Colorado‘s outdoor recreation industry generated $13.9 billion in 2022. That’s according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. It should come as no surprise, then, that a state with a booming outdoor economy hosted an “Outdoor Festival” over the weekend. It was the first of its kind here, a massive two-day event with panels, workshops, networking opportunities and live music from the likes of Thundercat and Fleet Foxes.
Conor Hall, director of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office, joined KGNU’s Jackie Sedley on Morning magazine. He worked with Boulder-based Outside Interactive, Inc. to develop Outside Fest.
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Jackie Sedley: 8:09 on KGNU supported by listeners. This is the Morning Magazine. I’m Jackie Sedley. Colorado’s outdoor recreation industry generated $13.9 billion in 2022, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. It should come as no surprise then that a state with such a thriving outdoor economy would host an outdoor festival over the weekend. It was the first of its kind here, a massive two-day event with panels, workshops, networking opportunities and live music from the likes of Thundercat and Fleet Foxes. Here to talk about it is Connor Hall, director of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office. He worked with Boulder-based Outside Interactive Inc. to develop the event. Good morning, Connor.
Conor Hall: Good morning Jackie, it’s a pleasure to be with you this morning.
Sedley: So let’s talk a little bit, starting just with the festival. What inspired you and what did you bring to the community from your perspective that maybe didn’t exist before?
Hall: Yeah, great question. We’re really happy with how the festival turned out this weekend and there’s really a couple of different components to the festival or the overall idea here. One of them was, you know, really creating a national gathering place for the outdoor industry, but also for all those people who love the outdoors. 92 percent of Coloradans participate. In outdoor recreation on an annual basis. And that’s, you know, a huge percentage of the population. It cuts across rural and urban divides, you know, political divides, all those other divides. It really brings people together. That’s why we wanted to create that space to bring the industry and people who love the outdoors together in one place. And really, you know, it’s more like a South by Southwest festival of all things outdoors. So on Friday we had a full day for the industry. We had approximately 570 industry leaders from across the country gather to talk about topics like growing the political voice of sustainability and outdoor conservation, trying to create more equitable access to the outdoors. The role of social media in the industry, some really interesting topics like that, which were very successful. We had a big workforce development event with, you know, a thousand people who want to be in the industry and, you know, 30 or 40 different brands or organizations that are hiring and a number of other big events. And then the weekend, Saturday and Sunday, were the days of great public. And so, of course, we had amazing music to draw people in, but we also had a full track for a film festival that we created really focused on telling stories of inclusivity in the outdoors. We had a full track of ideas with speakers like Conrad Anker and Jimmy Chin, Sean White, Diana Nyad, just some really interesting, inspiring, recognizable figures and thought leaders. We had all kinds of different activations. There was a professional climbing wall, a children’s climbing wall and an adaptive climbing wall, which we are very happy with. All kinds of different types of brands and things to do. We had a children’s area. The big focus on making it really family-friendly. We let children under 12 years old enter for free. And so, you know, really, again, a celebration of, you know, the Colorado outdoors is really the mecca of all things outdoors.
Sedley: You mentioned panels and conversations that are political, that talk about equity and sustainability. Colorado, as I mentioned at the beginning, generated 13.9 billion in 2022. And that involves factors that people may feel are sometimes contradictory to environmental sustainability. An example is tourism. Like I said, we are the number one state in the country for snow activities. I wanted to ask you, Conor, what is the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office doing to mitigate the environmental impact of travelers to Colorado? More or less, how do we avoid loving Colorado to death?
Hall: That’s a really great question and it’s an important question. And the reality is, you know, that’s never completely fixed or resolved, it’s not a problem in that sense. It is, it is a polarity. It is something in which balance is always sought. And on this question, you know, we saw a huge increase in outdoor use during the pandemic. There was a UPenn study that said usage increased almost 20%. And there were probably between 14 and 60 million new outdoor users. And many of them came to Colorado because we are known for our outdoors. And that created some real challenges, especially along the ice-laden corridor, along some of our mature tourist destinations. And that’s why we’ve been working closely for some time now with many other partners, perhaps most importantly the Colorado Tourism Office, which is a sister division, to shift focus and resources to destination management and stewardship. And you know, we’ve worked with many of those destinations to help them put together management plans. And those really have to come from the community for us to support. But each one is a little unique depending on the community. And also turn, you know. We shifted some of the destination marketing and marketing dollars to, you know, trying to get people into Colorado into destination management and getting messages out there, messages targeted at tourists about Leave No Trace or the Duke Colorado Right campaign and, you know, You know, we’ve seen that that’s pretty effective, but the other part of this is just, you know, education and nurturing in a way that’s not consent, you know, condescending. I think generally speaking, when people experience the outdoors and, you know, they teach us the way to do it, you know, leave no trace or do it in a responsible and respectful way, you know, people generally tend to want manage the outdoors, but then again, we don’t. You know, I don’t always teach that the right way. And so the more we can educate kids, especially to become lifelong stewards, that stewardship ethic changes right there. But in terms of what we’re doing, you know, the local management-related plans, we’re now just getting started on the CTO leadership, the statewide management plan. That’s the first acquaintance we’ve made in Colorado. Transfer some of those resources to destination management and then you know. helping to support local organizations that are doing that work. Again, some of them are educational, some of them are nonprofit, but we have a lot of great organizations in Colorado.
Sedley: The outdoor industry has an inherently strong interest in environmental health, right? For it is largely the beauty of the natural world that attracts people to come skiing and hiking. In rock climbing. But we also see, once again, many of those competing interests in Colorado. We have big-name ski resorts in places like Aspen, but we also have Suncor, one of the biggest polluters in the country. And so, from a leadership perspective where you can prioritize both, how can you prioritize the burgeoning outdoor recreation industry? And also understand that Colorado is far from perfect and there are many initiatives working to address the negative environmental aspects in this state, not just a welcoming, environmentally conscious and future-oriented place.
Hall: Yeah, you know, it’s the reality of modern life, really. We have to balance those things. I think we can often take advantage of the outdoors and the beauty of our nature and the way we can enjoy it and hopefully leverage that to drive positive change elsewhere. We know that if our air quality does not improve or continues to degrade, it will be harder for us to be outside. It is harmful to our health. People develop asthma. There are all kinds of other negative health impacts. So, once again, we know that all of these things are true. We also know that some of those other industries also generate jobs and economic impacts that can have a negative environmental impact. And so it’s the balance that we’re working on, which is, you know, maybe with regulations or different policies that raise the standard, the environmental standards around those industries. In some cases, those industries are disappearing due to market forces. You know, I look at some of the power plants in Pueblo or Craig. And, you know, those are huge sources of generally good, well-paying entry-level jobs and, you know, that’s been difficult for those communities. And so we’re doing a lot of work in those communities to expand their outdoor recreation economies. It won’t be a one-for-one trade, but we know that if we can diversify those economies it will be tremendously useful. And one thing about outdoor recreation is that it exists in every Colorado community. Again, when 92 percent of Coloradans do this, when we get 90 million visitors a year from all over the country, that exists strongly in everyone, everywhere. And it’s, you know, something that people do and love. And I think it’s something very natural. You know, an economic pivot for many of those communities that have depended on perhaps traditionally extractive industries.
Sedley: And with only about 45 seconds here or so, based on what you’ve said, it sounds like Outside Fest was a success. Will there be another one next year? Was it something isolated or is it something that will continue?
Hall: No, there will probably be another one next year, and I think the year after that. Are. Pretty optimistic with Outside Interactive that we want to grow this again in the south by southwest of all things outdoors, in a way to unite the industry, but also to bring the public together to celebrate and defend the outdoors.
Sedley: And it seemed like a lot of people were coming from outside, talking about the environmental aspect of tourism? That could probably be a little complicated.
Hall: Yeah, we don’t have final numbers yet, but we were tracking about 20 percent of people coming from, you know, outside of Colorado, which, again, is great. driving economic impact and, you know, spending on hotels and other types of key pieces. But, you know, it’s also important to bring those people in to enrich that conversation, really make this a national thing and establish and, you know, clarify that Colorado is, again, that true mecca of all things outdoors.
Sedley: Conor Hall, Director of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office, speaking about the Outside Fest that took place this past weekend. Conor, thank you for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.
Hall: Yes. Thank you very much Jackie.
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