Page 38 - BusinessWest April 4, 2022

Call of the Wild
Adventure East Connects Locals with the Great Outdoors
Feeling burned out by a career in health finance, Brian Pearson and his wife went on an adventure, backpacking through
South America for seven months.
They liked it so much, they stayed there for
well over a decade, settling in Santiago, Chile, where he built a travel company. But when inter- national travel was halted by the pandemic in
“At the colleges, we’ve gotten more outdoor programs onto their radar, and we’re looking to do more outdoors with students, showing them what they have in the Valley.”
early 2020, he came home to Massachusetts and launched Adventure East, with the goal of helping locals in Western Mass. access the great outdoors.
“I decided it was a great opportunity to take advantage of all the outdoor interest coming out of the pandemic,” he told BusinessWest. “People
Kayakers
paddle on the Connecticut River with Mount Toby in the background. (Photo by Alexander Terrill)
wanted more time outdoors when there was nowhere else to go.”
The idea, he said, is that people enjoy being out in nature, but planning an outdoor adven- ture can be time-consuming and challenging. So Adventure East handles the logistics of outings
involving hiking, biking, fishing, kayaking, canoe- ing, skiing, shoeshoeing, and more — as well as the equipment — so participants can take in the region’s natural beauty without the hassle of fig- uring out logistics, and be shuttled back to their car to boot.
BusinessWest
Business
Talk
PODCAST
Sponsored by
Bringing you the best in Business Experts, Entrepreneurs, and Evangelists. BusinessTalk needs to be your weekly innovation break – that place where you go for both ideas and inspiration.
Sponsored by PeoplesBank Commercial Banking – the team that can fuel your growth ideas with financing and whose products and technologies will literally make your work life easier.
HOSTED BY:
George O’Brien
Editor & Associate Publisher of BusinessWest
EVERY MONDAY AT:
businesswest.com/business-talk-podcast-series/
and available through you favorite podcast app.
UPCOMING INTERVIEW RELEASE DATES: March 28: Julie Quink, CPA, Burkhart Pizzanelli, P.C.:
“Taxes and Tax Season”
April 4: Ira Helfand, Co-founder, Physicians for Social Responsibility: ‘Back from the Brink;
The Call to Prevent Nuclear War’
April 11: Darby O’Brien, principal, Darby O’Brien Advertising: “The Art of Storytelling”
Produced by BusinessWest in partnership with LivingLocal
38 APRIL 4, 2022
TRAVEL & TOURISM
BusinessWest