DENVER — Outdoor Retailer (OR) will delay its planned Summer Market from June to August but will host an in-person event at the Colorado Convention Center this summer, officials announced Tuesday, becoming the first major trade show to announce a return to in-person status in nearly a year.
The OR Summer Market offers one of the largest economic impacts of any event at the convention center, producing an estimated $57.7 million impact in the years before coronavirus. In 2019, it drew roughly 1,400 brands displaying their wares and 25,000 attendees, packing downtown hotels for roughly a week and revving up business at restaurants and shops
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The announcement by Emerald, the California-based events group that owns and runs the show, represents huge news for the battered downtown hotel and restaurant sectors, signaling the first signs of a return to normalcy after 11 brutal months — albeit normalcy that remains six months away for a show now scheduled from Aug. 10-12.
Richard Scharf, President/CEO of Visit Denver, said his organization has been working closely with Colorado and Denver officials to create a pathway for safely holding events at the convention center. The facility, which had been blocked off as a potential alternate care facility for coronavirus patients but has never been used as such, will be turned back over from state control to city control on April 1.
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