The OutdoorRetailer Summer Market that ended Aug. 7 in Salt Lake City was the biggest ever.
Exhibitors spilled out of the Salt Palace Convention Center setting up tables and tarps on the sidewalk, tents across the street, and a pavilion for new companies in a parking lot across South Temple.
With the show obviously outgrowing the Salt Palace, can Utah hold onto the twice-annual event that infuses millions into local businesses after its contract expires in 2015? The economic impact for the summer show alone is estimated at $23 million.
Shawn Stinson, director of communications for the Salt Lake Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, said you can "count on it."
"We’re well aware of the fact that other cities are bidding on OR, just as we’re bidding on their shows," he said. "But Salt Lake City is a perfect fit."
Whether the product is for skiing, paddling or rock climbing, show attendees can try it out within a short distance of the convention center, Stinson said. That has led show organizers to say they couldn’t think of holding it anywhere else.
But if OutdoorRetailer outgrows the Salt Palace, will surrounding parking lots become a tent palace? Stinson said that’s one option. Deer Valley’s concert series, the Tour of Utah and the Dew Tour all use tent pavilions, he said.
Another option is moving part of the show to the South Towne Exposition Center and working out transportation via bus or TRAX.
"Everything is on the table except physically expanding the convention center," he said.
But the size of the convention center isn’t as much an issue as bed capacity when event organizers choose cities, he said.
Even though Salt Lake City has close to the same-sized convention center as Denver, Colo., this city could not host all of the same events it does because Denver has twice as many hotel beds.
All of Salt Lake County has roughly 17,000 beds. With about 25,000 people attending the last OR summer show, there was some spillover into Park City and Davis County, Stinson said.
With all the large hotels in the state capital, there are still proposals to build another close to the Salt Palace with 1,000 to 1,200 beds, he said.
For the first three-to-five years it would likely take business from existing lodges, but eventually it would increase the size of events attracted to Salt Lake City and attract more business for everyone, Stinson said.
Ironically, the OutdoorRetailer show would likely downsize itself before northern Utah ran out of hotel rooms, he added.
One reason the summer show was so big this year is it has become attractive to shoe brands. Standup paddle boards were a small niche at the show last year and now over 50 manufacturers attended in 2011.
If fringe categories become too big at the show, the core outdoor retailers may complain to the show organizers, he said.
The good OR does for Utah extends beyond the economic impact, however. Stinson said events like the summer and winter shows, as well as the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, introduce Utah to companies. When they see what firms like Black Diamond and Rossignol have going on here, it gets them thinking about relocating.