Visit Denver, the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office and Outside, Inc. teaming up at the Big Gear Show as first step toward a possible statewide outdoors festival
Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office
Posted inOutdoors
Luis Benitez returns to outdoor recreation political landscape with push for a federal office
Luis Benitez, the first director of Colorado’s outdoor recreation office, has left VF Corp. with a plan to establish a federal recreation office in the Department of Commerce
Posted inOutdoors
Record surge for outdoor recreation economy in 2021 fuels push for legislation, federal office
Colorado’s outdoor recreation industry contributed $11.6 billion in 2021, accounting for 2.7% of the state’s overall economy
Posted inOutdoors
New outdoor trade show to be open to the public as Colorado aims to be “the best state for all things outdoor recreation”
The Big Gear Show will combine with the (e)revolution e-bike trade show in June 2023 for the outdoor industry’s first-ever business-to-business-to-consumer event
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
A few questions for Conor Hall, the new director of Colorado’s Outdoor Recreation Industry Office
Conor Hall took the reins of Colorado’s Outdoor Recreation Industry Office a little more than three weeks ago, just as the office began handling a flood of federal grant money and addressed the departure of Denver’s Outdoor Retailer trade shows. “If feels like it’s been dog years,” said the 32-year-old who replaced Nathan Fey, who […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Nathan Fey leaving Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office after two years
Nathan Fey, who took over as director of the Colorado Office of Outdoor Recreation Industry in 2019, is leaving his post next month. Fey, a sixth generation Coloradan who spent 12 years as the state’s regional director of American Whitewater, is leaving the state’s recreation office to serve as director of a Colorado-based philanthropic foundation. […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Sale of Osprey Packs marks yet another public-company acquisition of a Colorado-raised outdoor company
Osprey Packs, a 47-year-old pack maker in Cortez, has sold to publicly traded consumer company Helen of Troy for $414 million. It’s the latest in a growing list of out-of-state, publicly traded companies buying Colorado outdoor businesses since last year. Compass Diversified spent $454 million to buy Denver-based Boa Technology last fall, marking one of […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, Energy, Environment, News, Outdoors
Coal is fading in northwest Colorado. The region is betting its economic future on another natural resource.
DINOSAUR NATIONAL MONUMENT — The 10 rafts are secured to the banks of the Green River. The tents are up. The sun is setting over the sandstone canyon walls. As 30 rafters dig into steaming bowls of chili, it’s time to start planning for the future. How can northwest Colorado entice and manage visitors, protect […]
Posted inColoradans, Culture, Environment, News, Outdoors, Wildfire
Matriarch of Colorado outdoor volunteerism stepping down from “mothership of community stewardship”
BRECKENRIDGE — Ann Baker Easley deftly navigates an icy trail that winds past a wooden troll, an ice rink and a railroad park. “Pretty sure we built this. We worked on a lot of trails around here,” says the chief executive officer of Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado, which in the past five years has funneled […]
Posted inNews
Outdoor recreation leaders ask Congress to loosen rules restricting Land and Water Conservation Fund dollars
The pandemic has pushed an unprecedented number of Americans outdoors. It’s also crushed state and local budgets that are struggling to match federal dollars used to support public lands and parks. It’s an administrative paradox that the 13 states with outdoor recreation offices are hoping to fix. The diverse Confluence of States — which champions […]