The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
It’s working but looking forward to next year
by Mark Reaman
One of the few local summer festivals that had planned on a scaled-back but in-person element to the event was the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival—but that was changed a few days before the festival was to begin. The original idea was that smaller than normal groups could head outside where the wildflowers are, to view and discuss the colors. But the Wildflower Festival board and staff, deciding to not take any chances with the spread of the coronavirus, cancelled the tours.
“The board of directors made the decision the afternoon of Friday, July 3,” explained Wildflower Festival director Michelle Bivens. “We spent both Thursday and Friday discussing the benefits and risks of hosting in-person events and ultimately decided to err on the side of caution and cancel.
“We have an approved operating plan from the county that was issued in late spring,” Bivens continued. “From late May until two weeks ago it appeared we’d hit a lull in COVID-19 activity both locally and nationally and we had every intention of moving forward with our small, in-person festival. Once COVID-19 numbers started to rise, we began evaluating the risk of exposure and discussed it at our board meeting on Monday, June 29. After that meeting we were still planning on hosting the festival. When it became clear by July 2 that we were setting new daily records nationally with no sign of slowing down, we made the difficult decision to cancel to prevent the risk of exposure to our staff, leaders, volunteers and participants.”
Some people cancelled their trips to Crested Butte for the festival but Bivens said most of the anticipated participants still came to the valley and are out there enjoying the flowers on their own this week, with some help from festival personnel.
“Overall the feedback has been very positive. Both our event leaders and participants have been very appreciative we prioritized their safety and are already looking forward to next summer and hopefully a return to a full in-person festival,” Bivens said. “This week we hosted several virtual events, led by instructors who were planning to lead in-person events. We also set up a small booth in front of the chamber of commerce to distribute member benefits, provide information about self-guided tours and sell some of the inventory we were planning to sell at our on-site Blossom Boutique. A Nature Journaling art class is scheduled for the next four consecutive Fridays. We are also holding our annual Photo Contest (information at www.crestedbuttewildflowerfestival.org) and are accepting submissions through the end of the month.”
Board president Tom Zeiner agreed with Bivens that while the decision was not optimum, it was necessary and is working. “The decision has been as difficult on the board and the hike leaders as it has for our customers,” he said. “None of us wanted to cancel and we probably could have had a safe festival. We’re already thinking about what we can do leading up to next year’s Wildflower Festival and hope to engage our members through the winter months.”
“We were so sad to cancel the festival, as we’d really thought we were going to be able to do it,” summarized Bivens. “But the support from our festival community has been overwhelmingly positive and we know this challenging time will pass and we’ll be celebrating the wildflowers together again in the future.”
The Wildflower Festival will be in front of the Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center again on Saturday, July 18 and Sunday, July 19 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to help point people in the right direction to go see the colors.
