Telluride News and Info

In a little over a week, Telluride is expecting some 9,000 music fans to arrive for the two-night run of Phish shows in Town Park.

Since the shows start after 5 p.m. each night, the daytime hours of each day may see a lot of unoccupied folks in town.

A group of locals has organized a two-day daytime festival of music, food and drinks in town to give people a destination before the Phish shows and raise money for the Telluride Adaptive Sports Program.

And on Tuesday, the Telluride Town Council approved the temporary use permit for the event, which will take place Aug. 9 and 10 at 222 W. San Juan Ave. — the vacant lot across the street from La Marmotte.

The event, which is being organized by the owners of La Marmotte, in conjunction with TASP, will take place between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. It can host as many as 1,500 people, and is focusing on serving local food and beer and featuring some local bands (a line-up hasn’t been fully secured yet).

The town council gave the event the OK at a special meeting on Wednesday, but wasn’t shy about its concerns about crowd control, the impacts on traffic and loud music in the neighborhood.

“To me it seems like it could be somewhat problematic,” said council member Thom Carnevale.

Town Manager Greg Clifton also had reservations.

 

“I think we all totally embrace the intentions here, the non-profit aspect of helping TASP and having something fun here,” he said. “My concerns are just totally zeroed in on potential impact if things go awry and how this will be handled.”

Despite that, the applicants had responses to the concerns: detailed trash management and sanitation plans, plans for perimeter fencing, experienced security personnel, provisions for recycling, a plan to face the stage toward the mountain and a traffic and crowd-management plan.

“I think we’re very organized now,” said Mark Reggiannini, chef and owner of La Marmotte. “We’re open to anything to help make this situation better.”

Chris Fish, the brewmaster at Smuggler’s — located on the same street as the event — said the brewpub supports it. Smuggler’s would also benefit by pouring beer at the event.

“We’d love to see an event that brings business to our side of town,” he said. “I think it’s a great event. I think it makes sense to have a place for people to go.”

And Bill Gordon, who owns six condos near the event and was representing Bottleworks, also showed support for the event.

“We’re fully in favor of the event,” he said.

In the end, the council approved the permit. However, it did not waive the application fee.

From The Telluride Daily Planet

By Katie Klingsporn

Associate Editor