The difference this year? Those pavilions are going up atop a new underground parking garage that, a year from now, will be the base of a 145,000-square-foot exhibition hall built largely to keep the lucrative Outdoor Retailer trade shows from moving to another city.
The parking structure is the first part of a $52 million expansion project that will yield a convention center that is 40 percent larger, with more meeting rooms and a ballroom to go along with the additional exhibit space.
Construction was completed July 18, providing just in time for contractors to set up the temporary pavilions before Outdoor Retailer and its 19,000 participants arrive in Salt Lake City for the Aug. 11-14 trade show.
The series of interconnected tents will cover 90,000 square feet, three times the size of the pavilions used for last year's show, and can hold additional 200 vendors eager to display their wares.
"The show keeps growing, and that's one of the reasons why we had to expand the Salt Palace and not lose all the revenue it brings to town," said Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau spokesman Mark Bennett.
Between its summer and winter trade shows, Outdoor Retailer generates $32 million annually for the Utah economy, roughly 17 percent of total convention spending in the state.
Erecting the temporary pavilions proved more challenging than in past years, Bennett said. Since the new parking structure needs to remain unblemished for the impending exhibition hall work, holes could not be drilled into its concrete top to establish anchors for ropes that would secure the tents.
"The top is as clean and pure as an ice sheet that a Zamboni has just gone over," said Bennett.
Crews hauled in more than 400 concrete blocks, each weighing 4,000 pounds, and stacked them up at regular intervals on the sides of the tents.
Bennett said the ballast blocks are designed to help the tents withstand winds of up to 70 mph, an issue of importance to Outdoor Retailer officials mindful of the freak 1999 tornado that ripped through their pavilions, killing one exhibitor.
A group from VNU Expositions, which organizes the trade shows, toured the facility last week. None of the members were available for comment Friday, said spokeswoman Lori Crabtree. "They are in supercraze mode now getting ready for the show," she said.
Because the temporary facilities are so much larger than previous pavilions, 30 large air conditioning units were installed to protect exhibitors and their products from August's heat. Crews still are hooking up lighting systems and building stairways and ramps to connect the temporary pavilions to each other and to the existing convention center, Bennett said.
Nearly 650 vendors will begin setting up their booths on Aug. 7, a Sunday. They have three days to get ready for the four-day show. Once it ends, two weeks will be needed to take down all of the temporary structures before construction resumes on the permanent exhibit hall.
mikeg@sltrib.com
