Summer is looking busy with visitors and events

“I think we are even more appealing than Telluride”

Summer in the mountains is short but sweet. It’s also a very busy time in the north end of the valley, and a slew of events, festivals, and concerts are stacked up back to back from mid-June into the fall, ensuring there’s plenty to do for visitors and locals alike.

To provide local business owners and other stakeholders a peek at the summer forecast, the Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce hosted a public meeting at the Mallardi Cabaret Theater on Thursday, May 27. Several panelists spoke about the summer outlook for their respective businesses and associations, including: Scott Still, events director for the Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce; Jane Chaney, director of the Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association; Jeff Moffett, Crested Butte Mountain Resort; Susan Gellert of the Crested Butte Music Festival; Sue Wallace from the Wildflower Festival; Rachael Gardner from the Gunnison-Crested Butte Wedding Council; and Scenic River Tours’ Matt Brown.
The vibe of the meeting was generally positive, and the Chamber, panelists and attendees all commented on the need for all the entities to work together. Collaboration and cross-marketing were a couple of the buzz-words heard repeatedly.
Going first, Still was very optimistic about the upcoming Fat Tire Bike Week event, June 22-27. He cited several reasons this should be the best FTBW to date, including the free Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe concert and the Fat Tire 40 race, which recently got bumped up to 300 riders by the U.S. Forest Service. Still said organizers also negotiated a temporary closure of Kebler Pass for the Chainless race.
Speaking about July 4, Still said to expect the traditional in-town parade with Nina Story playing a street concert. “She’s sponsored by a kazoo company and is bringing 2,000 to 3,000 kazoos to the event,” he added. That night Mama’s Cooking will play a show at the base area, and Mt. Crested Butte is launching the fireworks show up on Nevada Ridge.
Though he hasn’t gotten too deep into the details yet, Still said the fall “Beer and Chili” festival is scheduled for September 11. “The focus will be to keep the local aspect [strong] and do some marketing things to bring people in from out of town,” said Still.
Jane Chaney of the Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association spoke about the variety of marketing efforts under way to get people here. She said the TA undertook a substantial direct mail campaign to immediate drive market states and placed print ads in a variety of regional and national publications. “We’ve got to stay visible in that market,” she said.
Chaney also said web traffic was way up. To date, “May website traffic [www.gunnisoncrestedbutte.com] is up over 100 percent compared to last year’s traffic.”
CBMR’s director of central reservations and revenue management Jeff Moffett reported on what he’s seeing at the resort. “I think we’re feeling a lot better about this summer than last summer.
“June seems to rise and fall with Ride the Rockies; overall we’re looking at June being less than last June, but July and August are up,” Moffett said. “July is up significantly, particularly Wildflower Festival week, and Bluegrass in Paradise. It’s a little early, but for August, groups are down a bit; we’re looking at some initiatives to fill the deficit we’re seeing with groups. Groups overall are soft, down a bit from last year.”
Moffett said CBMR’s summer marketing plan is “very event-centric with e-blasts and direct mail.” CBMR helped secure an $88.85 flight from Denver to help promote restaurant week, for example. In other mountain news, the chairlifts and Adventure Park open for business on June 19.
The Crested Butte Music Festival is five weeks long in the summer. Susan Gellert of the CBMF is particularly excited about the Bluegrass in Paradise Festival. “Bluegrass has the potential to grow our summer business as much as anything,” she said. The CBMF subsidized 20 local kids to make it more affordable for them to participate.
“I think we are even more appealing than Telluride,” Gellert said, “and it’s an opportunity for us to work together as a community.”
The 24th Wildflower Festival is scheduled for July 12-18, and director Sue Wallace estimated 1,500 to 1,800 visitors will attend. Wallace said things are looking up, with April ticket sales up 163 percent compared to last year. She thanked Jane Chaney and the TA for all the help with marketing. “We have a tiny budget, and are really relying on [the TA’s] efforts.”
As far as the economic impacts of the festival, which is based at the Nordic Center again this year, Wallace said the organization surveyed people about what they spend. “The average party, two to four people, is spending an average of $1,240, which equals out to $600,000 to $1.2 million generated that week.”
Rachael Gardner of the Gunnison-Crested Butte Wedding Council confirmed, “We do have a lot of weddings coming into town this summer. Most weddings bring between 75 and 125 people to town. It’s a great opportunity, these are people being ‘forced’ to come to Crested Butte on vacation; they might not have a reason to be here otherwise.” Gardner estimated that the average wedding in Crested Butte costs about $35,000, compared to the national average of $27,000.
For June 1 to September 15, Gardner reported there are 81 confirmed destination weddings. Weekends look particularly busy, especially June 19, July 17, July 24, July 31 and the first weekend in August, according to Gardner.
Last but not least, Matt Brown of Scenic River Tours presented on the water and recreation side of things. He said the rafting community is very close to an agreement with Wilder on the Taylor to secure the ability to float through Wilder’s property on the Taylor River. “It should be business as usual,” Brown said. “Bookings are on par with last year—it was a terrible May for us, but things are picking up, and we may be up a little bit for the summer months. We’re really seeing an increase in interest in family activities, that’s really grown a lot the last few years.”
Brown said there is a new zipline being installed just above Harmel’s to add to the area’s recreational opportunities and bolster the company’s rock climbing program.
“I just want everyone to know the rivers are open, and we will be open for business. I think it’s really important that we all work together.”
And just a reminder, 350 to 500 Hells Angels will be in Gunnison July 28-31 and some will undoubtedly take a ride to the north end of the valley during their stay.