SnowSports Industries America (SIA) is reporting a six-year attendance high for the inaugural Snow Show recently held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver from Jan. 28-31, 2010. The sold-out Snow Show attracted 18,932 attendees and featured over 3,100 booths representing 845 snow sports brands, including 125 new exhibitors.

Throughout the four-day trade show, numerous television camera crews, photographers and reporters could be seen roaming the Show aisles to report on next season’s hottest fashions, gear and accessories. Snow Show exhibitors were kept busy with appointments and interviews with 875 journalists in-attendance.

“Participating in the Snow Show exceeded our expectations. We were overwhelmed by the interest from retailers, distributors and the public. As a result of being featured in a local FOX 31 television report on the Snow Show a distributor came to us with a great opportunity,” commented Brett Curtis of Manic Snow.

The 2010 Snow Show buying power index, measured by Leisure Trends Group, totaled 74.9% for the U.S. retail buying power. Total buyer attendance was up 9.6% from last year’s Show with 4,561 buyers from 1,309 buying managements. The buying power is a measurement of U.S. retail sales from specialty ski and snowboard shops in attendance at the Show. An early stat from the Buyer Survey indicates that 95% of the buyers felt that the SIA Snow met their objectives and more than 50% of the buyers said the economy still has an effect on their business.

Snow Show audited retail attendance numbers indicated a notable increase in the number of retailers from the Rocky Mountain and Midwest regions compared to the previous year. On the flip side, there was a drop in West Coast and Northeast retailers.

“For the first year in Denver, in the middle of a recession, were very happy with the attendance numbers. We were lighter in some regions but we hope theyll come back next year after hearing all the positive experiences people had this year,” said David Ingemie, president of SIA.

“The Show wound up great this year. The Never Summer booth was constantly busy with both local and out of town buyers and Denver had enough options to keep it interesting,” commented Mike “Gags” Gagliardi, Never Summer Snowboards.

The Snow Show officially kicked off on the evening of January 27th, when 1,600+ attendees and a select group of consumers previewed the hottest on/off slope fashions for next season at SIA’s Snow Fashion Show. The music was loud, the lights were bright and the fashions were anything but demure with bright colors, prints and lots of style.

New product buzz on the Show floor included cutting edge technology heading to the Olympics and the continuing story of rocker or reverse camber technology for both skis and snowboards. Outerwear fashion could hardly be pinned down at the Show � with as many styles and color schemes to match the diverse personalities that love snow sports. There was plenty of bright (even neon) colors, plaids, geometric shapes and creative prints bringing to life outerwear and apparel collections.

Following the Snow Show, a crowd of 3,470 snow sports industry representatives, which included 1,152 buyers from 402 buying managements, headed for the mountains for the first international On-Snow Demo/Free Ride Fest (February 1-2) at Winter Park Resort and Devil’s Thumb Ranch. In conjunction with WWSRA’s Rocky Mountain Demo and CCSSA, the On-Snow Demo had a total of 231 booths for demoing product during the two-day, industry only event.

“The fact that we were at Winter Park getting our shred on after the trade show made me go home feeling like I hadnt been at a trade show. I loved Coloradical,” commented Johan Malkoski of C3 Worldwide.

Additional Show highlights included the official announcement of the 2010 SIA U.S. and Canadian SnowSports Retailers and Reps of the Year, an industry job fair( Shmooza Palooza), and exhibitor hosted parties and events during and after hours. To open the Show local officials including Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper performed an official Ribbon Cutting Ceremony welcoming the snow sports industry to Denver. The National Youth Summit was held at the Show where hundreds of Denver students, who participate in winter sports programs, gathered to listen to leaders from SIA and the National Ski Areas Association, who presented efforts by the snow sports industry to get kids involved in winter sports.   The Backshop Garage/Rental World exhibit returned to the Show and INNOVATIONS, NOW, a new product exhibit highlighted over 200 of next season’s latest innovations and hottest snow sports trends, made its debut. SIA also provided a full line-up of free seminars and clinics for all Show attendees. Seminar/clinic topics included: Snow Sports Market Overview, International Sales 101: Take Your Brand Worldwide from the Dept of Commerce, Connecting with Youth, Twitter and More, Rockerboards, 2011 Trends and more. The Show also hosted a Winter Olympic exhibit with one-of-a-kind photos, equipment and memorabilia from: Colorado Ski & Snowboard Museum and Hall of Fame, Michigan U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame, New England Ski Museum, ISHA and Vintage Ski World and 2010 Olympic uniforms from Burton, Spyder and Under Armour.

For additional news and highlights from the 2010 SIA Snow Show, use the following link to view and/or download all four days of the Show’s official Show Daily � the Snow Press Show Daily at: skipressworld.com/sia/2010 or visit the SIA Show trade site, siasnowshow.com, for post Show videos, pictures and more.