Prepper's Trade Show and Expo offers wares, ideas in Dalton

Lucinda Bailey, left, with Texas Ready, talks with John Egger, of Chuluota, Fla., as vendors set up for the Social Prepper's Trade Show and expo at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention center early Thursday afternoon in Dalton, Ga. "We're learning to be Amish and be happy about it." Bailey said.

DALTON, Ga. - The Prepper's Trade Show and Expo could help prepare you for an apocalypse or teach you a trade you never knew.

The expo is happening now through Saturday in Dalton at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center.

"There are a lot of very smart people here who are also very practical," said Janice Givens. She and her son, Murphy, drove from Atlanta to Dalton for the expo. "They are so willing to teach you everything. I would definitely recommend anyone to come here. They will learn a lot."

People can come to the expo not only to learn about surviving an apocalypse but also about providing for and protecting themselves in a sustainable way.

"Everything is unsustainable," said Lucinda Bailey Nauk, owner of Texas Ready on exhibit at the show. "Everyone needs to know how to provide for their own family."

Texas Ready is a food bank that uses only open-pollinated heirloom vegetable seeds that are cultivated properly and are eco-friendly in all aspects, she said. The company sells the seeds and teaches buyers how to cultivate, harvest and preserve the bounty from the soil.

The expo has more exhibits than just food. Vendors will be there with knowledge and equipment for solar power, hunting and home protection, home schooling, shelter, water purification and storage, transportation, communication, precious metals, and medical exhibits. Several speakers are scheduled, as well.

"Top experts will be here [today] and Saturday to speak," said Kevin Barnes, owner of Social Prepper and organizer of the expo. "I would be pleased if 5,000 to 7,000 people show up. The money [made from the expo] helps me fund the next expo."

Barnes says he brought the trade show to Georgia because there aren't any survivalist expos in the area. He thinks the expo "will attract many citizens, with Georgia being a conservative state and all of the tornadoes that happen here."

Social Prepper launched its own Facebook app in 2012 that allows people to meet and gives them opportunities to buy and sell prepping items, as well as share news events and post information on how to prepare for the worst.

Vendor Jay Watts represents a company called Daily Bread that sells freeze-dried food.

"I was unemployed for two and a half years and because I had enough food storage it eliminated my grocery bill," Watts said.