Live Nation canceled its Seven Peaks music and camping festival in Buena Vista on Friday and announced it was seeking a new location after the county refused to increase its coronavirus capacity limits for events.
The world’s largest concert organizer was looking for a allowed to accommodate up to 20,000 spectators at the festival on 277 acres of private land in a residential area just outside of Buena Vista. Live Nation began selling tickets for the Labor Day weekend festival last month, before the permit was approved.
“What the hell, Jim,” Chaffee County Commissioner Greg Felt told Live Nation director Jim Reid at a committee meeting on June 22 where Reid admitted that his team had already sold 6,000 tickets. “You know we have a cap of 5,000. You come here and have already sold more tickets than our rules currently allow?” “
County commissioners – who also serve as the county health board – this week refused to increase this ceiling of 5,000 people, effectively killing the festival.
“Personally, I think our society has opened up too drastically,†Chaffee County director of public health Andrea Carlstrom told commissioners at the county health board meeting earlier this week.
Carlstrom said she could not recommend increasing capacity limits because less than 70% of county residents have been vaccinated against COVID-19. The state’s most recent data shows that 62.8% of eligible residents in Chaffee County have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. As of Friday, only 13 of Colorado’s 64 counties had vaccination rates of 70% or more.
Two of the three commissioners refused to increase event limits, refusing to support a motion by Commissioner Rusty Granzella to increase event capacity to around 10,500.
Commissioner Keith Baker said on Friday he was surprised to see Live Nation announce that they were looking for a new location for 2022. The county had approved a permit from Seven Peaks for the location in 2018, 2019 and 2020, although the 2020 event was canceled during the pandemic shutdown.
Baker lives next door to the Meadows property, which is owned by Jed Selby of Buena Vista. He said the neighbors around the open hay fields were disturbed by traffic and noise of the concert. Many more supporters – including a petition with 270 signatures – praises festivals in the Meadows for making Buena Vista a vibrant music center, supporting local businesses and helping owner, Selby, preserve the property’s agricultural heritage without developing a community of homes.
Complaints from neighbors and residents of Buena Vista in 2016 forced concert promoters AEG Live and Madison House Presents to cancel a second edition of its Vertex festival, which drew 8,000 spectators to the Meadows in May 2016.
“Let’s be honest, it has not been without controversy for the people who live in this neighborhood,” said Baker, a second term commissioner who has attended all of the concerts at the Meadows and describes himself as “a true fan of music. live “.
Baker said angry neighbors and fear of a COVID-19 resurgence prompted his vote to keep capacity capped at 5,000.
“The pandemic is not over and every day it seems to be getting worse,†said Baker, speaking at the National Association of Counties annual conference in Maryland. “I am very careful when it comes to taking the necessary precautions. I hated doing it, but what do we do?
At the county commission hearing on June 22, Live Nation’s Reid said the concert promoter‘s marketing strategies were forcing the company to start selling tickets in June, even without a license. He described Seven Peaks as “a community event,†with 10% of 2019 festival tickets sold to residents of Chaffee County.
“We need to give ourselves enough lead to sell tickets and plan the fan trip here in September, so our current schedule is to announce the talent lineup next week and put them on sale with tickets on June 18th.” said Dierks, founder and headliner of Seven Peaks. Bentley wrote in June 3 letter to county commissioners. “We are complying with all previous permit application requirements and I am proud to say that we are even ahead of schedule. My team is ready to answer any of your concerns and I believe that by working together we can once again host one of the best country music festivals of the year.
In Denver, heads of state are launching $ 800 million for the state’s economic recovery plan that focuses on reviving tourism and state meetings and events activities.
New legislation enacted last month $ 10 million in incentives for organizers conferences and festivals. Jill McGranahan, of the Colorado Bureau of Economic Development and International Trade, said the head of the new incentive program responded to 20 calls from event planners on the day the program went live.
Governor Jared Polis lifted 16-month emergency health orders on Thursday saying Colorado had “reached a milestone.”
Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the All Star Game this weekend at Coors Field at full capacity. Red Rocks concerts resumed full capacity last month. The town of Vail hosted nearly 60,000 spectators and athletes at the GoPro Mountain Games June 10-13, which included three evenings of sold-out concerts at the Ford Amphitheater. (Eagle County made do not report new cases of COVID Mountain Games at 100% capacity.)
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has declare an epidemic after the three-day Country Jam festival in Mesa County, with at least four concert staff and 13 attendees testing positive for COVID-19.
Baker said safety precautions like face masks and mandatory vaccinations “are tough steps to take in a place like the Meadows.”
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