Entrepreneurs Sutton Bacon and Darren Bush think they have just what the outdoor industry needs — another trade show. In conjunction with Visit Salt Lake, the longtime outdoor products retailers announced last week that The Big Gear Show has scheduled its inaugural run July 22-25, 2020, in Salt Lake City. The hardgoods-only buying show will focus on camping, climbing, paddling and biking, with a consumer day and pre-show outfitting and excursions.
Utah convention authorities see the new show as a way to partly fill the void left when the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) moved the massive Outdoor Retailer (OR) summer and winter markets to Denver from Salt Lake City after industry leaders met with Gov. Gary Herbert to discuss the Utah administration’s perspectives on the use of public lands and its opposition to the formation of the Bears Ears National Monument.
“Salt Lake has long been known as one of the best proving grounds for the outdoor manufacturing industry and The Big Gear Show will further amplify that fact,” said Mark White, senior vice president of sales and services of Visit Salt Lake. “We’re extremely proud of our reputation, which helped convince The Big Gear Show producers that Salt Lake is the ideal location to launch this event. We look forward to welcoming the outdoor industry and outdoor‐minded consumers back to Utah’s capital city.”
“We are proud to welcome The Big Gear Show to Salt Lake,” said Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson. “Our citizens enjoy an especially strong connection to the outdoors here in the Wasatch Range and I know this show won’t find a more eager host community anywhere else.”
Bacon and Bush think the new gathering of outdoor retailers is a natural for Utah.
“Let’s be clear, the outdoor industry never left Utah,” Bacon told the outdoor industry website snews.com. “This state is home to some of the world’s most innovative outdoor companies and most treasured natural resources. Yes, managing public lands can be complicated and positive change takes time, but we feel it’s better to embrace the community and encourage change from within. Furthermore, retailers and brands love Salt Lake City; it just feels like home. It’s affordable, we all know the city well, it’s friendly and the community is eager to welcome us back.”
The Big Gear Show will take place at the Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center and will attract retailers and manufacturers serving the active paddle, climb, bike and camp segments of the outdoor industry, the producers said. The show’s first three days are reserved exclusively for specialty outdoor retailer attendees, but uniquely, the final day — Saturday, July 25 — will be open to the general public. Consumers can walk the show floor and preview next year’s hottest gear while meeting representatives and sponsored athletes from the gear manufacturers.
The gathering will include retailer education, multiple new- product showcases, guest speakers, on-and-off-site technical gear demos, a downtown Salt Lake City block party, industry breakfasts, industry awards and the full-day consumer show on Saturday. Indoor demo experiences will allow retailers and consumers to “test drive” new products and prototypes.
According to Visit Salt Lake, in order to showcase Salt Lake City as one of the world’s top outdoor destinations, with unrivaled nearby recreational opportunities, the Big Gear Show will hold a pre-show “Explore Utah Outdoors Day.” In partnership with local outfitters, attendees will sample new gear in Utah’s outdoor playground, such as climbing in Big and Little Cottonwood canyons; cycling in Emigration Canyon and on Antelope Island; mountain biking along the Wasatch Crest Trail and the Bonneville Shoreline; downhill biking at Deer Valley, Solitude and Snowbird resorts; whitewater kayaking in Westwater and Black Canyon of the Bear; and flatwater paddling at Bear Lake.
Bacon explained the selection of Salt Lake City. “We’re starting this show for hardgoods manufacturers, innovators and industry startups who don’t have the profit margins to afford expensive trade shows. And naturally Utah is the perfect host — an affordable state where the outdoor industry employs over 100,000 people and where 90-plus outdoor gear manufacturers base their businesses. The pro-outdoors, pro-business community makes it a perfect fit for the new show.”
Bacon said that the National Bicycle Dealers Association has endorsed The Big Gear Show and named it the official trade show of the bicycle industry. The Outdoor Industry Association combined bicycles with its winter show and announced the cancellation of Interbike 2019, the industry’s annual bicycle show, leaving the cycling retailers out in the cold, according to industry insiders.
Bacon and Bush say The Big Gear Show will be different from Outdoor Retailers in several important ways.
The Big Gear Show will be for hardgoods vendors only. Climbing gear, bikes, tents, sleeping bags and pads, hydration, electronics, roof racks, optics and other hardgoods are in; footwear and apparel are out.
“Hardgoods are completely different than soft goods. The way they’re sourced, manufactured, prototyped, produced and purchased is radically different,” Bacon told snews.com. “The margins and the business model are totally different. The sales velocity is totally different. There are already several outstanding trade shows focused on apparel and footwear, like Outdoor Retailer, Grassroots Outdoor Alliance Connect Show and regional rep shows. But we’re focused exclusively on gear."
Bacon and Bush expect more than 450 exhibitors and 1,500 unique retail stores to be represented, with one to four buyers from each store. By comparison, summer Outdoor Retailer has about 1,400 exhibitors.
Another big difference exhibitors will see is a much lower cost. Bacon said show displays will cost between $12 and $15 per square foot, compared to the nearly $40 per square foot charged at Outdoor Retailer. If qualified retailers register by a certain date, they’ll receive a partial reimbursement on travel, based on the number of days they attend. These incentives are a carryover from the organizers’ successful Paddlesports Retailer shows, which they launched in response to complaints that the summer Outdoor Retailers was too early when it moved to June in 2016.
Bush has been the owner and operator of Rutabaga Paddlesports in Madison, Wisconsin, for the past 17 years. Bacon is the former chairman and CEO of the Nantahla Outdoor Center, a raft trip outfitter and retail store in Swain County, North Carolina.