Vermont's Dynamic Outdoors Industry

Live and learn!  I recently learned that Vermont has a robust Outdoors Industry comprising a variety of businesses that, I confess, I had not recognized as an eclectic but discrete and dynamic business sector.  I was enlightened by Matt Crawford, an outdoors journalist and free lance writer in Vermont who last year joined Pale Morning Media, a public relations firm in Waitsfield, VT that focuses on (you guessed it) the Outdoors Industry.   Pale Morning Media serves a national client base (they feature a client list on their web site, www.palemorningmedia.com), another example of a business that locates in Vermont by choice.   We all know that Vermont is a prime destination for outdoor recreation in the mountains and on Lake Champlain.   And of course it makes sense that the Vermont lifestyle attracts entrepreneurs who are outdoor enthusiasts, and whose business interests may involve the Outdoors Industry.   But even so, I am mightily impressed by the array of Vermont businesses in this industry sector.  Outdoor recreation apparel (ISIS, Bogner, Burton etc.), equipment (Burton, Climb High, North Star Sports, SkiRack, The Alpine Shop, Orvis, etc.), activities (ski areas, fishing, camping, boating etc.), lodging (inns, motels, resorts, home sales and rentals) and so forth.  I had thought of these businesses as being in a variety of industries - apparel, equipment, lodging, recreation - but not as one mega-industry in Vermont.  According to the national Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), outdoor recreation retail sales and services are a $2.5 billion dollar industry each year in Vermont, representing 12% of our gross state product and employing 35,000 people in Vermont.  These statistics and more can be found at the OIA web site, http://www.outdoorindustry.org/pdf/VermontRecEconomy.pdf.  I grew up in Londonderry, a southern Vermont ski town where most of the economy revolves around outdoor recreation and services for outdoor enthusiasts.  The reach of this industry state-wide is remarkable.   And we Vermonters are engaged in this industry not only as business owners and employees but also as clients and customers, supporting our local economy by having fun outdoors and buying the necessary apparel and equipment to do so.  It's a perfect example of an industry sector that is clean, both supports and benefits from the "Vermont" brand, attracts and retains entrepreneurial "outdoorsy" people who will love the Vermont lifestyle, and enables Vermont businesses to participate in the national economy while the company's people live and work in Vermont.