(Photo: Alex Fenlon, Crested Butte Music Festival)
I like it when towns get creative in taking a resource they already have and turn it into a non-traditional event venue. Castle Rock and Crested Butte are two Colorado towns that have found their fairly new outdoor ice rinks also can be valuable large event spaces for fair-weather months.
Sometimes you have to work through some code issues like Crested Butte, but now they have a space that groups like Crested Butte Music Festival, which runs from June 30 – Aug. 11, can rent and fill with up to 500 for its annual Celebration fund-raiser. Initially, the venue was only allowed to host approximately 300. It’s a win, win for both. On July 20, Big Mine Ice Arena will be transformed into an aerial stage by Eight Count Entertainment so former Cirque du Soleil athletes can perform flying acts and feats with aerial hoops to music played by the Festival Symphony Orchestra. Signature cocktails, gourmet dinner service and live and silent auctions are part of this “Symphony in Flight” evening.
Castle Rock is celebrating the grand opening of White Pavilion, which debuted last November in the heart of downtown as Rink at The Rock. Everyone is invited to The World’s Largest Ice Cream Party on May 15, from noon – 1 p.m., as the town attempts to gain entry into the Guinness Book of World Records for most people in attendance. Tim White, owner of the property and White Construction Group saw the need for a year-round venue and is wrapping up the remodel.
Think your town or the town you are considering for an event doesn’t have the space, think again!
Beth Buehler
Editor
Colorado Meetings + Events
