HARRISBURG, Pa. — Separate trends caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are playing out in the outdoor recreation industry, on display at the Great American Outdoor Show starting Friday, Feb. 5.
The show, which draws thousands of hunters, fishers and other outdoor enthusiasts, is being held at the Farm Show Complex this year after being cancelled in 2021. The cancellation had a major negative impact on many longtime Great American Outdoor vendors that rely on show business.
“I mean we’re a tourist business, right?” said Johnny Letto of Moose Valley Outfitters in Gander, Canada. “Our country basically shut its borders, our province shut down its borders, so our business ceased to operate at all in the previous year.”
Even as major events and travel plans came to a halt during the pandemic, which drove down sales, some vendors benefitted from another pandemic trend: spending more time outside.
The outdoor recreation economy grew by 19% from 2019 to 2020, according to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.
“That’s the best social distancing you can do is get out on the water or hunt and fish," said Raymond Rios of R&W Rope in Bedford, Mass. "So actually our sales were increased."
Rios sold so much rope for boating that his company was able to hire 10 additional employees during the pandemic.
Show vendors are divided on their expectations for this year’s show.
Some think sales will go up as the shift to outdoor activities become permanent.
“I think people realize—being cooped up in your home and locked down—that it’s time to get out and enjoy the great outdoors,” Letto said.
Others are more cautious.
“Some people don’t think it’s going to be very good, [and] attendance is going to be down," said Bill Hill, owner of Border Bucks Outfitters in Hatfield, Mo. "Some of us think that maybe it’s going to be more serious people that are here instead of just people looking for something to do."
The show runs Saturday, Feb. 5 to Sunday, Feb. 13.