ST. CHARLES • Along with body armor and big knives, less-menacing items offered at the Gateway Preparedness Expo included vegetable seeds and water purifiers.
About 2,500 people attended the two-day event, said Dan O’Hara, the show’s promoter. The St. Louis-area show, which concluded Sunday at the St. Charles Convention Center, trails in size only the one in Cincinnati among such events nationwide, he said.
Morgan Stewart, whose Paratus Business News produces a “preppers” newsletter, said the estimated 3 million to 4 million Americans readying for emergencies were more concerned about natural disasters than political disruption.
“This is a real industry; it’s a legitimate industry,” he said. “The one thing it’s not is a kook in a bunker in the woods.”
About three dozen exhibitors were at the St. Charles event, including small-scale producers of “heirloom” vegetable seeds, flints and strikers for building fires, gluten-free dehydrated foods that left unopened in their pouches remain good for 20 years, herbal medicines, pepper spray and AA-battery chargers powered by saltwater.
O’Hara said the St. Charles expo was part of the $2 billion emergency preparedness industry.
“This show is about having what you need before you need it,” he said.
O’Hara said he was a blue-collar guy with a pharmacist wife who lived in a cul-de-sac in Cincinnati and was prepared for “when it hits the fan.”
By “it” he means the societal chaos that would happen within three days of a collapse of the electrical grid.
Few items available at the St. Charles show were overtly political, although one attendee walked around with a Donald Trump yard sign tucked under his arm.
An exception was a display of “morale patches” with slogans that included “If Found Dead: Delete My Browser History,” “Build That Wall” and “Shall Not Be Infringed.”
O’Hara said preparing for emergencies was mainstream, pointing out that the government declares each September as National Preparedness Month.
Seminars at the St. Charles show included Ten Principles of Survival, The Crashing Dollar and How to Preserve Your Wealth, Safe Drinking Water in a Flash, Being Prepared with Essential Oils, How to Train to Be Prepared and You Can Afford to Prepare — Tomorrow May Be Too Late.
“We even have a suture class here,” O’Hara said.
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