The State of Utah on Thursday awarded a $2.66 million grant to underwrite the cost of erecting a massive tent in Salt Lake City in a bid to keep the Outdoor Retailer show in the city until 2016, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
The newspaper quoted Michael Sullivan of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) as saying the grant would ensure the trade show remains in Salt Lake through 2016. Outdoor Retailer Show Director Kenji Haroutunian would only say that show executives are scheduled to make an announcement regarding the show’s plans beyond 2014 at the All Mountain Demo Jan. 22, on the eve of the show. Outdoor Retailer’s current contract calls for it to keep the show at the Salt Palace Convention Center through 2014.
The Salt Lake City Tribune reported that the GOED awarded the grant Thursday to Visit Salt Lake, formerly known as the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau. The agency will use the money to erect a 150,000-square-foot tent on vacant land just north of the Salt Palace Convention Center to add space for the Outdoor Retailers summer show. Outdoor Retailer had to erect tents for the summer 2011 and 2012 editions of the show to accomodate vendors who could not fit in the Salt Palace Convention Center.
Nielsen Exposition, which owns the trade show, has been investigating options to move the show to other venues after 2014, when its contract with Salt Palace expires. The biannual show, which drew nearly 26,000 attendees Salt Lake City last year, is by far the state’s largest trade show. It generated $26 million in wages for an estimated 611 jobs in 2012, according to the newspaper.
