Denver lands coveted Outdoor Retailer summer and winter trade shows, sources confirm
All the players are saving the official news for a press conference with the governor and mayor on Thursday, but it’s clear Denver has landed the coveted Outdoor Retailer trade show.
After nearly 18 months of intensive and harried negotiations, Visit Denver has booked the twice-a-year trade show in the city’s Colorado Convention Center for five years, starting in January 2018, several sources familiar with the deal confirmed this week. It does not include the Interbike trade show, the continent’s largest bike gathering, said the sources, who asked not to be named.
Outdoor Retailer trade show owner, the publicly traded Emerald Expositions, is sending its top brass to Denver for Thursday’s press conference with Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Luis Benitez, the head of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office.
People attend the Outdoor Retailer show at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on Jan. 11. (AP file)
People attend the Outdoor Retailer show at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on Jan. 11. (AP file)