Those who were there 25 years ago remember the destruction of the tornado that ripped apart the Outdoor Retailer trade show and the incredible power of coming together to rescue victims and build back up.
By Drew Simmons
Twenty-five years ago this week, a ‘freak tornado’ ripped apart the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City during set-up day, killing one and severely injuring dozens more. The storm and its aftermath are inked indelibly in outdoor industry lore, as formative moments that both challenged and unified the still-young business community.
In the quarter century since the event, a number of personal retrospectives have been written about the tornado, its immediate whirlwind of carnage, and the remarkable industry effort that followed. However, no single story actually does justice to the shared memories of that powerful week.
Instead, it’s a story best told through the words and perspectives of as many as possible — threading together the news, the emotions and the realities of August 11, 1999.
A ‘FREAK TORNADO’ APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE
“On August 11, 1999, an F2 tornado touched down in the metropolitan area of Salt Lake City. The tornado lasted ten minutes and killed one person, injured more than 80 people, and caused more than $170 million in damages. It was the most destructive tornado in Utah’s history. – NWS
“This was a freak tornado … Opposing winds from the thunderstorms collided with a breeze off the Great Salt Lake. They created an updraft near the ground, igniting the storm’s rotation. The result was a non-descending tornado, which means instead of snaking down from the sky, its rotation rapidly formed from the ground up. This is the type of thunderstorm that produces a tornado quickly, probably less than 5 minutes. So it’s not really something you can warn people about until you know it’s on the ground. – The Weather Channel
“On the tornado’s 4.5 mile path of destruction .. tossing cars, uprooting trees, and shredding roofs with winds topping 115 miles per hour, the tornado caused upwards of $170,000,000 in damages in a mere 10 minutes.” – SLC History, YouTube
“The twister struck the city from the west, inflicting the most destruction around the downtown Delta Center, home of the Utah Jazz basketball team, and then slashing through a nearby residential area near the state capitol. Witnesses described a terrifying few minutes at the height of the storm, when they said the air was filled with rain, hail and swirling debris from buildings hit by the tornado.
“It looked like the city dump was in the sky,” said Kim Bramble Valles, 26, who watched the tornado with her children at the home of her parents. “It was pretty freaky. – Washington Post
“The then-Wyndham Hotel (now owned by Raddisson), located across the street from the Delta Center was heavily damaged. Several of its windows were sucked out. A parking sign from the Delta Center was found 2 miles away… Diagonally across the street from the arena, the Outdoor Retailers (sic) Convention was being set up and had erected massive steel-framed canvas tents in a parking lot just north of the Wyndham hotel. The tornado leveled one of the tents there” – Tornado Talk
“As winds tore through the circus-like tent, “people were diving under the tables and pretty much panicking,” said Chase Nash, a security guard. “I saw the roof fall off, and then the metal beams supporting the structure started flying everywhere. “It was very quick and very sudden. We only had about 15 seconds from when we first saw the tornado hit the Delta Center until it hit us.” – Tampa Bay Times
“Allen Crandy (was) the only fatality from the freakish tornado that demolished portions of the downtown area and the Avenues residential neighborhood. The 38-year-old Las Vegas man was in town working on staging the annual Outdoor Retailer Summer Market convention. He was one of hundreds in the exhibition tent on South Temple that was shredded in the storm.
“It just blows us away how with all those hundreds of people there, Allen was just the one death…That’s kind of hard to swallow. I’m sure there’s a reason for it, but we’re just not privy to the reason.”
“A fund (was) established to aid the Crandy family and pay for the continuing cost of therapy for Crandy’s autistic daughter.” – Deseret News
“Allen Crandy had skipped lunch Wednesday to make sure the booths were properly set up … The father of an autistic child, Crandy … fought passionately for the rights of all disabled children … ‘He was a super guy to be around — I never heard him say a negative thing about anyone.’ “– Las Vegas Sun
IN THE EYE OF THE STORM
“(My husband and business partner at GoLite) Coup grabbed me by my shirt, and pulled out through the Pavilion tent wall, we crawled under the floorboards, with Coup holding for dear life onto the the tent support pole and I wrapped my arms around his body, holding onto him for dear life. Coup remembers the sensation of having me hanging onto him, then getting sucked back out when the eye of the tornado passed, working hard to not have his arm ripped off and hoping he didn’t lose me.
Then, we remember rolling out from under the floor after the tornado passed and seeing just utter destruction and wondering “where is everybody!?”
Then we saw our team member, Doug Wilson, crawl out of a storage crate. We were absolutely amazed and grateful that he’d survived inside a wooden crate given all the other destruction.
We then went onto the Pavilion platform and saw Allen Crandy (a set-up worker) pinned down by the support structure. We tried with others to try to get it off of him. He was in bad shape. Once we got it off of him, the EMTs had arrived, and he had not passed yet but he was badly injured. We left the scene to let the EMTs do their work.
We then saw that was only one corner left of the whole Pavilion and it was a tiny
corner structure of our trade show booth including a wooden wall structure that included our logo. Going out to our car, we found that a full traffic light from a nearby intersection had flow from its housing and impaled itself into the engine of our car
We walking around in a daze the rest of the day, shrapnel in our legs and arms, not really knowing what to do
Later that day we found out later that Allen had died, and we sat in the Marriott lobby and cried.” – Kim Couponas, GoLite (then), Leaders’ Quest (now)
“We had just finished and dispersed our Sales Meeting in our Cloudveil booth and my old biz partner Brian Cousins headed over to the main hall for a meeting…not 30-45 seconds passed and he came running back into the tent screaming “tornado take cover, tornado take cover”…it really didn’t register to anyone as we were in SLC, not widely known as a place where a tornado would occur.
Brian and I shoved one of our employees, Kirsten Corbett, into a cubby under the main structure of our homemade booth and we each took cover under a selling table…there was an eerie calm for about 20 seconds and then all hell broke loose, the entire tent exploding into oblivion and debris from all the booths engulfing the air, including a number of large sewing machines from Timbuk (who was right next to us and used to make messenger bags onsite at the shows), nearly crashing into us…it was over almost as soon as it started and I heard screaming and yelling…everyone got out of the area as someone was yelling that there were live wires from all the power…a number of us went back into the area after a minute or two to ascertain the situation, looking for anyone that needed help or medical care…someone yelled that the power had been cut off and we kept at it helping anyone that we could until First Responders eventually kicked us out.
My old Landcruiser was parked next to the tent and every window in the vehicle imploded…there was glass literally everywhere and I must have thoroughly vacuumed that vehicle five times before I got it all out…ended up having to drive it home (to Wyoming) with just a front windshield reinstalled as it was old and it took awhile to fix all the windows, had to get it repainted as well from all the sand blasting of the tornado.” – Steve Sullivan, Cloudveil (then), Stio (now)
“I remember being in the dining room at the hotel across the street from the tents, having lunch with some reps on our set-up day and a woman came running and banging on the windows. We couldn’t hear what she was yelling but the sky was black and stuff was swirling. Clearly at least one window broke and every knife, fork, spoon, plate and food started to fly. A few of us jumped behind a salad or buffet bar and it seemed like eternity until it was suddenly quiet. It was probably a minute or less but no one at that point understood it was a tornado. We were too close to see the funnel shape.
I remember how surgical the damage was. I remember running outside but couldn’t cross the street back to the tents because of downed sparking wires. I remember finding colleagues & friends stumbling around. Some had ridden in tumbling booth crates. I remember a meeting in the Marriott hotel lobby later that day and hearing the show would go on. One guy had died, and I wasn’t sure that was the correct thing to do. The outdoor business has always had a humanity element and that seemed corporate.” – Peter Sachs, Lowa Boots
“We just finished set up of the KAVU both and were walking out the tent and people were yelling tornado to the southwest. We were like “no way there is no way there is a tornado in SLC”.
We crossed the street and looked southwest and the sky had a green tinge to it and we could see the tornado coming. I could see big things flying such as sheets of plywood tossed and flying.
We ran towards the convention center to seek shelter. Once we could see that we could enter the doors we kept creeping out to look as the tornado hit the Radisson hotel. Windows blew out and it was really crazy to see.” – Barry Barr, KAVU
“I was walking back to the salt palace with Barry from Kavu. As I looked toward the approaching funnel that was now swirling several stories above the street, among the debris spinning in the air was a small car– like a Honda or Toyota sedan. As the wind picked up we started to run faster and made it to the rear entrance of the Salt Palace as the funnel passed what was the Wyndham hotel. We lay flat on the floor just inside the doorway as the funnel passed by, sounding like a locomotive. Intense roaring sound that also sucked all the glass out of the hotel as it went by.
Immediately after it passed several of us ran toward the street to try and help people. On guy was lying, unconscious, on the trolley tracks and was bloody from — I assume — the glass from the hotel. Nancy Andrews had been working on the Isis booth in the big tent when the storm hit. She crawled into a shipping container and stayed inside it while the wind flung it about 50ft from where she climbed into it. She was banged up and bruised but didn’t sustain any long term injuries.
One of the lasting memories I have of the storm was seeing the body of (Allen Crandy) that the main center beam of the tent fell on and killed. There are other lasting images that will remain. After the storm passed I followed the path it took that went straight up the hill and past the Capital building. On the way up there was a gigantic industrial air conditioner that had clearly been carried several blocks up the hill from the roof of some office building.” — Tim Augustinowicz, The Road North Sales
“That was such a crazy moment. Smith was having its sales meeting at the Radisson when it hit, but a coworker and I were up in our room at that time. I had a pretty unbelievable view of it as it worked its way from the Delta Center and we watched it come straight at us from our hotel window. We were lucky that the maids were in our room…our door was open so the pressure change didn’t blow out our windows like it did to about 75% of the windows on our side of the hotel.” – Tag Kleiner, Smith Optics (then), Far Bank Enterprises (now)
“We were just starting a Marmot meeting in the windowless basement of the Wyndham when the lights started flickering, dust was blowing out of the vents, and the building began shaking. As we ventured out, the lobby was devastated with glass, dust, and blood everywhere. I remember the staff being frozen in shock and a group of industry folks taking charge, raiding the supply closet for towels so we could help the wounded. It’s a blur after that.
A story was circulating that people in the lobby moved toward the glass to see the wild cloud forming behind the arena, and wiser Midwesterners were yelling that they were watching a tornado form and to GTF out of the lobby.
We had two co-workers ride out the storm in a rental van parked in front of the hotel. The storm dented every panel and blew every window into the van. Our friends somehow walked away with minor injuries, and we fought AVIS’s insurance company for years about the meaning of “an act of god”.” – Rich Hill, Marmot (then), Jes MaHarry Jewelry (now)
“I was in the back of the hall by the loading docks, building a booth inside. As the wind picked up, one of the GES temporary hires was standing outside smoking a cigarette and yelled “It’s a twister!”. I thought he was joking about the wind and then realized he was serious. I looked outside just as the funnel hit the construction near the then Delta Center. As debris started flying, we jumped inside and desperately tried to close the doors. Before we could get all closed, the corner was hit and myself and a few others cowered in the space by the columns against the walls. The doors bent and buckled, debris flew everywhere and then there was this eerie calm.
I walked out the back to see the tornado hit the hotel, windows shattering and curtains pulled out. My truck was in the lot (now replaced by the new hall and entrance) and I grabbed my first aid bag and walked behind as the funnel hit the tents. It was surreal to be standing in the aftermath in what was relative calm and watching the destruction unfold in front of me. I watched the rack of kayaks get torn off a vehicle and hurl into the air towards the Temple.
The aftermath was intense and I was with one of the critically injured until the medics were able to transport. The rest of that day is a blur. “
– Scott McGuire, Teva (then), Mountain Lab (now)
“We watched in near silence as the horizontal river of stone and metal crested in intensity. It was an unbelievable thing to stand there and witness. As the outdoor wind speeds began to drop and debris now simply tumbled by, someone yelled “Go!” and we shot out of the crash doors like a SWAT team. We knew we’d find injured people, and carnage, and maybe worse.
Running as a group toward the shredded pavilions and various unidentifiable objects, I stopped at the first person I found down in the middle of the street—it was a man, 30-something years old, and apparently unconscious. I radioed a call for help on South Temple: “Multiple victims, paramedics needed ASAP.” Just then, a torrent of rain pelted us, following in the shadow behind the tornado that had raged through downtown Salt Lake City and now had moved up into the hills near the capitol. – Kenji Haroutunian, “The Storm, And the Aftermath”
WORD SPREADS
“I was not setting up and instead I was in my office at BD HQ in SLC at the base of Mt Olympus. I recall getting a call from the person setting up who said they had stopped setting up and had take cover because of Tornado was hitting. Since it was a bright, hot, sunny day where I was, I just started laughing and said “really whats up” and suddenly I could tell from the tone of their voice that this was not a joke but I said “hold on, I need to go outside, which I did and looking to the west I could see the thunderstorm line that was so localized.
But it all seemed so surreal as SLC had never had a tornado before and for it to happen when the show was being set up and for the tornado to hit right there defied all logic and odds.”
– Peter Metcalf, Black Diamond Equipment
“I’m from the Midwest, and I am accustomed to tornado weather. When the sky turned that particular shade of green, I figured it was time to take some cover. I was at the paddlesports demo day a mile away from the path of the tornado, and I recall telling anyone with a pop-up to lower it and hold on. It was about ten minutes later when someone received a text that a pavilion was hit and there was a fatality. When I returned to the Salt Palace, I was surprised there was only one fatality. One of my friends in the pavilion rode out the tornado in one of their containers.” – Darren Bush, Rutabaga Paddlesports
“I was on a higher floor of the Little America hotel on the phone with my Dad when the clouds started eclipsing the daylight. Dad was my weather expert and also an expert in my eyes in natural disasters – I mean he spent his career selling insurance in Southern California (fires, floods, freeways). If anyone would know what to tell me as I was panicking alone in my room it was him, I remember thinking. As I look back on it, I should never have been on that floor at that time, watching it all unfold.
Dad told me that there couldn’t be a tornado in Salt Lake City. “Impossible” he said. We all thought that even as it was bearing down on the downtown grid. The sky continued to get darker and darker, a scary shade of the charcoal and the winds were like nothing I’d seen.” – Kristin Carpenter, Outdoor Retailer Magazine (then), Verde (now)
“I was attending my first in-person OIA Board meeting in the Marriott conference room in the basement. What sounded like a freight train shook the room and building like we were in Grand Central Station and we all sat looking at each other trying to figure out what had just happened.– Gordon Seabury, Toad & Co.
“Rick Ridgeway and I were having lunch in the Little America diner planning the agenda for the next day’s Conservation Alliance meeting. Out the east window we could see the new Grand America Hotel under construction—just bare steel girders and scaffolding. Suddenly we see the workers looking west then abandoning ship, running down stairs, swinging off ropes to get to the ground as fast as possible. Rain is pouring in sheets with plastic and cardboard flying everywhere. The lights go out, we leave a couple of 20’s for the waitress, and run to the Kelty booth in the Salt Palace. We quickly learned that the tornado has claimed one victim and injured others.” – Casey Sheahan, Kelty (then), angler/consultant (now)
“I was having lunch on the back porch of Squatter’s when the tornado hit. The deck was outside, covered by a big awning. While we were talking, the air pressure dropped and the sky visible around the awning turned a weird, yellow color. I grew up in Illinois, so I knew the signs and I remember thinking “This feels like a tornado, but they don’t get them here, do they?”
There was a rush of wind and the awning lifted up, but it didn’t seem like a big deal. We left a few minutes later, and when I looked at the TV in the bar, it was showing the Convention Center with a big piece of the facade hanging off. I went outside and there was debris strewn everywhere. I started running towards the convention center and I didn’t stop running for the next four days.” – Carson Stanwood, Stanwood Communications
“ I was in the temporary exhibition space at the Delta Center less than an hour before the tornado struck it. A friend and I left it to go to Park City for the afternoon. As we were making the drive into the mountains, we saw the storm approaching the city.
The thick black clouds, which practically turned day into night beneath it, looked unreal—like something out of the Old Testament. We both said something to the effect of, “Wow that seems really bad.” We didn’t think about the possibility of a tornado.
We continued up to Park City. Shortly after arriving, my flip phone started blowing up with calls. We returned to the devastation—and to the stories of the small, heroic acts made by people at the OR Show in the immediate aftermath. We were dumb, lucky, and wishing we could have been on-hand to help when help was needed.” – Greg Melville, Sports Afield (then), Author (now)
“On Thursday, as hundreds of other exhibitors set up their wares inside the Salt Palace Convention Center, Tilles and DiLeo stood outside a yellow police line near two exhibit tents shredded by the twister.
Somewhere inside those tents lay samples of their products, brochures and business cards – thousands of dollars worth of materials that may have been destroyed in the storm.
But with authorities keeping the site cordoned off, Tilles and DiLeo had no way of knowing how much of their exhibit was damaged.
“They’re going on with the show, and we’re losing our stuff,” DiLeo grumbled. “This is a show that could make or break a small company. These are potentially million-dollar contracts for us.” – Las Vegas Sun
THE SHOW MUST GO ON
“After the tornado, there was a big gathering of attendees and exhibitors. Everyone was freaked out and unsure what to do next. A set-up worker had been killed. Many people wanted to leave. Some already had. There was a lot of panic in that room.
Dieter (Tremp, OR show director) stood up and turned the tide. The show would go on, he said. Consumers, dealers and companies were all counting on it. He showed a new floor plan, with booths that would be shared. This industry is unlike any other, he told them. We’re going to pull together, cooperate and make this work, but we’re going to need everybody’s best effort.
And they bought it. Completely. Over the next few days, everyone rolled up their sleeves and worked together, and in the end, the show was a remarkable success. It was an amazing example of leadership. Dieter brought the whole room and the whole industry back from the brink.
No other industry could pull this off, he told them and they did it. People walked away from that show proud to be part of the outdoor industry (even a certain cynical PR guy).” – Carson Stanwood, Stanwood Communications
“According to Drew Simmons, spokesman for the show, there were 860 retailers, a new record, 330 of whom were in the two pavilions that were destroyed by the tornado. He estimated that some 30 retailers left because they lost everything.
Simmons said there were 13,620 retailers and vendors who participated in the three-day conference. Organizers were expecting more than 18,000 participants.
He said about 100 vendors voluntarily donated space to accommodate businesses — even those that were their competitors — that had been located in the destroyed pavilion.”– Deseret News
“I’ll never forget how the show came together and provided other spaces for vendors to show their goods…we moved to the Malden Mills booth and they gave us a front and center position in their booth.
Someone found one of our Cloudveil catalogs three miles away up in the Avenues, and we framed that.
We were so lucky, a major beam fell right on top of the peak of our booth (which likely saved us from being injured) and we salvaged a sample kit and some marketing materials and carried on, but others were not as lucky and I still think about the poor guy that was killed and all the people that were injured.
I’ve never looked at the sky or weather the same since, especially during big storms, and since that day have been borderline obsessed with watching the weather. – Steve Sullivan, Cloudveild (then), Stio (now)
“I remember being offered a corner of the Sierra Designs booth to display our product. All our product had flown away and our new, not yet even paid for booth was destroyed.
One of our reps from California got a college age student to go to his home, get sample bags from his garage and drive them to Salt Lake. I remember reps volunteering to help by going to a Kinkos across town to make copies of a catalog and some price lists. I remember the desk staff at my hotel (Little America) going home to get a phone charger which he loaned me until I checked out. I remember a few days later gingerly walking through the rubble with a police officer looking for backpacks and purses for our staff & reps.
We found some, but not all. Later (weeks) we received a skid delivered back to us with taped up cartons and a mish mash of product. To this day, I don’t know who went into the rubble and tried to send the right stuff back to the right company. In going through the shoes, in one there was a piece of glass. I have always wondered how the hell did that get there?
In the end, like many things in life, people doing the right thing made the difference between a scary and horrible experience and one that turned out far better than we could have hoped for at the moment.
To this day, on my shelf in my office I keep a folder. It has news clipping and a book and notes and insurance claim info. Every now and then it gets pulled out to show to someone. I remember how lucky I and so many others were that day and that amid all the wreckage only one person died and how much worse it could have been had it not been the lunch hour and so many more of us would have been in the tent working. “– Peter Sachs, Lowa Boots
“Jeffery Polke of GCI Outdoors was originally scheduled to exhibit his folding campsite chairs in the pavilions. When the show opened on Friday morning, Polke set up his salvaged display on a small strip of carpet within the Mountain Hardwear booth.
“It’s one of things like what your mom told you when you were a little kid, that when something bad happens, something good happens too,” said Polke. “I’ll never forget it.”
Polke described the business he did at the show as a “home run,” adding that his sales were up 100 percent. In addition, he lavished praise on his hosts at Mountain Hardwear, who allowed several other exhibitors to set up shop on their reserved space.
“I’ll never forget this,” said Polke. “I don’t own any of their products right now, but the next time I’m looking for sleeping bags or tents, they’re going to be the first on my list.” – SKI magazine
“What really stood out, however, was seeing vendors carving out pieces of their booths to accommodate those who lost their display space in the Pavilion. There were several who had competitors in their space, and I was never more proud of our industry at that time.” – Darren Bush, Rutabaga Paddlesports
“In the aftermath of the tornado and the realization of the loss of life and the pavilion, (our company and) many other larger exhibitors offered a portion of their booth to those who had lost theirs.
We hosted two brands in makeshift 10x10s at the front aisle of our space. This coming together and helping one another buoyed spirits the entire week and reminded us of our amazing community. It also created a bridge of mentorship in a way from established brands to those just getting started out in the pavilion.” – Ann Obenchain, Kelty (then), Brewers Association (now)
“Everything related to our memories of that day and week are seared into our memories.
The experience was full of trauma and sadness, especially because of Allen’s death. It was also full of kindness of others and hope for humanity. The way the industry really came together touched us deeply. It also showed us, new to the outdoor industry, that an industry can have a soul and a spirit.
Believe it or not, 25 years later, we both still have PTSD. When the wind blows hard and howls, we both have a mild anxiety attack. We both get tight in the chest and have a hard time breathing.” – Kim Couponas, GoLite (then), Leaders’ Quest (now)
“Warmly and indelibly forged into my memory was how our industry so pulled together making room in our booths for those whose booths were destroyed out there in the temporary pavilion. It brought out the best in us and made us tighter and more like a family than ever and that sense of all being in this together lasted for at least the next 15 years if not longer.” – Peter Metcalf, Black Diamond Equipment
“I very much remember how the industry came together to help those brands that were affected by this. Sharing of things like hangers or whatever was needed so companies could still be part of the show and have a presence.
I think that memory has stuck with me because it’s a testament to the type of people that are or used to be drawn to the outdoor industry. Sure it’s competitive but it’s thoughtful and has an endearing human side that’s not all about business. We always talk about the community and the best reason for gathering a few times a year was the people.
There are folks in the industry who I consider good friends but I literally might only see them once a year. So this catastrophic event brought together the people and reinforced that community of support. – Kelly Blake, New Heights PR (then), brand consultant (now)
“(What I remember most is) the hand-wringing decision of whether to keep the show on or cancel, and the ultimately bold and visionary choice by Dieter (Tremp) and the industry leadership to let the show go on with members on the main floor adopting brands that were damaged in the tents by the tornado.
(I also remember) the joyful experience of dividing our booth up into 3 to share with two other displaced brands who had been in the tents where we had gotten our start just a few years prior. It was such a come together moment for the outdoor community we love so deeply.
– Gordon Seabury, Toad & Co.
“While tragic, the tornado brought the outdoor industry together that summer with the realization that there’s a lot more to life than selling a ton more gear. “ – Casey Sheahan, Kelty (then), angler (now)
“It was the after effect (that I remember most), being in the halls, seeing people with (bandages) and arms in slings, people sharing both space and recounting their own horrors. It was an amazing coming together. That is really what sticks with me, the undeniable camaraderie of the industry in that moment.” – Scott McGuire, Teva (then), Mountain Lab (now)
“My strongest memory was knowing I was part of a community that knew how to handle adversity and make solid choices during a crisis. A formative week for sure.” – Rich Hill, Marmot (then), Jes MaHarry (now)
“What did we know that day? We had each other and we were needed by our peers. Our industry on site at that Outdoor Retailer prioritized showing up for each other. We took the notion of community and lived it – forged it in stone that day.
Competitors became allies. Larger brands welcomed the most negatively impacted, the entrepreneurs in the exterior halls. It didn’t matter if you were a CEO or a newcomer to a brand – if you were onsite at that Outdoor Retailer, your mindset turned from harvesting opportunity at a trade show to stewardship and giving to each other. We were there for each other. Period.
It is a moment in time in the history of this industry that I’ll never forget for so many reasons. Sure, the memory of the shock of the storm hitting our show (a city surrounded by mountains) still feels unbelievable. But what I most remember is what I witnessed and was part of – we were there for each other. I still believe that is the fabric of who we are in the outdoor community.
Recalling this time gives me hope for today. Considering the headwinds we face globally, in our nation, in our societies and local communities and families, and yes, in our businesses, this memory is proof that we can tap into the power of our own global outdoor community to this connection and be united. We need that more than ever today.” – Kristin Carpenter, then Outdoor Retailer Magazine, now Verde
“What happened was so out of the ordinary. I remember other OR shows only as great times with colleagues but nothing notable, not as detailed in memory. That incident stands still in time for me because it was outside of the normal realm of anything I ever would have imagined could happen at that show.
The idea that someone died setting up for the show was unfathomable. That people actually feared for their lives and a life was lost didn’t fit into the typical lexicon of fun and jovial-ness around the OR show. It was unbelievable and incredibly tragic.
I think this event brought everyone at the show a little closer – and this was pre cell phone craziness – .so we actually processed by talking to one another.
Typically, we would all show up and have fun together, but this was incredibly scary for the people who were in it and it changed everyone’s conversation. It made everyone pause and just listen or check in with each other a bit more…conversations were more appreciative and ‘it’s awesome to see you’ and ‘how are you really’ over the regular ‘hey, how’s it going’ and not waiting to hear the answer, which is typical these days.
Being pre cell phone culture … our minds weren’t so overwhelmed with daily emails and images … the world paused for that moment and we actually shared and talked about it. We didn’t put our heads down and talk to our social feed, we talked to the people around us, in person. We interacted and processed together not through our phones.
In a way for me it stands out as a moment in time of presence and connectedness, which is a rare find today. – Nancy Coulter Parker, WomenOutdoors.com (then), New Hope Network (now).
