outdoor retailers

Utah Governor Gary Herbert and outdoor-industry leaders met to work out their differences last month during a conference call. If they pulled it off, a big trade show would stay in Salt Lake City. Instead, a 20-year relationship seems headed towards divorce, but is there any chance to save this rocky marriage?

A week’s passed since the Outdoor Retailers trade show announced it’s leaving Salt Lake City after being here two decades. And there are hints the show is trying to leave Utah even before its three-convention contract is up.

The protest surrounding the exit of the Outdoor Recreation trade show expanded this week, as local Democrats took the state’s GOP leaders to task outside the Salt Palace Convention Center. They criticized Utah’s Republican leaders for the huge trade show’s decision to leave Salt Lake City when its contract runs out next year.

The latest turf battle between the state of Utah and the outdoor retailer industry erupted this week, after efforts to undo the state’s newest national monument prompted outdoor companies to announce they’re considering a new home for their twice-yearly trade shows.

The outdoor industry’s winter trade show is back at the Salt Palace Convention Center, along with that ever-present tension between Utah politicians and companies that depend on the state’s extraordinary landscapes.

The outdoor recreation industry gathers again in Salt Lake City next week for its summer trade show. But, even before the hundreds of companies arrive, they’re having an impact statewide.

One example is Gregory Mountain Products, which has made backpacks for decades. It faced a big decision two years ago, when a Chicago company purchased the brand.

 A former top lands leader says America’s latest Sagebrush Rebellion is a danger to the nation's public-lands heritage. Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, speaking at the Outdoor Retailers trade show in Salt Lake City Thursday, urged the industry to fight back.

The summer outdoor retailer show is at the Salt Palace this week, and some locals are using the event as a chance to get the increasingly powerful outdoor industry involved in the Utah public lands debate. Instead of “drill, baby, drill” they’re pushing the tagline, “play, baby, play.”