Spokane’s “Ski the Northwest Rockies” Snow Show is a great event. It brings together legions of local skiers and acts as a great kickoff to the ski season. If offers a great place to go pick up your season pass or just wander around looking for free swag. But that’s not to say it cannot be improved.
The one-day event only showcases a small portion of the vast skiing and snowboarding industry. Significantly, it never completely fills up with exhibitors. And it takes place in one of the smaller Spokane Convention Center ballrooms — the smallest venue it has ever been located in. It may be a great local show, but by no means does it compare to the SIA Snow Show in Las Vegas (next year in Denver). But it will never be that size. But it is a reasonable goal to shoot for a ski show the size of Seattle’s SkiFever Snow Show.
It’s time to improve the Spokane Snow Show for the greater Spokane region. We’ve got five great ski resorts, including one world-class one — Schweitzer, two regional-class ones — Silver and 49, and two smaller local ones — Mt. Spokane and Lookout. The Spokane region has roughly 80,000-120,000 unique skiers. However, a good ski show would draw skiers from as far away as Seattle, Missoula and Boise — but only if it promised to be good enough.
In order to increase the amount of exhibitors, we’ll need to move the Snow Show into a new location. The ideal choice would be the Spokane Convention Center downtown — the old one. This way it is close to the INB Performing Arts Center for movie premieres. Plenty of space and room for growth.
The second thing on the list would be to actually add exhibitors. In order to reach the most potential skiers, you would have to include a wide variety of exhibitors. For best results, INSA should focus on reaching the following exhibitors:
- LINE Skis
- K2 Skis/Snowboard/Telemark
- Armada Skis
- 4FRNT Skis
- 686
- Atomic
- Billabong USA
- Bern Helmets
- Bolle
- Smith Optics
- Bonfire Snowboarding
- Burton
- Marker
- Salomon
- Patagonia
- O’Neill
- Quiksilver
- Ride Snowboards
- Scott USA
- Sessions
- Skullcandy
- Spy Optic
- The North Face
While not all of these manufacturers will sign on, many will if the Snow Show is correctly marketed.
In addition to ski/board manufacturers, INSA should also look at attracting new resorts to the Snow Show. Resorts should be within the immediate area — Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, etc.
- Whitefish Mountain Resort
- Crystal Mountain Resort
- Stevens Pass
- Mt. Bachelor
- White Pass Mountain Resort
- Willamette Pass Mountain Resort
- Tamarack Resort*
- Big Sky
- etc.
Now, the final step will be to move the dates for the show back slightly. For 2009, my recommendation would be to hold the show November 13-15.
Finally, what do we charge people to get into the show? Considering factors such as the venue, the potential exhibitors, etc., a cost of $20 would not be unreasonable. Sponsorships (including title sponsorships) could defray much of the cost and bring it down to roughly $10.
Of course, that’s if it happens; this is simply a wishlist for an improved Spokane Snow Show.
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Yes you'd think it would be bigger considering the great ski resorts in the area and the great skiing tradition we have in the area.