“Outlaw Snowdown’ Thanks

By Melissa Buckley - Photos Courtesy Outlaw Snowdown

The inaugural Outlaw Snowdown has now come and gone… and while the snow arrived fashionably late, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise for a first-year festival held outdoors in January!

The three-day alternative country music festival brought hundreds of visitors to town, a vast majority of whom pledge wholeheartedly to be back for the 2013 show!

Eighty percent of the crowd (which averaged around 400 people a night), were out-of-towners who flew and drove to Pagosa, rented hotel rooms, ate in our restaurants, drank at our bars and enjoyed Wolf Creek and the hot springs.

According to a couple local establishments, dollars spent in their businesses over MLK weekend rivaled their busiest times of the year. It would appear that our goal to bring an economy-boosting event to town at a historically slower time of year has legs… and was pretty darn fun to put on!

The production value was first rate and rivaled anything you’d find in a first-class concert venue. Friday night’s “Red Dirt” line up drew the most attendance, but Saturday and Sunday night’s show were also extremely well received — all in all, the diversity of the line-up attracted a wide range of music lovers to the show.

The first year of the Outlaw Snowdown proved that it’s an event for the hearty, who don’t mind braving the elements to enjoy a great weekend, great music and great company.

Huge thanks must be given to A&L Coors, Deep Eddy Vodka and Breckenridge Bourbon for donating adult beverages, DSP pizza for keeping us stocked on slices, Wolf Creek and The Springs for giving us passes to show the artists why Pagosa is such a special part of the world and San Juan Mountain & Golf resort for providing first-class lodging for the bands.

Because this was our first foray into producing anything like this, we learned A LOT on year one. Now it’s back to the drawing board to start sketching out an even better rendition of the 2013 show. That’s right… we’ll be back!