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A "major announcement" will be made Thursday morning in Denver — and it's expected to say that the lucrative Outdoor Retailer trade show is moving to Colorado after a 22-year run in Salt Lake City.

Colorado's Outdoor Recreation Industry Office on Wednesday distributed a vague news release advertising the news conference, expected to include Gov. John Hickenlooper, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and outdoor industry players.

The Denver Post reported Wednesday, citing unnamed sources, that the twice-yearly show would be based at Colorado's Convention Center, starting in 2018. On its Facebook page, the Colorado outdoors office shared a story by an outdoor-news site speculating that the show was Denver-bound.

Luis Benitez, director of the outdoors office, said in an email Wednesday night that he couldn't comment until after the news conference.

Outdoor Retailer, owned by publicly traded Emerald Expositions, is slated to hold its final Salt Lake City show July 26-29 at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Setup for the massive event was underway this week.

But a number of prominent retailers might not show up.

In February — facing pressure from prominent executives from Patagonia, Black Diamond and others — Outdoor Retailer officials said they were ending their two-decade run in Utah as a consequence for politicians in the state pushing to rescind national monument designations at Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.

It's unclear whether the this month's show will be significantly smaller. An Outdoor Retailer spokeswoman told The Salt Lake Tribune in May that there was still "overwhelming support" for the show from retailers and brands.

Without the gear shows, Salt Lake City and its environs are expected lose out on about 40,000 visitors and $45 million in economic stimulus each year.

Outdoor Retailer was under contract to stay in the city through 2018, but it announced that it was moving an expanded version of its winter show to Denver a year early. The Outdoor Retailer + Snow Show will merge two major industry shows into one, with the first event schedule for January.

Denver was one of a handful of cities hoping to land Outdoor Retailer after the fallout with Utah leaders. Emerald Expositions put out a request for new host-city proposals in February.

Twitter: @lramseth