Ochs pitches Fat Bike event to Council

Ochs has some energy for Fat Bike Worlds

By Mark Reaman

The Crested Butte Town Council approved a special event permit for the Fat Bike Worlds event being held in town at the end of January, but not without some concerns. It’s going to be put on by the Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce, whose executive director Dave Ochs has energy for and loves the idea of anything fat bike.

“There is no doubt, fat bikes are like white people to Native Americans—they’re coming!” he told the council at the December 21 meeting.

“These things are taking off. And we are a recreation destination that needs to provide amenities. This is an amenity, especially when the snow conditions aren’t powder. Plus this is one of the bike Meccas of the world. It fits in with the Crested Butte culture. I was talking to people over in Aspen and they are pissed off that we beat them to hosting the Worlds and having the summit this January. We are ahead of the curve with fat biking. We are leading the charge with fat biking,” Ochs said in one breath.

“Fat biking is gaining energy. People are coming to rent fat bikes.  The energy for the Worlds is going crazy. Warren Miller films are coming to film the event. We are getting mentioned in places like the Boston Globe and New York Times.  Just think if the resort allowed lift-served fat biking. It would blow it all off the charts,” Ochs said with a second breath.

He then gave an overview of the Saturday, January 30 event to be held at the Crested Butte gravel pit near the community school. “We want an amazing event. We want to put on a show. So we are going big and booking Lez Zeppelin, a great all-woman band that plays Led Zeppelin covers. They are great and should draw some people,” Ochs said.

Councilwoman Laura Mitchell asked if the chamber was perhaps biting off more than it could chew to organize the world championship event plus an outdoor concert in January.

Ochs responded that an event planner with concert experience was probably going to be hired to focus on the concert. “We are confident we can pull off the event,” he promised. “We are counting on some town help with Rodney’s and Janna’s crews. We are bringing in tents and a mobile stage and the liquor license area is 500 feet from the school. We want to see a bunch of spectators. It should be done by 5:30.”

Councilperson Erika Vohman said trash could be a big issue and she suggested working toward a zero waste event, “or at least put something in place to not use single-use water bottles,” she suggested.

Mayor Glenn Michel said the council shouldn’t make an approval of the special events permit contingent upon that requirement. “It is a bigger discussion for the council to have to move all events toward a zero waste goal,” he said.

“I agree with Erika and it should start now,” said councilman Paul Merck.

“If you are going to apply a policy you have to have a policy,” said town manager Todd Crossett.

“It is certainly something the council should talk about when we have our retreat to discuss priorities,” said Michel.

“We pride ourselves on really cleaning up after our events,” said Ochs. “We will have trash and recycling bins all over the venue.”

Councilman Jim Schmidt said if a band was going to draw 500 to 1,000 people, there probably should be a transportation plan in place to get people off the Mountain Express buses in town and to the venue. “You might say it’s not a long walk from the Clark’s bus stop to the gravel pit, but for a lot of people, it is,” he said.

Ochs said there was some coordination with the school for some parking issues despite a morning volleyball game scheduled for the same day.

The council voted 7-0 to approve the permit. Ochs was happy and enthusiastic about the vote.