No, the permit for the Seven Peaks Festival hasn’t been approved by the Chaffee County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC). The permit application isn’t even filed, and won’t be heard until June 22, as Ark Valley Voice (AVV) reported in this recent story: https://arkvalleyvoice.com/seven-peaks-festival-public-hearing-set-for-june-22/.
Dierks Bentley greets fans at the 2018 Seven Peaks Music Festival. Photo courtesy of Rolling Stone.
But that hasn’t stopped Live Nation Entertainment, the event organizers of the Seven Peaks Music Festival, from acting like it is. In fact, their ticket presale starts June 15, and regular passes and camping sites for the event go on sale on June 18.
Here’s an excerpt from their website:
“Buena Vista’s Seven Peaks Festival this week revealed its lineup of pop-country and folk stars playing the Sept. 3-5 music-and-camping event. Founder Dierks Bentley will be joined by Keith Urban, Pam Tillis, Clay Walker, former Denverite Ingrid Andress, Old Crow Medicine Show, Willie Jones, Reyna Roberts, Kip Moore, Hailey Whitters and others. Tickets are on sale at 10 a.m. June 18. ($215 full-festival pass, sevenpeaksfestival.com)”
You can see the words yourself; just go to their website: http://sevenpeaksfestival.com/
As of 4:25 p.m. Friday afternoon according to their update timestamp, they added a new pass: “NEW FOR 2021! With our ‘Camping Early Entry Pass’ you’ll be able to enter the campgrounds a day earlier. Enjoy… https://t.co/IuWe4uEeZJ
If AVV readers are finding that chutzpah a little hard to understand, so does AVV.
Not that we don’t love music. Not that we don’t love country and folk music. Not that we don’t like Dierks Bentley, and Keith Urban, and not that we don’t think that The Meadows is a sprawling and spectacular setting for such a festival. It is all that and more. Yet, experience with past Seven Peaks Festivals has shown there are various concerns from neighbors, some of which have been mitigated, others which appear to remain. But that doesn’t seem to be the point here.
The question is, just coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic — a pandemic in which the country and the world is still in, by the way — is this the year for an event of this size in Chaffee County?
The Chaffee BoCC has just voted to raise the size limit on events in the county to 5,000 — which is far below the historic 20,000-plus attendance at Seven Peaks. The size of this event, and all the county resources that are entailed to assure that it comes off as a safe public event (most of which have just come through a grueling 15 months of pandemic response) — is the question. Is it safe to bring that many people, who may or may not be vaccinated, to a small county at this time?
By raising the question, AVV is not taking a side — it is clarifying the issue: what sort of activities and events should be our focus as this county is recovering and reopening from a stressful year? That is being discussed among the county and municipal leaders and residents can certainly make their thoughts known too.
The hearing on the Seven Peaks Permit is now scheduled for the Chaffee BoCC regular meeting on June 22.
Thank you for the accurate reporting. This reminds me of a proposed development in the south end of the county that is soliciting investors but has never submitted a plan nor even gone before a board for approval.
Thank you for reporting the facts.
You are giving the event that will be allowed to happen,a lot of free publicity. I wish you would give ALL local businesses ftee advertising! If it is good enough forJed it sound be good enough for everyone else.
I don’t believe Seven Peaks has ever actually reached the 20,000 mark in attendance. More like a little over half that amount, so we don’t know how the county’s or Buena Vista’s infrastructure (or the neighbors, themselves) can handle more than what’s been currently experienced. I believe 20,000 has been what’s been requested in the past as a maximum amount for attendance of the event.