The Outdoor Retailer Industry Trade Show Moves to Denver for Winter 2018

It’s official. Starting this January, Colorado becomes base camp for a unified outdoor industry as the Outdoor Retailer show makes its move to Denver for the 2018 Winter Market.

Denver will host the prestigious Outdoor Retailer gatherings for the next five years, with a trio of shows drawing upwards of 85,000 people a year, delivering the city a $110 million economic impact. – Denver Post

Outdoor Retailer was caught in the cross-fire of a political battle over the past few months as Utah lawmakers refused to stand up for Bears Ears National Monument. Patagonia founder, Yvon Chouinard, led the charge against Utah Governor Gary Herbert in his post “The Outdoor Industry Loves Utah; Does Utah Love the Outdoor Industry?

After Governor Herbert failed to return the love, Patagonia followed through on their threat to leave the Outdoor Retailer show. This move sparked a waterfall exodus of top brands including Arc’teryx, Peak Design, and Polartec, among others. The hope was that in withdrawing their support from the show, the show would withdraw its support from Utah. Well, it worked! Sorry SLC!

“Colorado’s Outdoor Recreation Industry Office could not be prouder that Outdoor Retailer selected Denver as its new home,” said Luis Benitez, director of Colorado’s Outdoor Recreation Industry Office. “The State of Colorado and Outdoor Retailer share the common belief that protecting public lands is not only good for the economy, but also, for the soul. We look forward to becoming the gravitational hub for the thought leadership that represents this important industry that makes an enormous contribution to both Colorado’s and the country’s economy.”

The other big news coming out of the Outdoor Retailer camp and in conjunction with this move is that they have acquired SIA Snow Show. The Snow Show will now be combined with the OR Winter Market to create the largest outdoor and winter sports gathering in North America.

 

 

Jonathan Ronzio
Jonathan Ronzio

Founder & Host

Founder, Explore Inspired | CMO, Trainual | Co-Host of The Stokecast Podcast | Mountain Athlete | Award-Winning Adventure Filmmaker | Keynote Speaker

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