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Keith McCord Reporting20-thousand visitors are in town taking part in the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market, Salt Lake's biggest convention. This year, the outdoor show is celebrating its 25th birthday. A lot has changed over the years.
At the first show, a quarter of a century ago, there were 120 exhibitors; at this show, there are 967.
The outdoor retailer show is off and running at the newly expanded Salt Palace. Buyers and manufacturers are here from 40 different countries, with thousands of new products that will hit the stores next year.
Frank Hugelmeyer, Pres. Outdoor Industry Assn: "This pack's circa is somewhere around 1974-75. It was the first internal frame backpack in the outdoor industry."
As you walk into this year's show, there's a large display area, showing outdoor recreation clothing and equipment, going back 25 years. Back then, words like "kevlar", "GoreTex", "polar fleece" and "carbonite" were never uttered, they didn't exist. Now, more than 160-million Americans partake in the outdoors and they want the comforts of home with them.
Frank Hugelmeyer, Pres. Outdoor Industry Assn.: "The industry in its early years, you'd see people who wanted to get away from it all. It's to get away from technology. Now you have consumers where technology is part of their everyday life. They're wearing it, they do not want to get away from it; they want it incorporated."
And so, nearly 1,000 manufacturers are here offering just about everything, certainly things you couldn't get 25 years ago. From water bottles that will tell you if you're staying properly hydrated...
Kelly Perkins, Inventor, "Hydracoach": "You put in your weight, and it will coach you on what, how much you should be drinking every day."
Jeff Lessard, Fox River Mills: "So our company is based in Iowa, and we thought we ought to be able to make something out of corn, and by golly we did!"
The Outdoor Retailers show is guaranteed to be around for at least 29-years because at the show opening this morning, Frank Huglemeyer, head of the Outdoor Industry Association, announced that the organization will extend its relationship with Salt Lake and continue to hold the twice a year conventions through 2010.
