Tickets for the first Outside Festival, imagined by Boulder-based Outside Interactive Inc. and state officials as a celebration of Colorado’s passionate outdoors community and its economic impact, will go on sale Thursday.
The festival, to be held June 1-2 at Civic Center Park, is being produced in partnership with the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office, which is state government’s coordinator of outdoor recreation industry matters, and Visit Denver. It will include adventure films, speakers, immersive experiences, outdoor gear displays, climbing competitions and more. Musical artists will include Thundercat, Lettuce, Say She She, Fleet Foxes, Andrew Bird and The Heavy Heavy.
Early bird ticket prices start at $39 for one day, $59 for both days. VIP packages will be available for $103, and Outside+ members will be offered both days for the price of one. Outside+ gives members access to all of the company’s digital offerings. Tickets are available through the festival website.
“The goal behind the Outside Festival is to create the definitive annual gathering that celebrates outdoor culture,” said Robin Thurston founder and chief executive of Outside Interactive. “World-class music, adventure film premieres, the latest gear, and thought-provoking panels. This is where the spirit of outdoor adventure meets the rhythm and art of urban life: in the heart of Colorado. We hope to get people to turn off our screens, step outside, and connect with themselves and each other. Most of all, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Outside Inc. is a media company with two dozen platforms that cover the gamut of outdoor recreation. Its digital sites, most of which began as print magazines, include Backpacker, Climbing, Ski, Trail Runner, Velo News, Warren Miller Entertainment and its flagship, Outside magazine.
Organizers of the event hope to grow it into major national happening for the outdoors industry, similar to the way South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, became a massive event that caters to the music, film and media industries.
“The State of Colorado and OREC office is proud to have partnered with Outside Inc. — a Colorado-based media group with an annual audience of 250 million around the globe — to create the Outside Festival,” said OREC director Conor Hall. “This is a bold opportunity to showcase Colorado as a national leader in all things outdoor recreation. If successful, this event has the potential to become a major gathering place for the $1.1-trillion outdoor industry and drive progress around community building, thought leadership, sustainability, and more equitable access to the outdoors.”
Documentaries and adventure films will be shown at the Denver Art Museum, curated in partnership with the Boulder International Film Festival, Telluride’s Mountainfilm Festival and the Mountains of Color Film Festival. Adaptive Adventures will provide accessible climbing opportunities for athletes with physical impairments. Outdoors manufacturers will display their latest products, along with input from the newly created Outside Lab @ CU Denver, a state-of-the-art gear-testing facility at CU Denver that partners with Outside Inc.
