most market research budgets. For attendees, it creates a sense of ownership over which companies get their next break.
The show's commitment to education and community — from 9 AM to 6 PM each day, attendees can dive into cutting-edge gear, hands-on demonstrations, and real-world training from the industry's top brands and experts — means the Trailhead zone will sit within an environment that already primes people for discovery and learning. Enthusiasts at MOORE aren't passive spectators. They ask hard questions, want to touch the product, and aren't shy about telling a founder what they think. That's exactly the audience a small brand needs.
The Bottom Line for Founders Considering the Application
If you're building something in the overlanding, off-road, camping, or outdoor travel space and you've been watching the big shows from a distance wondering when it makes sense to pull the trigger, the Trailhead Program is a direct answer to that question. Getting a product in front of thousands of potential customers can make a big difference, and getting there can also be expensive — MOORE Expo created Trailhead to make that first show more attainable.
Thirty-three spaces, a dedicated zone, reduced pricing, live voting from a passionate crowd, and a $5,000 prize package that includes premium space at the following year's show — this is the kind of structured opportunity that the outdoor startup ecosystem has needed for a long time. The fact that it's being offered by a show with the credibility, audience size, and community authenticity of MOORE Expo makes it genuinely significant.
The overlanding industry has always rewarded people who go first, take the harder route, and show up ready to work. The Trailhead Program is that same ethos applied to the business side of the sport. The application window is open. The floor is being built. The only question is which brands will be standing on it come April 16th, 2027 in Sedalia, Missouri — and which of them, a few years down the road, will be among the biggest names at the show.
