Justin Oliver, left, and Echo are organizing the ADK Outdoor Expo and Community Gear Swap at The Station on May 31. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

ONCHIOTA — Have some outdoor gear that isn’t getting used anymore? Or looking for affordable gear for the upcoming warm season? People around the region will be able to do both at the upcoming ADK Outdoor Expo and Community Gear Swap at The Station on May 31.

The event is being organized by Station owner Echo and Silver Birch Cycles owner Justin Oliver. They said the expo is free to attend and to sell at. Echo said they’re just providing the space. They hope visitors will gear up, have fun, learn something new, interact with their community or just come to hang out.

The expo will go from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the official gear swap will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

It’s set to be more than just a gear swap — filled with workshops and clinics on outdoor skills, live music, an art show, games and food.

“It’s not just about scoring gear, it’s about meeting people,” Echo said.

The idea for the event came from several overlapping needs, he said — wanting to find cheap, used outdoor gear, wanting a social gathering in spring and wanting to foster community among people who love the outdoors.

When Echo moved here from northern California 5 years ago, he started buying the gear for adventures in the Adirondack backcountry. He also started to meet the people doing those sports. Echo said he wanted friends to do these adventures together with. Having that network is how he gets advice on where to go, and when to hit certain locations.

Echo said he’s still building his communities. Oliver, who has lived in the Adirondacks for 23 years now, said he still loves meeting new people.

Echo said people might have similar outdoor interests but many different interests and beliefs outside of that one sport. Connecting over a common love of a certain outdoor activity can allow people to be exposed to ideas and sports that they might not, otherwise, Echo said.

“Maybe you’ll meet a new person. We all overlap with outdoor activities, but you’ll meet someone who you don’t usually hang out with who might have a completely different ideological mindset than you, but you both like hiking so you can bond over that,” Echo said.

Oliver said when he’s buying used gear straight from the previous owner, he can ask questions about it and learn about its history — things like when it was last tuned, what it’s good for or how to use it properly.

“If these people bought it, used it and enjoyed it, you know it’s something that’s good for around here,” he said.

Outdoor gear can be expensive if it’s all purchased new. A backpack can cost around $100, cross-country skis can cost a couple hundred dollars and an e-bike can cost between $500 and $1,000.

People aren’t required to bring something to sell to attend and buy from the expo. People can register to be a seller at adkoutdoorexpo.com.

All they ask is that people follow the golden rule — “Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you.” Basically, bring gear that’s still highly usable. Echo said he trusts people to do the right thing and not be shady.

Oliver said it’s nice to pass gear on to someone else and then see them out on the trail with it. It brings him as sense of nostalgia.

“To be able to get gear into someone else’s hands who’ll use it more than you do, that’s pretty invaluable,” he said.

They said to bring gear, ideally priced ahead of time, and a table or blanket to set it on.

Echo said this is a “leave-no-trace” event — if something doesn’t sell, take it back home.

They also said to bring cash. Echo said they will also have WiFi for digital payments. He added that people can feel free to bargain or trade.

The gear swap is decentralized by design to encourage more person-to-person interaction.

“It’s a chance to practice an unregulated economy without a middle person,” Echo said.

“It’s really nice to slow the pace down. It allows you to have conversations with people about what you’re buying,” Oliver said. “Gear has a lot of minute little details.”

These little details are a big deal, he said. For example — knowing what cross-country boots go with which cross-county skis. There are three-pin, NNN and SNS bindings, with backcountry variations of each of these and further variants for specialized travel in each. If the boot and ski don’t line up, they won’t be able to work on the trail.

“It sucks to buy something online, get excited and find out its not compatible,” Oliver said.

Organizations like Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation, The Wild Center and Adirondack Land Trust will run workshops on how to hang bear bags, how to pick water filters, bike packing, maintenance on bikes an e-bikes and how to rebuild and install bike suspension forks. Oliver will even run an intro-to-juggling workshop.

The times for each of these clinics will be on the website during the week of the event.

Three-quarters of local band Nubble will be creating what Echo calls a “sonic casserole” with friends. There will be yard games like four-square, volleyball and cornhole. Daniel Bruce from the Step Mother Nature art gallery will be showing his “Barn Burner” exhibit, featuring barn stars adorned with neon lights.

They expect campers from nearby Buck Pond to come over for the event.

Oliver and Echo said there’s lots of paddling, biking and hiking trails in the Onchiota area, so they hope people get to enjoy them before or after the expo.