The Outdoor Retailers Summer Market has once again invaded the Salt Palace, as well as Energy Solutions Arena (where Rusted Root will play an outdoor concert tonight for OR visitors only, though you can probably hear it two blocks away) and most of the hotels in downtown Salt Lake City.

This is where makers of outdoor gear - from kayaks to climbing gear, boots to sleeping bags - try to sell next summer's supplies to retailers around the country.

I walked among the vendors and booths today and caught a few snapshots of the strangeness:

You know, there are some people who - no matter how nice they are or how much they smile - just bug me. (Actually, this poor woman was pitching an insect-repellent technology for clothing.)

Why do I suddenly feel the need for a cough drop? (This guy was blowing his horn at the booth for Wenger, one of the two manufacturers of Swiss Army knives. The other manufacturer, Victorinox, was elsewhere in the Salt Palace - and I'm told they don't like each other.)

Somewhere, the guys in Pink Floyd are slapping their foreheads and saying, "Mammoths! Why didn't we think of mammoths? Why did we go with pigs?"

And when the hotels get booked up, people can sleep like this.

I don't know what they're selling here, but I'm buying.

These guys must have seen "Wall-E."

I looked at this booth and thought, "Cripes - this is bigger than my first apartment." Then I walked around it and thought, "Cripes - this is bigger than my house."

Did you ever wonder what happens to the Tribbles that don't get sold at "Star Trek" conventions? Look no further.