How Denver Landed at the Grandoozy Music Festival

This weekend, a group of music fans will descend on a golf course in southwest Denver for Grandoozy, a festival starring Stevie Wonder and other lesser important celebrity musicians.

In another reality, Stevie and her friends would party at Denver's historic City Park.

This is the idea that came to the offices of urban planners a decade ago. That never happened, but it was the beginning of the parade between the new stars of the world of music and a crazy city of the millennium.

"They've been watching Denver for 10 years," said Katy Strasinca, Executive Director of the Denver Special Events Office. "They proposed to the city several times, different alternatives."

Now, finally, Denver is facing an event of a magnitude that it has rarely seen before: the city is about to meet the super modern festival.

"I think we are currently experiencing the golden age of major music festivals," said Hal Davidson, consultant and event organizer who has been working in festivals since he was launched "Stompin 76".

Far from the chaotic, muddy days of Woodstock, this new generation of professionally run, multi-day festival has developed over the last 20 years in cities ranging from Chicago to San Francisco, attracting tens or hundreds of thousands of visitors.

This is a major test not only for local governments, but also for a $ 3 billion industry that targets Denver.

A little story

According to David Ehrlich, who works with both companies and municipal officials, Denver had its first meeting with the new industry nearly ten years ago, when representatives of Superfly and the AEG event company began to search the market.

But the event of this weekend did not begin to be realized until 2015.

"We had a lot of friends out there and we loved spending time there, so that was number 1," said Jonathan Mayers, co-founder of Superfly. "And then we started thinking," Can we do something different? And could we add to what is already happening in Denver? "

And the company seemed to have a more modern model in mind.

While its flagship Bonnaroo event takes place on rural farmland in Tennessee, Superfly has enjoyed more recent success with Outside Lands in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Other companies have also integrated the urban market in cities like Austin, Texas and Chicago.

And, quite often, this new urban orientation means that planners must have access to local government parks.

In Denver, it was a long search.

"The original sites that he wanted, we could not understand how to get there," said Strascina. "It was the city park, in the middle of a neighborhood – so parking and sound, and the zoo, the museum – it would literally take everything."

The negotiations lasted months. Superfly's even turned to the nearby town of Westminster, where he launched the idea of ​​a camping festival.

Eventually, the search ended at Overland Golf Course – a city-owned facility in southwestern Denver, right next to a railway and bike path but still bordered on one side by a neighborhood. residential.

On the left coast

During negotiations, Denver officials traveled to San Francisco to see a Superfly event in action.

San Francisco reports an economic impact of tens of millions on outdoor land events, and its parks department is earning $ 3 million directly, according to the city's records. That's about 1.5% of the city's budget for parks, a huge amount – but it also brings government officials to tough issues.

"It's interesting," said Phil Ginsburg, General Manager of San Francisco Recreation and Park.

"When we started, there were only three other (comparable) music festivals in the country: Lollapalooza, Coachella, Bonnaroo. … And now, my God, they appear everywhere because the music industry has changed.

Although the San Francisco festival lasts only three days, the city has brought more staff to keep pace, including a full-time gardener funded by Superfly.

"People who do not like it, they do not like it. They accuse us of privatizing the park, "said Ginsburg.

"At the same time, our festival has become one of the best-known music festivals in the country," he said. "They really focus on supporting local businesses and the local economy. Parks, music and food go hand in hand.

This type of praise is not a coincidence, according to Davidson, the festival's expert. The Superfly Bonnaroo helped set the stage for modern festivals, he said, making festivals a "very risky" proposition for a booming business.

"Governments really want it," he said. "They know they're not going to fuck everything, and they're going to spend millions of dollars."

A test for the city

Denver officials were vague about the financial benefits of bringing Grandoozy to the city. The total turnover will depend on the sale of the tickets, they said.

The Denver Special Events Office does not seek to recruit events, said Strascina, but rather to meet the demand. When an application for public land use can be accepted, the city will strive to achieve it.

City officials say there has been a sharp increase in the demand for events on the city's properties, which went from around 300 a few years ago to 700 a year.

"Events are not going anywhere," she said. "They grow up; they are popular; they are exciting.

Grandoozy may be the biggest test of the new approach to the city. Rather than simply applying for a permit, the organizers negotiated for months with city officials, producing a unique arrangement.

Some details:

• Superfly workers will use mats and equip their vehicles with large tires to protect the lawn.
• The company has a $ 1.5 million bond and a $ 3 million insurance policy that will cover potential damage. Superfly must return the site to its original state.
• Attendance is capped at 80,000 per day. Superfly did not guess, but city officials have heard "optimistic" estimates of 20,000 to 25,000 from Superfly.
• Superfly will pay $ 200,000 to rent the course for five weeks, plus $ 5,000 for additional days.
• $ 2 per paid entry per day will go to the city's golf program, plus $ 1 for a community improvement fund.
• Superfund will pay $ 115,000 for landscaping and other expenses.
• The city will collect a 10% tax on the tickets.
• The city will provide services worth $ 200,000 from rangers, police and other employees, but Superfly will pay additional expenses.

"I think we pushed as hard as we could," said Fred Weiss, director of finance at Denver Parks and Recreation. "I think we made a very, very good arrangement, financially, for the city."