The gates to Overland Expo East in Arrington, Virginia opened at 9 a.m. Friday morning. Like most annual East events, historically held in early October, the day was cloudy and humid with temperatures in the upper 60s. That didn’t stop thousands of fans and hundreds of campers from descending on Oak Ridge Estates, the first-time site of the event.
The faithful fans were greeted by 200 exhibitors and hundreds of session-hours of classes and roundtable discussions.
Ride-and-drive opportunities abound, too, including a ride in the all-new Ford Bronco and a chance to drive the all-new Ford Bronco Sport on a private trail system just outside the event gates. The spots for the Bronco rides filled up quickly, as did those from Yamaha, which was offering rides in its new side-by-side.
Harley-Davidson also threw the keys to attendees with motorcycle endorsements to demo the new Pan America adventure motorcycle. And for those attendees not yet motorcyclists, Motorcycle Industry Council hosted an Intro-to-Riding Demo that proved incredibly popular.
READ MORE: Watch Overland Expo’s Ultimate 4Runner Take on Colorado’s Red Cone
Speaking of Ford, the Blue Oval made a global vehicle debut with its new Expedition Timberline Off-Grid concept, which underscored the breadth and depth of Ford’s overlanding prowess.
The Overland Expo Foundation charity raffle in the Overland Theater 7 p.m. Gear donations came in from exhibitors:
- REDARC
- ActionTrax
- Defiance Tools
- Kurgo
- DryFoxCo
- 7P Overland
- 23 Zero
- Midland Radios
- Monster Hooks Inc.
- Forrest Tool
- Lava Box
- Sunflare
- OK4WD
- QuietKat
In total, we raised $8,400 for the Overland Expo Foundation. We thank our generous exhibitors for their thoughtful donations and our fans for attending the raffle in such great numbers.
Capping off the evening from 8 to 10 p.m. the Overland Film Festival presented by Yakima showed the latest collection of overland-centric films from the industry.
