Minnesota outdoor recreation and participation was the topic of discussion at the 2026 Outdoor Recreation Industry Partnership Summit, held Sept. 24 in Bloomington.
The summit came off the high of having the national Outdoor Sports Retail Expo in Minneapolis in August. The national trade show, which formerly was held in Salt Lake City and Denver, decided to shake things up and visit the Upper Midwest.
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Randolph Briley, deputy director of Explore Minnesota, which hosts the partnership summit, called the expo a resounding success with more than 1,800 visitors, 275 brands and 400 qualified retailers who attended. The expo will return in August 2027.
Briley also led the outdoor participation conversation at the summit, which, now in its second year, also saw more guests than it did last year. He said the state has become a leader in casual outdoor participation.
“Outdoor recreation participants are broken into buckets by the data gurus: core participants and casual participants," he told the Grand Forks Herald a day before the summit.
He explained that to be considered a core participant, a person has to meet certain metrics, such as hunting at least eight times in a given...