OUTDOOR SHOW SHOULD STAY IN SALT LAKE CITY
Today the Outdoor Industry Association will decide where it wants to hold its twice-a-year conventions for the next half decade.
Reportedly, Salt Lake and Las Vegas are the finalists. At stake is more than $24 million a year in estimated revenues.
That makes this a big deal.
Especially to Salt Lake City, which has hosted the shows for years and years. Traditionally, thousands of outdoor retailers and their buyers gather in the shadows of the Wasatch to renew old friendships, enjoy the comforts of the city and the beauties of the state, and to do some good old fashioned business.
But the leaders of the association have decided to play politics and put their hosts over a barrel. They have held future conventions over the heads of Utah leaders in an effort to impose their politically correct environmental views.
Specifically, leaders of the outdoor retailers association have said that unless Utah puts even more of its territory under “wilderness” status, they are going to take their show and go elsewhere.
They rudely insisted on personal meetings with the state’s former governor and have demanded environmental position papers from the current candidates for governor. They have repeatedly said that unless Utah state environmental policy satisfies them, they’re gone.
Which is probably just a façade.
Because the wilderness status they seek for even more of Utah’s acres – substantially more than half of the state is owned by the federal government – would put those acres off limits to the customers the association supposedly represents. Outdoor enthusiasts want public land to be open to hunting, fishing, four-wheeling, mountain biking, camping, recreational vehicles and rafting – activities that would be limited or forbidden if the association gets its way.
And many of the customers of the outdoor retailers are rural people who resent activists and government types strangling local economies with crazy land-use restrictions.
There’s also the question of dignity.
How does an out-of-state interest get the nerve to come into Utah and dictate to it and its governor policies that ought to be locally and democratically determined? Shouldn’t Utah land-use policy be decided by Utahns, not outsiders?
Does the outdoor retailers association think that Utah’s integrity comes as part of the convention package? Do they really want to humiliate a governor and a state over $24 million a year?
Because if they do, they can take their money and shove it.
But if they want to do business with honorable people, and continue the relationship of trust and loyalty which has built up over the years, they’re welcome to stay. If they want more of the best hospitality the nation has to offer, Salt Lake City will gladly accommodate them.
If they want showgirls and Yucca Mountain, Nevada’s the place. But if they want safe streets and Park City – and dozens of other world-class outdoor attractions – Utah’s the choice.
They can hold their convention in a city that supports their business, or they can go to Las Vegas, where outdoor activities aren’t the main attraction. They can have Salt Lake County’s picture-book mountains, or Clark County’s miles and miles of litter-strewn desert.
And should they ever want to bring their children along, where would be better suited to a family convention – Salt Lake or Las Vegas?
Salt Lake City appreciates the relationship it has with the outdoor retailers. It is proud of the job it has done hosting this wonderful convention and exposition. It hopes the show comes back year after year.
But there should be mutual respect, and the leadership of the association shouldn’t treat their hosts like servants. No one should have to surrender their integrity to gain someone else’s business.
Hopefully, the association will choose Salt Lake today. Hopefully, the best town will win the bid. And Salt Lake is the best town. There is not a better place in America for all-season outdoor beauty and recreation. And there is not a city in America that will appreciate or support this show as much as Salt Lake does.
The association should remember that.
And the association should remember the value of loyalty.
Salt Lake City has always done a good job, and it will always do a good job. Nevada has glitz, gambling and prostitution – things that tempt, but don’t satisfy. Utah has mountains, rivers and forests – the things this association is supposed to be about.
Hopefully, the right thing will be done.
- by Bob Lonsberry © 2004
