Active Front Range lifestyle lures industries, jobs

How ingrained the outdoor industry is in the Front Range’s economy can be surprising, even to a savvy public-relations professional in the field.

“If you went to a party in Seattle and people found out you were in the outdoor industry, everyone would ask you about it, because it wasn’t that common,” said Samantha Killgore, the U.S. marketing manager for Rab, a United Kingdom-based manufacturer of clothing for intense weather and mountaineering, and a former Seattle outdoor-industry public relations rep.

“Here it’s like everyone is connected to the outdoor industry somehow.”

A casual glance at information from the Boulder-based Outdoor Industry Association would…