This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

On the steps of the Salt Palace Convention Center, business owners lamented Tuesday that the departure of the biannual Outdoor Retailer shows will hurt their pocketbooks, while Democratic leaders said they hoped it will help them at the ballot booth.

Organizers of the shows announced last week they would sever their 20-year-old relationship with Salt Lake City in 2018 because state elected leaders favored public lands policies that were contrary to the outdoor industry.

Two Democrats from the Salt Lake County Council echoed that sentiment. Seeking to pin blame for the loss of the show squarely on the Republicans who control both chambers of the Legislature and the governor's mansion, they said Gov. Gary Herbert and fellow Republicans were harming the state's economy.

Lawmakers passed, and Herbert signed, a resolution calling on President Donald Trump to rescind the designation of 1.35 million acres as the new Bears Ears National Monument. Herbert later signed another resolution calling on federal leaders to shrink the boundary of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Salt Lake County Councilman Sam Granato announced he would resign from his post on Herbert's 15-person Economic Development Board. He said the governor's decision to sign the resolutions was "counterintuitive" to the board's stated goals of promoting and encouraging economic growth.

Councilman Jim Bradley said Republicans were harming what he called a top product for Utah by calling to eliminate or reconfigure the national monuments.

"Why would you want to diminish that product?" asked Bradley, adding the state should look to expand its protected areas.

Peter Corroon, chairman of the Utah Democratic Party and the former county mayor, posed a question for Utah voters:

"How much pain to our economy, how much pain to our education system, how much pain to our air quality, how much pain to our health care system are we willing to take as a state before we start reconsidering how we vote in the state of Utah?"

Herbert's office said there was no update from last week, when talks between outdoor industry representatives and the governor broke down after a Thursday conference call.

Spokesman Paul Edwards said the governor was "concerned about the immediate impact" of losing the shows.

"But there's just very strong insistence ... that they wanted a conscientious rejection of the position that there shouldn't be a monument," Edwards said. "The governor, because he's balancing the concerns for all of the state in his considerations, still feels that that isn't in the overall best interest of the state."

Alongside county leaders Tuesday were business owners who directly benefited each time the 20,000-plus visitors would come to town for the shows, which are estimated to bring $45 million annually to Salt Lake City.

Enes and Mubera Huskic, owners of the local Toasters deli chain, said they came to rely on the boon from the events.

"This group in particular was the busiest for us," Mubera Huskic said. "It's a huge, huge, huge loss."

One year they bought a new espresso machine with the money the show's visitors brought into the business.

It was hard for the couple to expound on just what impact losing the convention would have on the chain. The shows were already ongoing 16 years ago when the Huskics opened their first store, which faces the convention center's south entrance on 200 South.

Herbert remained optimistic that Emerald Expositions, the owner of the shows, would change its mind and allow Salt Lake City to make a proposal to renew a contract, Edwards said.

So, too, was Adam Swillinger, who runs Laser Exhibitor Service, which has installed the exhibits within the 679,000-square-foot convention center. He said his business set up about 60 exhibits and employed 100 employees twice a year for about three weeks to set up the event.

"We can get together and make it work," Swillinger said.

If not, Outdoor Retailer will leave after its current contract expires following the Summer Market in 2018. So far, Oregon, Colorado and Montana have publicly expressed interest in hosting the event.

Twitter: @TaylorWAnderson