This story first appeared in The Outsider, the premium out of doors e-newsletter by Jason Blevins.
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Dwell Nation will not be bringing its Seven Peaks pageant again to the San Luis Valley, marking one more transfer for the three-day nation music live performance.
The world’s largest live performance promoter obtained cross with Chaffee County commissioners over plans for the 2022 Seven Peaks pageant at The Meadows in Buena Vista so the promoter moved the occasion to the San Luis Valley.
The Labor Day Weekend pageant drew about 12,000 concertgoers for 3 nights of tenting and music on a personal parcel exterior tiny Villa Grove. By all native accounts, the gathering went easily.
“Very properly, actually. I personally suppose it went higher than I anticipated,” Saguache County Sheriff Dan Warwick stated.
So Saguache County officers had been stunned when Dwell Nation informed them final month that the occasion wouldn’t be returning to the San Luis Valley.
“For no expressed purpose,” Saguache County Commissioner Tom McCracken stated.
Dwell Nation promised officers the occasion wouldn’t burden native legislation enforcement. The promoter labored with the Colorado Division of Transportation and the Colorado State Patrol together with native companies and legislation enforcement to ensure the occasion didn’t overwhelm the agricultural valley.
“Dwell Nation did every thing I requested. There was by no means any points with them in any respect,” Warwick stated. “I don’t suppose there was a detrimental influence, that I might see, to any native companies or sources. Every thing went very properly.”
Calls and emails to Dwell Nation representatives weren’t returned. It’s unclear if the pageant will occur this 12 months in one other location.
Final go-round, ticket gross sales for the Sept. 2-4 occasion started within the spring, earlier than Dwell Nation had secured all of the required permits from Chaffee County. The county’s commissioners and well being officers needed to restrict attendance as a pandemic-related precaution and that was a difficulty. Dwell Nation officers informed Chaffee County commissioners it wanted to start advertising the 2022 live performance within the spring to ensure it might promote sufficient tickets.
Ultimately the corporate left Buena Vista for Villa Grove.
“I believe it’s horrible they don’t seem to be coming again,” Warwick stated. “I actually loved it and I believe it was good for the valley as an entire to convey one thing like that. It was one thing we don’t see within the valley fairly often.”
None of occasion’s social media channels have talked about a 2023 live performance or lineup and feedback on the pageant’s newest posts from February are heavy with considerations about dates, ticket gross sales and the potential of the occasion not taking place.
Seven Peaks Competition founder Dierks Bentley in early Could informed the “Style of Nation” podcast that the pageant he began in 2019 in Buena Vista was a problem within the San Luis Valley.
“There was no electrical energy on the market and never superb cell service and never many facilities. It was form of a tough place to do it,” Bentley stated within the Could 3 podcast. “We didn’t make any cash. We misplaced thousands and thousands of {dollars}. And I believe Dwell Nation was like ‘we have to discover a approach to generate profits.’”
Bentley stated “there’s a risk” of the occasion shifting to Purple Rocks this 12 months.
“After 5 years it is likely to be good to see the way it works in a spot close to civilization,” he stated.