Visit the great outdoors

The outdoors will be indoors for the All Things Bike and Beeld Holiday shows, where everything to do with heading outside for fun will be on show.
HOLIDAYMAKERS, camping enthusiasts, motorbikers and the like are in for a treat this weekend at the All Things Bike (ATB) show, running concurrently with the annual Beeld Holiday Show.

All Things BikeThe events run from 17 to 19 February at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, in the far north of Johannesburg. Taking place in an indoor arena, ATB will have exhibitions ranging from biking accessories, motorbike apparel and navigation equipment to biking publications, bike transport, bike insurance and financers.

There will also be a park and sell area for second hand bikes, live entertainment on the main stage, a pub style restaurant, a demo area in the main exhibition hall and a children’s entertainment area.

ATB is a retail exhibition focused on all aspects of the biking industry. There will be more than 100 exhibitors and 20 000 people are expected to visit. Ticket holders will automatically be entered into a raffle to win two Harley Davidson motorcycles, a Quick Loader Trailer and a tool wall unit.

The Beeld Holiday Show will feature camping equipment, holiday and leisure accessories, resorts, tour operators, leisure stuff to do, camping gear and German made motorhomes, caravans and camping trailers. Many of the products on display will be seen for the first time on African soil, say the organisers.

Hampie de Kock, the organiser of the Beeld Holiday Show, says both events will be the largest leisure and biking exhibitions. “There will be displays in four of the Gallagher exhibition halls. Suppliers of bikes and accessories have a real cost effective opportunity to display their products and merchandise.”

Exhibitors at the Beeld Holiday Show, which generated more than R140-million in sale opportunities in 2011, will extend their range from camping equipment, water craft, trailers and motorhomes to tour operators “thus introducing additional sales opportunities”, points out Martin Snoek of Marketing Services and Communication, the event’s publicists.

All Things Bike will end with a 93km charity bike ride on Sunday, 19 February to raise funds for the New Jerusalem Children’s Home in President Park, Midrand, which cares for 80 disadvantaged children. The ride will start and finish at Gallagher Convention Centre. Registration is at 7am and the ride begins at 8am.

Entry for the ride is R50 per person, which will include a cup of coffee, an ATB pin and entrance into the show after the ride.

The general manager of operations at Gallagher, Charles Wilson, says the charity ride will give the organisers of ATB the opportunity to give back to the community. Tickets for both shows are R75 per person; they can be bought at Computicket.