The Festival Guy is back and is kicking off the 2013 music festival season in style. Check out his review below about the SnowBall Festival and make sure to visit his website for even more rad adventures.
After two years of battling the snobby locals and overly aggressive police in Avon, Colorado, it was time for the SnowBall Music Festival to rethink their vision. They knew that the fans loved the festival and that Colorado was the perfect state for it, but they needed to find a place where their festival and attendees would not only be tolerated, but also appreciated.
Enter, Winter Park, a small ski town a little over an hour away from Denver. The locals are down to earth, and the town could always use a boost in the economy. This combination made it the perfect home for SnowBall.
A new location paired with unpredictable weather made this a very big year for the future of SnowBall. As attendees poured through the gates for the first day, they were greeted by volunteers handing out free popcorn. This set the mood for what was going to take place over the next three days. SnowBall committed to the fan experience and was going to do everything in their power to go from “that festival in the snow,” to “the first major festival of festival season that you are missing out on if you don’t attend.” This commitment continued to the tone of art installations, colorful balloons that crossed the sky, and even a large ski jump for local ski legends to drop their favorite tricks for the crowd.
The new venue featured the main stage, which was constantly morphing to meet each artist’s visual desires, as well as two tents that provided a more intimate and warmer experience. The venue is the perfect size for the estimated 11,000 people in attendance. The SnowBall fans are what make the festival so much fun to be a part of. The crowd is the happiest, most polite group of people you will ever meet at a festival. Colorado people are proud of their state and there is a real sense of community that everyone is welcomed into as honorary Coloradoans for the weekend. This sense of pride goes all the way to the top with local artists-turned-celebrities, Pretty Lights and Big Gigantic. Neither artist could play for more than 20 minutes without taking a minute to thank everyone and say how much they loved their Colorado family.
The fans returned the love, which was truly tested as the temperature dipped into the teens on Friday night and into the single digits on Saturday night. The crowd would not be deterred and stopped at nothing to see their local boys on the big stage. After two days of getting beat up by the cold, the crowd was rewarded with what can only be described as a magical day on Sunday. The once cloudy skies finally opened up to reveal a stunning blue sky, and the energy of the crowd was simply electric. Sunday was one of those days that will live on in the dreams of festivalgoers for years to come.
Over the course of the three days, SnowBall set their mark in the festival scene. They are not just “that snow festival,” any more; they are the official start of the festival season. If you miss SnowBall, you are missing out on a festival experience like no other. As the fans left each night, they were given handfuls of free cookies because SnowBall understands what it’s all about. Happy fans come back year after year, and these fans were happier than potheads on 4/20.