Salt Lake City just lost the Outdoor Retailer trade show. This is a trade show for businesses like REI, Patagonia, North Face… hell, basically every retailer that does anything in outdoor retail. It’s sorta the everything in the industry.
What San Diego Comi-Con is for nerddom, this is for outdoor nerds.
The OR show has always been held in Utah. Since the 90s. But they are looking for a new city to move to by 2019 because Utah has been naughty.
Utah’s Governor, and other Republican peeps in Utah, lobbied President Trump to roll back the Bears Ears National Monument, a 1.35-million-acre conservation area in Southern Utah that Native Americans and other people who like Earth, have held sacred for years. Trump listened and rolled it on back.
Fuck off, Earth! Cattle and mines are more important.
So the Outdoor Retailers, people that were warning Utah not to do this, said they are packing up their back…packs and looking for a new city to dump all that trade show money into. The show dumps 32 million into SLC every year.
Denver and Portland (OR) are leading contenders at the moment. I say we make sure Fresno is in that mix too because Fresno is an outdoor city. Maybe we don’t act like it enough, maybe we don’t even know it, but we are.
We totally qualify to have the Outdoor Retailer trade show. Fresno is within a morning drive to all outdoor activities. ALL THE ACTIVITIES! So we got that as a qualification.
But do we have the kind of convention space to handle this?:
Hell, I think so.
Oh but wait, does Fresno have enough hotel rooms (or Air BnBs) to handle this? I don’t know, that is for city officials to figure out – I don’t create and maintain the trails, I just walk through and comment on them.
So I hope there is enough time for Fresno to get consideration. I don’t think anybody is threating to roll back National Park status for Yosemite, Kings Canyon or Sequoia anytime soon. *knock on wood*
Let’s do it! Let’s blaze a trail to Fresno for Outdoor Retailer!
Photo: Bears Ears, Utah | Credit: Tim Peterson
I agree.
Fresno is smack in the middle for the Bay Area, and SoCal to come together. Drivable even. 2 hours from SJ, 2 hours from Sac, 2 hours from Bakersfield, 3 hours from LA, 3 hours from SF.
Great spot for travellers out of state because as an outdoor trade show, it would put them close to the national parks to visit while they are here.
City officials need to be behind this and get something like this to happen.
I can think of something that is currently building steam:
http://www.fresnofoodexpo.com/
I mean we are the AG culture of the world. Again something the city has to be more involved with to promote to bring more from out of state. Make this the food trade show of all food trade shows.
There are big opportunities.
I’ll throw one at you, imagine if Fresno tried to bid for the raiders. There are SOOOOOOOO many raider fans in NorCal, CenCal, and SoCal. Being smack in the middle will still allow loyal fans to do day trips for the games each sunday. It will open up a bigger fan base. As now socal residents can easily drive to the games–compared to before having to plan a weekend to go to the bay, it can merely be a day trip. Would boost up Fresno economy tremendously. Also hospitality. And it keeps the raiders where they should be. in CA. Missed opportunity again.
That would be a great thing for the city of Fresno! I used to live in the (209) (now 559), and loved hitting up all of the national parks. Yosemite trips were my favorite, I mean how could you not love Yosemite?? Well, it’d be cool if this all came together for Fresno!
All the best!
Josh