US-based exhibition organiser Emerald Holding, Inc. has announced it has acquired Lodestone Events, producers of the Overland Expo series of vehicle-based, adventure travel consumer shows.
The acquisition builds on Emerald’s decades of experience in outdoor recreation with its Outdoor Retailer wholesale trade show, and represents the company’s strategic expansion into the growing business-to-consumer (B2C) event space.
All Lodestone employees will join the Emerald team, with Lodestone founders Lindsay Hubley and Jessica Kirchner joining Emerald’s management team and continuing to lead the Overland Expo series.
The team will also oversee Emerald’s previously announced Outdoor Adventure X show, Emerald’s new consumer lifestyle event for the outdoor recreation enthusiast. Outdoor Adventure X will take place 17-18 June, 2023, at Snowbasin Resort in Huntsville, Utah, the weekend preceding Outdoor Retailer’s business-to-business (B2B) summer show in Salt Lake City.
The acquisition should strengthen the company’s position in high-growth markets and expanding further into consumer events.
“Formally entering the B2C event space is paramount to Emerald’s corporate strategy of expanding into new and high-growth markets to accelerate top-line growth and unlock significant value for shareholders,” said Hervé Sedky (pictured), president & CEO of Emerald. “Adding a best-in-class consumer event series like Overland Expo demonstrates our successful implementation of this strategy and provides Emerald with talented leaders in this space, who together will enable us to continue to advance Emerald’s core services of live event connections, content, and commerce.”
“Emerald and Lodestone Events have been working together for the past year to bring Outdoor Adventure X to market, and we look forward to building on this collaboration and creating even greater value for the entire outdoor industry ecosystem, from manufacturer to retailer, to consumer,” Sedky added.
“We are are grateful to be partnering with Emerald, who are so strongly aligned with our business philosophy. We look forward to continuing to enhance the client and attendee event experience and 365-day digital content strategy with the Emerald team,” said Lindsay Hubley, Lodestone Events co-founder.
