SOAR Blog

We got an invite to Mayor Becker’s press conference this week announcing the new sustainability ordinances that he wants Salt Lake City to adopt- ordinances would make SLC’s sustainability plan the most comprehensive in the country. It’s too bad our team couldn’t make it to the press conference, which was really more of a press tour of a Salt Lake business and home already implementing the proposed ordinances. Said ordinances address:

photo credit: Jim Urquhart | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is great news for Salt Lake City and is completely in-line with the city’s values- and history. One Salt Lake Tribune article points out that the Mormon pioneers who settled the valley lived sustainably out of necessity and efficiency. Today Salt Lake’s residents pick up their bikes more often, belong to food co-ops and want to see a reduction in traffic. Most expect that the ordinances proposed by Mayor Becker will be passed by the city’s legislature.

A lot of the folks in this town that like it “green” also like to live in the green- and desert- that surrounds. It makes so much sense to make our residential and business lives sync up with our outdoor recreation hobbies. It makes sense why Outdoor Retailer, the place for the outdoor industry to convene, is in Salt Lake.

SOAR is excited to see how these ordinances are implemented over the next few years and what feedback the community has given the mayor in this week of review.

We’re proud of what this town is becoming, and that it is already the type of place 40,000 members of the outdoor recreation industry want to visit on an annual basis.

More on SLC’s green initiatives:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/49891706-76/becker-says-lake-salt.html.csp?page=1

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/49915105-82/becker-residents-salt-changes.html.csp

Tags: going green, Mayor Becker, Salt Lake City

SOAR’s own Elizabeth O. Hurst writes about beach cruiser bikes in North America for Momentum Magazine.

PD

Tags: cruiser bikes, Momentum Magazine

Photo credit: Steve Griffin, Salt Lake Tribune

The SOAR Blog didn’t give Real Salt Lake due attention and praise when the team won the Major League Soccer championship in the spring, but that doesn’t mean SOAR isn’t incredibly proud of its home team for bringing the State of Utah a professional sports championship title for the first time in 40 years.

It seems fitting that the influence of professional soccer in Utah, and in the United States, was recognized today by President Barak Obama in a brief ceremony honoring Real Salt Lake team at the White House. Joe Biden wasn’t there- he is heading up the contingency representing the U.S. at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa which is now less than a week away. One of Real Salt Lake’s players, Robbie Findley, will play with the U.S. team, which is a contender against Algeria, England and Slovenia.

Professional soccer is too often overlooked by North American spectators. World Cup engenders even more global enthusiasm than the Olympics in some regard- except in the United States. There are books, classes, experts, lectures galore on the global significance of “footy,” so I won’t belabor the topic here. We’re glad that with all of the other matters our presidency has to attend to that it would recognize the athletic power coming out of Salt Lake City and the importance of the World Cup.

Any chance Obama will vie for World Cup 2018 to be in the U.S. like he did for the Olympics? (2014 is already scheduled to be in Brazil).

See the Salt Lake Tribune article here

Tags: Obama, Real Salt Lake, Salt Lake City, Utah, Word Cup

Nearly two months ago Bikes for Kids Utah hosted its first-ever omnium event with the University of Utah cycling team to raise money to get new bikes to kids and to support the U’s team. Both organizations did a ton to pull off the weekend-long event that included a criterium, hill climb time trial and road race. Bradlee Duncan, the U of U team race director, spearheaded and coordinated a good portion of the event, and helped make it a really successful fundraiser. Below are 10 of his tips for for race organizers, or, for racers 10 reasons to be nice to the race organizers and officials. It’s not as easy as it looks.

1. Sometimes people lose track of time and forget to do things, so build extra time into your plan.

2. Charge late registration fees, and make them expensive! Most of us are procrastinators and we need a little extra incentive to commit to a race in advance.

3. You can never have too many volunteers, so treat them nicely.

4. The officials are your best friends, the officials are your best friends, the officials are your best friends.

5. Government entities are slow and bureaucratic. You can’t start talking to them too early.

6. Have a specific registration game-plan, otherwise it’s chaos. Did you hear me? it. is. chaos.

7. People can be impatient, that’s why it’s so important to be patient.

8. Be patient.

9. Sometimes even Mother Nature loses track of time and gets things mixed up; be ready in case she sends warm, sunny weather in March and a few feet of light fluffy Utah powder in April.

10. Have fun!!!!!!!!! You’re doing something that fosters and grows the sport you love!

To read the press release about this event, click here.

Check out Bradlee’s blog too, TwoWheelPhotos.blogspot.com.

Tags: Add new tag, Bike Race, Bikes for Kids Utah, University of Utah

SOAR attended Utah’s first bike summit last weekend in Salt Lake City. It was a super encore to the first Salt Lake City Bike Summit in 2009, and an essential ingredient to helping our great state move up in the bike friendly rankings.

We met citizens, advocates, business owners, commuters and politicians passionate about making Utah a bike-friendly state. They gave insightful presentations with lots of important take-aways. Here are a few that stuck out to us:

Stop making excuses- Jeff Miller, the guest of honor and the president/CEO of the Alliance for Biking and Walking, summarized what he has learned about the evolution of bike culture around the world. It may seem like Europe has been bike friendly since the beginning of time, but it has taken generations of advocates and enthusiasts to put that culture into place. The United States can put the same system into place, but it’s going to take comparable effort.

Economic impact- Bike travel has a lot of economic implications for the states that support it. What a cool idea to ride your bike from city to city, stopping at campgrounds and communities that cater to cyclists. You think of the world in a whole new way when you consider exploring it by bike. I’m excited to see the day, as someone at the summit suggested, when we can leave our front doors in Salt Lake and tour the entire state of Utah, confident that there will be safe bike routes and bike-friendly cities along the way.

Addressing Salt Lake’s air quality doesn’t have to be a political matter- As Senator Wayne Niederhauser suggested at the summit, Salt Lake City has a horrendous air quality problem that needs to be addressed and fixed. Reducing carbon emissions has to become the non-partisan solution for improving Salt Lake’s air quality. On bad days, Salt Lake has some of the poorest air quality in the nation. One summit participant said the air quality is so bad that she is considering leaving Salt Lake after five years of bike commuting year round because the pollution has caused her asthma.

To read the Utah Bike Summit agenda, please click here.

Donate to the Utah Bicycle Coalition and donate to the cause of cycling.

There are 500 spots available for ambitious cyclists who want to take on the Ultimate Challenge, a course that the pro racers will ride just a few days later during the 2010 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah.

The Ultimate Challenge, on August 14, 2010, is non-competitive ride, but to make it through you’ll need to start training hard. Thee course starts in Park City and ends at Snowbird, with technical climbs and descents. It’s no small feat for even the best cyclists. But a lot of aspiring pros cut their teeth on this course, knowing that it is comparable to many they’ll find abroad. If you’re looking for training goals, the Ultimate Challenge might be one for you to consider. Now seems like a great time to start too, with Utah snow melting away and consecutive days of temperatures higher than 60 degrees.

Recently the Tour of Utah president, Steve Miller, and executive director, Karen Weiss, appeared on Park City TV to talk about the upcoming Tour of Utah and the Ultimate Challenge. You can watch the YouTube clip here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA3p8uxk-30

Registration is open for the Ultimate Challenge at tourofutah.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SOAR Communications Announces Brand, Spankn’ New Hire

After nine months in the womb and kicking our co-worker, Crew Wesley Lansford joins the SOAR team

SALT LAKE CITY – March 11, 2010 – SOAR Communications is proud to announce that the newest member of its team, Crew Wesley Lansford, arrived Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 3:30 p.m. He is the smallest among them, weighing in at 6 pounds 15 ounces, but brings to the group his the public relations skills he inherited from his mother, our Account Executive, Maura Lansford.

“We are so excited for the fresh perspective Crew will bring to our PR strategy,” said Chip Smith, SOAR Communications CEO. “We expect his cuteness will make it harder to focus during our staff meetings, but that he will become a kind of PR muse.”

SOAR will waste no time grooming Crew to become an account executive. His job includes daily “tweeting,” mostly at his mother, and being SOAR’s booth baby at the Outdoor Retailer and Interbike trade shows.

Crew comes to SOAR with three days of life experience and plans to develop “Cooing,” a social networking site for infants. His inherent love for competitive sports (Go Longhorns!), skiing and golf comes from his father, Cole, and makes him a true advocate for everything outdoors.

“I’ve sensed from the first kick that Crew was going to be an athletic guy, and I think life with SOAR will fit him perfectly,” said Maura Lansford, SOAR’s account executive and only mother. “Plus, after nine months, I think it’s time he start earning his keep.”

For more information about Crew and his PR qualifications, please e-mail Maura Lansford at mlansford@soarcomm.com.

# # #

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SOAR Communications Announces Brand, Spankn’ New Hire

After nine months in the womb and kicking our co-worker, Crew Wesley Lansford joins the SOAR team

SALT LAKE CITY – March 11, 2010 – SOAR Communications is proud to announce that the newest member of its team, Crew Wesley Lansford, arrived Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 3:30 p.m. He is the smallest among them, weighing in at 6 pounds 15 ounces, but brings to the group his the public relations skills he inherited from his mother, our Account Executive, Maura Lansford.

“We are so excited for the fresh perspective Crew will bring to our PR strategy,” said Chip Smith, SOAR Communications CEO. “We expect his cuteness will make it harder to focus during our staff meetings, but that he will become a kind of PR muse.”

SOAR will waste no time grooming Crew to become an account executive. His job includes daily “tweeting,” mostly at his mother, and being SOAR’s booth baby at the Outdoor Retailer and Interbike trade shows.

Crew comes to SOAR with three days of life experience and plans to develop “Cooing,” a social networking site for infants. His inherent love for competitive sports (Go Longhorns!), skiing and golf comes from his father, Cole, and makes him a true advocate for everything outdoors.

“I’ve sensed from the first kick that Crew was going to be an athletic guy, and I think life with SOAR will fit him perfectly,” said Maura Lansford, SOAR’s account executive and only mother. “Plus, after nine months, I think it’s time he start earning his keep.”

For more information about Crew and his PR qualifications, please e-mail Maura Lansford at mlansford@soarcomm.com.

# # #

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Chip Smith, SOAR Communications, 801.656.0472 x1 (work/) 801.597.7515 (mobile), csmith@soarcomm.com or

Elizabeth O. Hurst, 801.656.0472 x3 (work)/ 408.386.8168 (mobile) ehurst@soarcomm.com

If you attended Outdoor Retailer Winter Market this year, you know that it was a great show that epitomized the industry’s resilience and hope. Many long-time exhibitors were there along side many new exhibitors launching their products OR.

Despite the huge amounts of preparation that goes into each OR show, SOAR, like the rest of the OR operations staff, doesn’t have time to rest on its laurels when the show is happening in the Salt Palace.

We start before day one managing the periphery of the show to make sure only qualified media get badges and that their press needs are me once they’re inside. We help journalists work around the show director’s very busy schedule and step in as spokespersons when needed. We get up at 4:30 a.m to coordinate early morning shows on the floor, with hair brushed and smiles on our faces. On occasion, we double as models for exhibitors’ product, feeling a little embarrassed and mostly excited when attendees point and ask “Weren’t you on T.V. this morning?” We get a little jealous when attendees ask us about the discounted lift tickets they can purchases with their OR badges, not sure of the next time we’ll be able to hit the slopes.

Though we don’t do as many laps around the show floor as most retailers, the 12-hour day catches up with us once it’s time to party with the industry. Still, we party on. The Woolrich Fashion show made us want to dance (we may have acted on that impulse) and industry’s enthusiasm over the Canada Goose Cup was super fun to watch. We talked to Pam Theodosakis about Prana’s hockey win the next morning as we prepped her to speak about Project OR on camera with a local TV studio.

Of course, between these appointments we are writing like crazy so we can keep media in the loop about the news of the show. We each manage to get away for a few moments, though, to admire amazing new products on the show floor, talk with exhibitors and see how the Project OR designs are developing.

Even though there is still snow still on the ground and in the mountains, we’re shifting our attention to Outdoor Retailer Summer Market, running August 2-3, 2010. Even more exciting times for SOAR and the outdoor industry are on the horizon.

Here’s to warmer weather and more hot products!

Credit Matthew McDermott

Outdoor Retailer ended in late January on a high note with both industry attendance and optimism up from winter 2009. In the midst of writing orders and thinking about upcoming selling seasons, though, the industry as initiated dozens of efforts to provide relief for Haiti after its devastating earthquake.

Manufacturers across the Winter Market show floor offered product to an industry Haitian relief effort coordinated by Terramar, Sierra Trading Post & Eric Larsen. The Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) also partnered with Americares to get first aid kits, water purification systems, headlamps, tarps and hydration containers willing donated from manufacturers in the outdoor industry to Haitians in desperate need of essential supplies. (See below for more information on getting your product to Haiti via Sierra Trading Post and Americares).

In an industry that highly values authenticity and social responsibility, it’s no surprise that the outdoor industry mobilized so quickly to aid Haiti. It employs individuals with just as much strength and heart as the products it manufactures- prepared to be put to work at a moments notice. These qualities and others make SOAR super proud to be part of the outdoor industry.

In fact, we see these qualities in the outdoor industry year round. We associate with outdoor industry leaders that support advocacy groups and let their passion for their sport drive their compassion. SOAR has had some fun and rewarding opportunities to work on a pro-bono basis with non-profits like Bikes for Kids Utah and Trips for Kids. We get to see how much work goes into each event and initiative. Every donation, vote of confidence, re-tweet and sponsorship makes a difference.

Let’s all continue to heed OIA’s call for the industry to “dig deep” during this and every time of crisis and need.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Click here to read about the partnerships forming in the outdoor industry to help Haiti.

To donate this urgently needed product/equipment contact Randy Weiss at Americares at (203) 658-9527 or rweiss@americares.org. All donations will be delivered by air and sea directly to the region by Americares.

Outdoor Retailer exhibitors are invited to donate show products to Haiti via Red Cross if it can arrive at Sierra Trading Post by FEBRUARY 8, 2010. All packages should be sent to Sierra Trading Post Robin Jahnke/Haiti 5121 Campstool Road Cheyenne, Wyoming 8200.

Tags: Add new tag