05 29 25 Outside Festival executive director Chris Jerard discusses upcoming events

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Outside Festival is back this weekend in Denver. How
are the festivities really begin today with the Outside Summit.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Joining us now on the KWA Commetspirit Health hotline with
more on this. As executive director of the Outside Festival,
it's Chris Sterard. Chris, thank you so much for your
time this morning.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Thank you, good morning very much.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Looking forward to the music festival side of this coming
up this weekend, but I know the Summit is something
new and exciting and enhanced this year. Tell us a
little bit about what will be taking place today.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Well, the Summit is kicking off and momentarily today with
the night which is our startup competition. Over two hundred
startups applied and we narrowed it down to five kind
of our very own shark tank trout tank kind of
deal today and we'll be awarding one hundred thousand dollars
in cash and prizes to the winner later this afternoon.

(00:51):
And that's the kickoff of the summit, and then tomorrow
we roll into the summit itself, which is more of
a conference business to business for the outdoor industry, and
we are featuring speakers from Redhastings to the CEO of RII.
It's an incredible place to network if you're in the industry,

(01:11):
and include the job fair too if you're looking to
get a job.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Chris, to fill in the blank here, if I were
to ask you the state of outside activities and outside
businesses and endeavors is.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
What vibrant and alive?

Speaker 1 (01:27):
And vibrant and alive and give go into detail about
that a little bit. Why why is that the case?

Speaker 3 (01:34):
Well, I think living in Colorado, I think we are
all very connected to the outdoors, to outdoor activities. You know,
it's a it's a real it's a place where where
outdoor folks kind of gravitate to, right like that's the
Colorado brand. So the outdoor industry is gathering here in Colorado.

(01:57):
That makes a lot of sense. And what we what
we've been missing, is really this place to connect in
real life. I think post COVID, you know a lot
of these in person events around the outdoor industry. It's
kind of fallen by the wayside a bit. So it's
an incredible opportunity for those of us who love the

(02:18):
outdoors and work in the outdoors, or you know, even
those who are just going on the first hike can
get together in community and listen to some music.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
I know the Outside Festival has been described as Denver's
version of south By Southwest of the Outdoors. So what
are some of the offerings in programming that you can
expect this year that will really make it feel like
our own seuth By Southwest.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
Yeah, that's kind that is a great comparison. I think
what we're seeing, you know, is almost like there's there's
like five festivals in one here. You've got films over
at Denver Public Library on Saturday and Sunday in Denver
Art Museum, You'll have speakers and panels from David Blaine
and Diana and IAD to Alex Hannell, the famous free soloist.

(03:04):
We've got all different John John Florence, a world champion surfer,
You've got all of those folks who are in conversations
sort of sharing what's going on in their world. And
at the same time, you've got one hundred and thirty
different brands that are activating inside of the park, from
north Face and RII to Brooks and Scout Motors, all

(03:25):
to that soundtrack with Krungbin Trampled by Turtle, Sylvan Esso
and Lord Huron some of the headliners. Then down the
street you've got Denver d D sorry, Downtown Denver Partnership
doing a speed climbing competition just two blocks away. And
then even further coursefield you've got Trout Fast. So all
of this stuff is happening in the same week. It

(03:48):
really does sort of feel like a south By Southwest
of the Outdoors.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
And Chris, what if folks need to know if they
want to be participat in peep part where can you
send them? Where can they find more info?

Speaker 3 (03:57):
Go to the Outside Festival dot com. You can get
all of the information on the schedule of all of
the different things that we're running through really fast right now.
You can get your tickets there. Tickets right now are
still incredibly affordable for this type of programming with I
think our single day is seventy nine dollars plus tax

(04:18):
right now, and that's going up though, that's going to
go up tomorrow. So people should go to the Outside
Festival dot com and they can get their tickets there.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Executive director of the Outside Festival, it's Chris Gerard. Chris,
thank you so much for joining us this morning. I
had a blast last year and I'm very much looking
forward to it this year.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
Oh glad you were there, Gino, let's see you again.