Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
The outdoor industry’s largest trade show, Outdoor Retailer, has announced that it is pulling up stakes in Utah and moving to Minneapolis — at least for the foreseeable future.
This is the second time in the past decade that show organizers have abandoned Salt Lake City. In 2017 — primarily because of a feud over Utah officials’ support of Pres. Donald Trump’s decision to shrink the size of the Bears Ears National Monument — Outdoor Retailer moved to Denver before returning to Utah five years later.
Outdoor Retailer owner Emerald Expositions announced earlier this month it was bringing a “reimagined” three-day trade show to Minneapolis for the weekend of Aug. 19-21, 2026. The business-to-business expo will come with a “renewed focus on collaboration, learning and shared experiences,” a press release from Emerald said.
The expo added, “Minneapolis is the ideal stage for the future of Outdoor Retailer.” The 2026 show will be hosted at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
“Moving Outdoor Retailer to Minnesota creates a fresh stage for collaboration, creativity and the outdoor community to thrive together,” Randolph Briley, director of Minnesota Outdoor Recreation Industry Partnership, an initiative created by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to help ramp up efforts to promote the state’s outdoor economy, said in a provided statement. “This step underscores the strength of our outdoor economy, driving billions in impact, supporting tens of thousands of jobs and inspiring people to get outside. Hosting Outdoor Retailer showcases our world-class trails, waterways and business community, while creating a powerful platform for collaboration, innovation and growth across the industry.”
The Outdoor Retailer expo is the largest trade show of the year for the outdoor industry. After its first shows in Las Vegas, the event began a 22-year run in the Beehive State. At its peak, the twice-yearly trade show brought tens of thousands of visitors to Salt Lake City, with estimates that it generated upwards of $45 million for the local economy.
In 2017, several major retailers, including mammoth outdoor clothing and gear company Patagonia, along with well-known brands like REI and The North Face, pulled out of the Outdoor Retailer show due to the Trump Bears Ears decision, which the retailers feared would lead to the further reduction of public land. According to media reports at the time, the move by Trump was backed by then-Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and other state leaders. The monument had been designated by Pres. Barack Obama, creating conflict with recreators, ranchers and energy companies.
In a 2017 blog post, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard blasted Herbert.
“I say enough is enough. If Governor Herbert doesn’t need us, we can find a more welcoming home,” Chouinard said in the post. “He should stop his efforts to transfer public lands to the state, which would spell disaster for Utah’s economy. He should show the outdoor industry he wants our business — and that he supports thousands of his constituents of all political persuasions who work in jobs supported by recreation on public lands.”
After the controversy, Outdoor Retailer announced it would move to Denver from Salt Lake City, its two-decades home. The show remained in Colorado for five years until Emerald Expositions’ Sports and Outdoor Division, which runs the annual event, announced a return to Salt Lake City in 2022 after the organizers said the city made a “a strong commitment to public lands.”
However, some of the protesting companies renewed their boycott of the event and the show never reached its historic scale after returning to Utah. Approximately 300 brands from dozens of countries attended the show this past summer, nowhere near the 1,600 outdoor names that exhibited during the show’s heyday in 2015.
In 2024, the show announced it was canceling its winter show, stating that cutting back to one show per year would allow it to put on a bigger event.
Salt Lake City is “disappointed” by Outdoor Retailer’s decision to relocate again, but its “commitment to outdoor recreation and public lands will remain,” Andrew Wittenberg, a spokesman for the city, told KSL News. He said the city is focused on major renovations to its convention district, which could draw Outdoor Retailer or related events back to Utah in the future.