1,200 gear makers at Salt Lake City trade show

SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake City trade show for outdoor retailers has grown so large organizers had to push hundreds of gear and apparel makers out of the convention hall.

About 1,200 manufacturers and suppliers are set to display their wares at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Organizers had to erect two block-long tents for 300 of the exhibitors.

The Outdoor Retailer Show attracts thousands of shopkeepers from around the world. No consumers are allowed inside— the show is tightly regulated to keep away the merely curious. If they could browse, gear junkies would drool over goods ranging from compact titanium cookware to snow goggles with built-in visual dashboards.

In all, about 27,000 people are attending, up from 25,000 a year ago. The show runs from Thursday to Sunday.

Americans spend about $289 billion a year on outdoor gear, travel and services, with annual sales growing by about 5 percent despite an economy hammered by recession, officials said.

"Outdoor recreation is a much more significant contributor to the economy than many people realize," said Frank Hugelmeyer, president and CEO of the Outdoor Industry Association. "More than 140 million Americans make outdoor recreation a priority in their daily lives, and they prove it with their wallets."

Utah has held the summer and winter trade shows since 1996. The state also hosts a budding cluster of small businesses dedicated to making everything from custom skis to carbon-fiber bicycle wheels. Officials say outdoor gear and services amounts to 5 percent of the state's economy or $4 billion.

Utah has 131 outdoor gear makers and another 28 companies specializing in bicycle components, according to the Governor's Office of Economic Development. Many of the companies are startups, some employing just one or two people.

Major ski companies have been setting up headquarters in Ogden, a budding capital of the outdoor industry where real-estate is cheap.