Colorado mountain towns boost summer tourism with live music festivals

After a challenging winter that saw scarce snowfall across the Rockies – and a drop in visitors to Colorado ski resorts – the state’s mountain towns aren’t just waiting around for next winter’s powder.

Instead, they’re pivoting to live music in the Colorado sunshine to boost economic activity.

In Snowmass Village, the Mountainside Music Festival made its debut June 11-14 with a weekend of free live music on the Fanny Hill Stage.

The event, sponsored by  Snowmass Tourism, helped boost hotel bookings in June by 21% year-over-year, as of May 31, said Julia Thiesen, the organization’s tourism director. For the festival weekend, bookings were up 8% to 10%. She expects those numbers to rise when the June numbers are reported.

The festival is an extension of the free Thursday Night Concert series, which has been running for 31 years. The concerts run from June 18 to August. 27.

“It’s a free community gathering on the mountain,” Thiesen said. “Everything we do is free. It’s part of our brand to add that vibrancy and fund music in the mountains to all of our other activities.”

Snowmass isn’t the only mountain town offering events to boost the tourism economy.

• Breckenridge: The 750-seat Riverwalk Center is a year-round hub for entertainment, hosting an eclectic mix of rock and bluegrass bands, multimedia film screenings and community events as well as the summer repertoires of the Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra and the National Repertory Orchestra.
• Dillon: The town is debuting Mountain Music Mondays, a free concert series on the Dillon Reservoir.
• Frisco: The Concert in the Park Series at the Frisco Historic Park gazebo and lawn offers free performances every Thursday evening from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. June 25-Aug. 27. The pet-friendly events prohibit outside alcohol, but picnic dinners are allowed. Beverages can be purchased on site.
• Silverthorne: The town is transforming the first Friday of every month into a celebration to bring the community together to enjoy a mix of live music, local art and food into a vibrant monthly tradition.
• Mountain Village: The Sunset Music Series returns to Telluride’s doorstep with an eight-show lineup in Sunset Plaza, just steps away from the gondola. The free, family-friendly concerts kick off at 6 p.m. on the lawn near Lift 1 with front-row seats to the sunset views.