Those who have been left by a spouse or a significant other might like to imagine that person as being lonely and full of woe.
Well, Utah, Outdoor Retailer has left us for good. The twice-yearly trade show has not only moved to Denver but also, as reported in excruciating detail the other day by The Tribune’s Erin Alberty, is kicking up its heels and having the time of its life.
And it is we who should be despondent about the break-up.
There seems to be no remorse among organizers and participants who, in their eyes, fled the corporate version of an abusive relationship when they abandoned Salt Lake City for the much friendlier arms of Colorado’s capital.
Yes, there are non-political reasons why we might have lost the trade shows and the huge infusions of cash — some $45 million a year — that came with them. Denver is bigger, has more hotel rooms, more bars and restaurants.
But the official explanation for the decampment is totally plausible. And should have come as no surprise.
In the view of the show’s organizers and, more important, of the leading entrepreneurs in the growing industry, the elected leadership of Utah is downright hostile to the whole idea of outdoor recreation.
When those businessmen and women looked at Utah, what they increasingly saw was the over-the-top efforts by our congressional delegation, governor and much of our Legislature to denigrate and belittle the hikers, campers and those who travel half way around the world to stand in literal awe of our arches, canyons, streams and mountains. And are willing to pay significant amounts of money for the privilege of doing so.
And for what? In the short-term and foolish hope of turning some of those same remote areas into boom-and-bust wells and mines, wrestling them away from the federal government and from ancient claims of Native Americans.
For many in the outdoor industry, the final straw was the state’s unseemly crusade to undo the designations of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments. We now have a presidential proclamation or two claiming that effort has been successful — though the matter is likely to be tied up in court for years and, quite possibly, reversed again after another change at the White House.
It was as if the senators, congressmen and state officials of Michigan had come out against the auto industry. Or the Nebraska delegation developed a sudden allergy to corn.
State officials in Colorado, meanwhile, were partying down with Outdoor Retailer vendors and visitors.
It looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Darn it.