Outdoor Industry Events

When the Thin Air virtual conference was first conceived, it was intended to be a place for journalists to find new products to cover. But now, four months till the show launches on September 15, 2020, show organizers are making plans to welcome retail buyers as well. "We know ...read more

Outdoor Retailer, the largest outdoor trade show in the country and a cardinal event on the industry's annual calendar, cancelled its annual Summer Market Thursday as a precautionary measure against the spread of coronavirus. Outdoor Retailer released the following statement: ...read more

As Covid-19 infections continue to mushroom, causing unprecedented border and business closings as well as event cancelations globally, virtual events are getting a more serious look than ever before. Read all the latest outdoor industry coronavirus news here. Currently, the ...read more

The American Alpine Club has cancelled its annual benefit dinner amid the coronavirus outbreak. The event was scheduled for March 13, 2020 in Denver featuring Kris McDivitt Tompkins as the keynote speaker. Instead of hosting the live three-hour event, which was slated to be at ...read more

The outdoor industry spring/summer calendar is packed with events: We've got  Outdoor Retailer, The Big Gear Show, Grassroots Connect, dozens of regional rep shows, Capitol Summit, Outdoor Media Summit, and so many more. So many people crowded into enclosed spaces, so many ...read more

If you were one of the few people who attended the 2018 Outdoor Retailer Winter Market when it debuted in the November time slot, you know it was pretty grim. “Ghost town” was how many people described it. What happened? Industry members didn’t find it relevant, so they didn’t ...read more

When Beverly Lucas and her family returned from the Sea Otter Classic bike show in California this April, she sat her four teenagers down for a mini focus group. "Besides biking, what else do we like to do as a family?" she asked them. At the time, she was in the middle of ...read more

After a six-year hiatus, the On-Snow Demo by Snowsports Industries America (SIA) and WWSRA will return to Winter Park Resort in Colorado for the event next February. So far, 1,000 retailers from 39 states and six countries are confirmed for the largest national and international ...read more

Up until July 2018, the last time I'd been around 16 other women in the woods was as a teenager at Girl Scout camp. So when I was invited to the Project16x women's leadership summit in Telluride, Colorado, needless to say I felt a little self-conscious about being new to the ...read more

Single-use plastic awareness and avoidance was a huge theme at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market last June. And, thanks to brands, attendees, and show management committing to the cause, there was a noticeable reduction of plastic on the show floor, plus lots more water stations ...read more

"I heard yesterday from a newly-sober friend that it was a challenge to find non-alcoholic beverages on the show floor during happy hour," Kassondra Cloos, freelance writer and former SNEWS editor, posted in the Basecamp Facebook Group on June 19. The post centralized an ...read more

Believe it or not, a zero-waste trade show is within our reach, especially if the industry rallies around the idea in the same way they did to ditch single-use plastic at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market last month in Denver, Colorado. Not only were single-use water bottles few and ...read more

Attending a national trade show three times a year is a lot for some outdoor industry members, especially when you factor in all the regional shows that happen year round, where the brunt of the buying work actually gets done.  There's still ample chatter about whether three big ...read more

The Grassroots Outdoor Alliance worked hard and played hard at this year’s 25th anniversary show in Knoxville, Tennessee. On the first night, during a festive and nostalgic happy hour, dinner, and awards ceremony, members, staff, and special invited guests of the Alliance ...read more

You're standing in line for lunch when suddenly, you remember: You forgot your bamboo set of utensils at home so you're going to have to forgo your plastic-free values for the day. If only you had been prepared.  As so many of us prepare to head to Denver next week for Outdoor ...read more

Jennifer Anderson, online merchandising manager at Gear Coop, made a promise to herself for 2019: that she'd be more mindful of her plastic waste. She started by seeking reusable plastic shampoo and soap bottles and now she's learning to make bread to avoid the plastic bags that ...read more

After an investigation into the annual SHIFT Festival, the Jackson Hole Travel & Tourism Board (TTB) agreed on Monday to continue funding the event that brings together diverse leaders in the outdoor recreation and conservation space. The review comes after former participants ...read more

Forming the Plastic Impact Alliance with our friends at Catapult Creative Labs has made us all the more aware of our plastic use—reusable water bottles and thermoses line our desks and bamboo cutlery and silicone snack bags fill our lunch bags. Even more than before, we think ...read more

“Coming out is a huge life moment and can be one of the scariest things ever. I cried for 30 minutes….As an outdoor leader, your job is not to give advice on someone’s identity—it’s to help them feel comfortable in the space. Treat them the same as you treat everyone else,” said ...read more

Last year, the Super Bowl, one of the largest events in the country with more than 100,000 attendees, sought to keep 90 percent of waste out of landfills and send 10 percent to a waste-to-energy plant. Due to its magnitude, some were skeptical. But they pulled it off. Now, it's ...read more

No matter what size mountain you scale on August 3, it counts for the second annual National Summit Day.  BACKPACKER magazine is encouraging everyone with a pair of shoes and a nearby summit to get outside and hike to the top. Everyone, of all abilities, is invited to join the ...read more

Racial controversy plagued the recent SHIFT conference after some participants came forward with accusations that the event's executive director, Christian Beckwith, lacks the basic justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) training needed to lead the organization. The ...read more

When baristas offer single-use cups and food vendors offer reusable utensils, most of us have begun to say, "No, thanks, I'll use my own." We do this because we understand that single-use plastic is a burden to our beloved planet.  As we count down to Outdoor Retailer Summer ...read more

Truth: Single-use plastic sucks. We all know it. So let’s do something about it at our biggest convergence as an industry: Outdoor Retailer. Minimizing our impact on the planet is central to so many of our brands, yet we consume untold amounts of single-use plastic at our most ...read more