The International Expo Center (IEC) in Sofia this weekend (28.04.11 - 01.05.11) hosted two exhibitions that complemented each other beautifully!

This was the first year that the annual Hunting & Fishing Expo was staged at the same time as the Adventure & Extreme Expo.

In an inspired move by organisers, the events proved to attract a good cross section of Bulgaria's "out-door sport community" and seemed to compliment each other perfectly. Although the events were not over-subscribed by exhibitors there was a good choice of products and services available for those who would rather be on the side of a mountain than working in an office.

Notable exhibitors included Ski Guide favorites such as The Board Shop who displayed their extensive array of water sports equipment in advance of this summers water sports season. Showing off the latest ways to get snowboard kicks without snow was Free Board BG who were demonstrating their unique "Skate/Snowboard" designs for the first time in Bulgaria.

Para-gliding, canoing and downhill mountain bikes were also on show in the Extreme side of the expo with one company offering complete para-gliding courses in Sopot for only 600 Leva.

The Hunting & Fishing areas of the exhibition had almost everything a would-be-trapper could need from firearms (which were not available to buy on the day) to fishing tackle as well as everything else in between. One exhibitor had even gone so far as to set up a bow range to allow attendees to try his custom made hunting bows whilst Polaris Bulgaria showed off their range of high-end ATV's (All Terrain Vehicles) designed specifically for hunters.

And if you were looking for more inspiration as to how to give yourself outdoor kicks, outside the exhibition halls, organisers had created several areas for demonstrating products on sale in the Expos with a skate park and other sports demo areas.

It was good to see, for the first time, these two industries come together to increase appeal for outdoor sports in general and a number of visitors to the Expo thought like wise.

"I came to look at the ATV's for my father and I as we are both keen hunters" said Ivo Yonchev who came from Plovdiv especially for the event "But it looks like I am learning to kite surf this summer near Ravda on the coast too!"

Hopefully this will now be an annual event where we see both industries in Bulgaria coming together for the common good, an idea which seems to be supported by the crowds that attended.

More news on upcoming events can be found in SummerGuideBG.com's Event Section.