OR aims higher

July may be months away, but things are already heating up in Utah. If you’ve been paying attention to the news – outside the trainwreck in Washington – perhaps you’ve heard about the buzz brewing in the Beehive State over the Outdoor Retailer show, July 26-29 in Salt Lake.

Over the last few weeks, several outdoor gear heavy hitters, including Black Diamond, Patagonia and Arc’teryx, have announced plans to pull out of this summer’s show over the Utah government’s anti-public lands stance, specifically in regards to the new Bears Ears Monument.

The potential repeal of the newly anointed Bear's Ears Monument was the lightning rod that began retailers' mass exodus from the OR show in Salt Lake

On Tuesday, 30 of the industry’s biggest names sent an ultimatum to Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and other state leaders condemning their efforts to overturn Bears Ear and as well as thier other attacks on public lands.

While Herbert pledged a meeting with retailers to try to patch things up, officials at Outdoor Retailer, as well as its partner, the Outdoor Industry Association, announced they were exploring the idea of relocation. However, any move likely will not come until OR’s contract with Salt Lake expires after the summer show in 2018.

“These are turbulent times with passions running high ... We share these passions. We hear you, are listening closely and taking action,” OR Director Marisa Nicholson wrote recently on outdoorretailer.com. “As swiftly as humanly possible, we are doing the work necessary to procure potential alternative locations for Outdoor Retailer. Though we may wish it different, this is far from a snap-of-the-fingers-thing to make happen. Convention centers and hotels are not sitting idle.”

Already, though, Salt Lake’s neighbor to the east is attempting to woo OR away from the Wasatch. This week, Conservation Colorado launched a campaign to bring OR to Denver in 2019. The campaign kicked off with ads in the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News touting Colorado’s record of investing in and protecting public lands as well as other perks, including stronger beer, taller peaks and “higher” recreation (their words, not ours).

“Governor Herbert is telling outdoor businesses to ‘take the politics out of this issue,’ yet he is personally lobbying President Trump to roll back national monuments in Utah and threatening a lawsuit to force the American people to dispose of nearly all their public lands in the state,” Conservation Colorado’s Pete Maysmith stated.

But even if the show decides to pull up stakes for Colorado’s open arms ... it’s complicated. The City of Denver currently has an agreement with SnowSports Industries America’s Snow Show. City leaders lured the show from Las Vegas in 2010 and recently reaffirmed their commitment to host the winter sports gathering through 2030, according to the Denver Post. A clause in the contract prevents Denver from hosting a show with a large, overlapping audience in the months surrounding the late January Snow Show. However, there are talks of combining the shows.

Whether the Wasatch or the Rockies wins out, it will amount to more than a hill of beans. The Outdoor Retailer show brings $45 million to Utah in direct spending each year.