An announcement from Outdoor Retailer parent company Emerald X on Wednesday detailed the organization’s decision to return to Utah and Salt Lake City. OR says the show’s contract with its current host, Denver, Colorado, will end this year and the organization had been exploring options for future shows over the past few months.
However, several high-profile outdoor companies, including industry giants Patagonia, The North Face, and REI, have threatened to boycott the event, saying Utah’s leaders are jeopardizing the state’s public lands.
OR made headlines in 2017 when it announced that it would leave Salt Lake City in response to Utah lawmakers’ request to then-President Donald Trump to repeal the Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah. Over two dozen OR-affiliated companies objected to the move, prompting the show to pull out of Utah.
President Trump drastically reduced the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante monuments later that year, but President Joe Biden restored the territories in late 2021.
Salt Lake had hosted the event for 20 years before it moved to Denver, and the statement went on to say that leaving Utah five years ago did not bring about the change the organization had hoped for. The show now hopes to “push back, not pull back” and engage with leaders on environmental policy from here in Utah.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox said in February that the state would welcome the show back, but “did not miss them at all.”
Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson said on Wednesday that companies that plan to boycott the show “can’t influence if [they’re] not at the table,” and urged them to join the environmental discussion here.
OR will hold its summer show in Denver from June 9-11 before returning to Salt Lake City for its “Snow Show” in January 2023.
