ROARING FORK BROADCASTING COMPANY
Belly Up and Aspen Skiing Co. intend to partner on a summer music festival on Buttermilk in 2025 and 2026, with a possibility to extend to future years.
Both summer festivals would spans two weekends in mid-July or mid-August. Each event would include two or three consecutive days of acts running from about 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. The festival would include one stage, multiple food and alcohol tents and sections, on-hill activation plus other infrastructure.
David Goldberg, talent buyer with Belly Up, said they will aim to book touring artists or artists that regularly book stadium or amphitheater-sized acts. He said they have an agreement with one artist already, pending permit approval.
“We would be looking for large amphitheater, to arenas and in some cases, yes, absolutely, some stadium artists to come in and find an intimate setting on a mountainside that you wouldn’t be seeing with them otherwise,” he said.
Belly Up is proposing maximum ticket sales at 16,000, with ticket discounts of 50% or more for Roaring Fork Valley residents. Staff for the event would be around 500 people.
Goldberg said that they plan to book a lineup with local music tastes in mind to draw in as many local attendees as possible.
“The music business is filled with so many different intricacies, but part of it is the programming … making sure that we are programmatically in line with who is in this valley,” he said. “So it wouldn’t be reliant on 16,000 people traveling for this.”
Belly Up Aspen LLC, as the applicant, is seeking a special-event permit in the SKI-REC area for Buttermilk. They are still early in the process, but Community Development Director Suzanne Wolff brought the permit before the Board of County Commissioners to get initial feedback due to the sheer size of the event.
County planning staff recommended approval after review of permit criteria like emergency response, traffic control and compatibility.
“The base of Buttermilk has been used for large events in the past, including X Games and previous large concerts, most recently in 2019,” staff wrote in its recommendation. “The applicant has received permission to use the base of Buttermilk Mountain for this event and has secured a Letter of Intent (LOI) from the Aspen Skiing Company.”
According to the county, the metro district and homeowners’ associations adjacent to the site have not voiced concerns. Belly Up is required to maintain open communication with neighbors physically and electronically, plus communication channels for community questions.
The Pitkin County Environmental Health department reported that “based on previous concerts, the concerns over noise to adjacent properties is minimal.”
The Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office said it would want to develop a comprehensive plan with the Pitkin County Incident Management Team, as they do with Winter X Games.
The Buttermilk parking lot would be used for staging and parking, with contracted motor coach services to transport attendees from sites like the Brush Creek Park and Ride. The applicant also plans to work with state law enforcement for traffic control in the area.The Aspen-Pitkin County Airport said that drone use above 50 feet and pyrotechnics would not be allowed, and the applicant would need to secure Federal Aviation Administration approval for lower drone use. Lighting will be planned to not interfere with air traffic control.
The commissioners supported the application, but expressed significant concern over the impact of 16,000-plus people per day.
“Are we really trying to stuff too much, too many people into this choked valley?” said Commissioner Greg Poschman. “I don’t enjoy it when X Games is here. I know most of the people I know — maybe it’s our age group — just complain about it and wish it would go away.”
Commissioner Steve Child urged Goldberg and his brother and father, Danny and Michael, respectively, to consider other summer events in the valley to avoid scheduling conflicts. The Goldbergs have owned the venue for 20 years.
Gabe Muething, chief of EMS for Aspen Ambulance District, offered his support.
“We’ve already done a site walk through, just generally with the crew, and have really been happy with the thinking that they have already around safety,” he said.
Belly Up has assisted in hosting the Palm Tree Music Festival in Rio Grande Park for the past two years, an event that drew about 5,000 people each day. They also worked on the X Games concerts, which could see as many as 20,000 people over a day, according to a SkiCo representative.
The Goldbergs pointed to their experience coordinating those events, one of which is in the same location as the proposed festival, as evidence of their capability to pull off a safe and successful special event.
The community development department will continue to review the permit application, with some updates to the board to come. Plans for emergency response, parking and more will be fully fleshed out before the issuance of a permit.
A final decision on issuing the permit will fall to county staff and the sheriff’s office.