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SEMA Newsletter on OHV Recreation
(January 2005) |
The Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) has long been our motorized recreation friend. SEMA is best known to many of us for its annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas, NV around the first week of November every year. Nearly all manufacturers and businesses who produce an after market product attend the SEMA Show. I attend most every year on behalf of the BlueRibbon Coalition. I also wear my CA4WDC Environmental Affairs Coordinator hat while there. It's a great place to mingle and get the word out about land use and access.
SEMA is coming on strong to support our sport. They've intervened in legislation in many states, putting their power to work to help us keep our trails open and our sport alive. Now this newsletter (SEMA News) really brings home the point -- access is about being responsible. And SEMA is doing their part to spread the word with us.
What can you do to thank them? I suggest we really begin to look closely at businesses and vendors who are members of SEMA, or those who are members of the Off Road Business Association (ORBA), or those who are contributing to our raffles and such, and give them OUR business. I'll be blunt. Don't buy from a business that is not helping in some way to keep our trails and lands open. Don't buy from a business that is not a member (business member) of our clubs, associations, ORBA and/or SEMA.
I know there is a reality check to this: not all Mom and Pop businesses can be high dollar members of everything -- these groups do cost money. But if Mom and Pop are not members of something, doing what they can to help keep our lands open, then there won't be any reason for us to buy from them sooner or later. So I stand by my position that EVERY business should be part of some effort to show support for access. I'll leave it up to you to decide if your business is doing enough. But I ask you to at least ask them BEFORE you spend your money!
In this article, SEMA lays it out and talks about some of the groups, businesses and issues around our sport of four-wheeling. Check it out (.pdf format). Del
