Colorado Festival Permit Approved

The unnamed festival is scheduled to take place on a ranch in Buena Vista Aug. 4-7.

This would be the first instance of the festival, but Jed Selby, the owner of the ranch that will host the event, said he hopes to develop an annual festival, and he and Madison House already plan to seek approval for another.

“The board specifically said if we want to do this again, we need to do it right,” Selby said.

Commissioners had a positive outlook toward the festival.

“I don’t see having challenges we could not overcome,” Chaffee County Commissioner Dave Potts said, according to the Denver Post. “I have faith in Madison House that is well earned that they can do what needs to be done.”

Boulder-based Madison House produced the two-day Gentlemen of the Road festival in Salida in August, which brought 20,000 people to the city to enjoy Mumford & Sons without incident.

“I hate to sound like I’m pushing this thing, but we really had no problem with this. There’s really not a lot of negatives to talk about,” county sheriff John Spezze reportedly said.

Selby, a pro kayaker-turned-developer, and his family bought the 274-acre ranch in 2014 but initially irked his neighbors when they learned he was planning to use it to bring 20,000 people to his property, although others have seen the boon the festival could bring to their businesses.

The permit took an hour off of the planned closing times, with Friday and Saturday closing at 1:30 a.m. and Thursday and Sunday finishing at midnight. Buena Vista is half the size of Salida and the concern is that even if a small portion of concertgoers trickle into the town after the festival closes, it could overwhelm the bars and restaurants.