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Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake

Outdoor Retailer, one of Salt Lake City’s biggest former trade shows, announced they will be returning to Salt Lake after leaving for Denver in 2017, for political reasons.

The show left Salt Lake during a time President Trump roiled environmentalists by rolling back the borders of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. At the time, Utah politicians supported President Trump’s changes. When it became apparent that the show couldn’t sway Utah’s leaders to condemn Trump’s actions, several retailers threatened to boycott the show if it didn’t leave Utah.

Now the show will be returning in 2023. The move back was not in response to any financial incentives to come back — apparently, they liked Salt Lake more than Denver, and missed being in Utah.

Talks between Visit Salt Lake and Outdoor Retailer began when OR started requesting bids from other cities to host their convention. Talks began to get traction over the last three or four months. Earlier this month, Governor Spencer Cox told the group that Utah desperately wanted them back, but that economically, we don’t actually need them here.

The trade show has historically drawn tens of thousands of visitors, and over its 22-year stint in Salt Lake, brought in $565 million in direct delegate spending.

At their final show in Denver this June, over 400 companies will exhibit.

Several companies have vowed to boycott OR’s move to Utah, however, unless Utah politicians change their stance on public lands. 

Deseret News reported that a letter posted by The Conservation Alliance had gathered signatures from two dozen outdoor industry companies, promising to boycott the show because of its move back to Utah. Industry heavyweights REI, Patagonia and The North Face topped the list. 

REI’s executive vice president Ben Steele told KSL the company was very disappointed in OR’s decision to move back to Utah. 

“Utah’s elected officials have repeatedly refused to protect — and are actively working to undermine — duly designated national monuments and natural treasures, including Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante,” Steele wrote. “As we made clear in February, REI will not participate in any O.R. trade show in the state so long as Utah’s leaders persist in attacking our public lands and the laws that protect them.”

Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert responded to the news with this: “Should Utah’s politicians abandon their legal threats seeking once again to roll back protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments, Patagonia is glad to return to Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City. We are disappointed the owners of Outdoor Retailer are blatantly ignoring the Indigenous Peoples, local activists and outdoor athletes who spent years working to conserve and protect wild lands in Utah by moving the show back to Salt Lake City. Until we hear a firm commitment to protect our national monuments, we remain steadfast in our position and won’t return to the trade show in Utah.”

Governor Cox welcomed the companies back, but warned that any boycotting would have no effect on state’s position on federal land use and protection issues.

“That sort of boycott will do absolutely nothing to change any policy that’s happening here in the state of Utah,” Cox said. “Not even an inch. We won’t give it another thought.”

So with opposition from such large companies as well as two-dozen other retailers, what is the future success of the trade show if it’s in Utah? With 400 companies on exhibit for the semi-annual show, there will probably be little impact from the boycotts.

And get this — neither REI, North Face, nor Patagonia have even attended OR’s Denver trade show since 2020, and none of them are scheduled to attend the upcoming June show.

Some people who attend the shows each year also noted that North Face and Patagonia hadn’t attended the Salt Lake shows even before the move to Denver, for the last few years, although The Byway was not able to confirm this. 

In other words these three companies are boycotting a show they don’t even attend.

Public reaction to the KSL story that broke the news of OR’s return was interesting to see — with most people railing on the retailers who chose to boycott, and with many calling the retailers hypocrites. Some also wished that Outdoor Retailer would just stay in Denver rather than mix their politics with their products and try to influence Utah leaders.

“That’s a bummer,” Scott H. wrote of OR’s return. “I liked it better without them.”

Ralph1 wrote “In my opinion and at the top of the list Patagonia is not welcome to Utah for it’s hold Utah hostage attitude. This is not a win-win for Utah. I think Utah was far better off without this type of element in our society. Let Padegonia and the others find fault in other states, steer clear of what real outdoors is about here in Utah.”

Danny J wrote, “Patagonia, REI and the other ‘important’ retailers are not even close to as important as they think…They tried to punish Utah for pushing back against a federal land grab in a red state by a blue president. In the end they ended up not doing anything for their cause and shot themselves in the foot in the mean time. They finally admitted that the money lost was more important to them then the fake manufactured environmental outrage they tried to convince us they felt. In the end, they know that Utah is doing an amazing (not perfect) job protecting our public lands and that we are supporting an oversized burden. When it comes down to it, they are just as “greedy” as the next business who’s main motivation is increasing revenue.

Mark wrote, “REI, Patagonia, and North Face are obviously allowed to sell their oil based products in Utah, but they should not expect a warm welcome from the majority of the citizens of this state.

And Gemini14 wrote, “Why are they coming back? Didn’t even miss them and their political grand standing. I just hope they come to enjoy the people and scenery of Utah and keep their opinions to themselves.

On the contrary, Remy1100 argued that Utah should not meddle with federal lands: “Welcome to who? The major players in these shows, Patagonia, REI, North Face, etc…are still going to boycott (and rightfully so) till Utah realizes public lands are not Utah lands and that Federal Monuments on Federal land are the Fed’s business. And ONLY the Fed’s business.”

In response to Remy, Forward Observer made one of the forums most-liked comments: “Time to stop treating Utah like some colonial possession. Those lands lie within state boundaries and locals provide emergency services for visitors to these federal lands.”

Painting the environmentalists’ fight over public lands as colonialism is very similar to the argument many liberals have used to criticize people living in this region. Whether such a toss-back gains traction among conservatives is hard to say yet, but it is a theme that has recently been popping up more.

– The Byway

Feature image caption: The Outdoor Retailer Expo at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City during their final Utah show in 2017. After a few years in Denver, they are returning to Salt Lake. Courtesy Kristin Murphy/Deseret News.


Read more about a possible reason for these corporations’ strong activism in Let’s Not Kid Ourselves.