Mountain Fair

Mountain Fair is a summer arts and music fair held annually in Sopris Park in Carbondale, Colorado. It has been held annually during the last weekend of July since 1972. Each year between 15,000 and 20,000 people attend the event over the course of the three days that it is held. The event's sponsoring organization is Carbondale Arts, a non-profit organization supporting the arts in Carbondale.

History

Mountain Fair was started by Laurie Loeb as part of Colorado's state Chautauqua in 1972. Booth displays included Native American weavings, local Boy Scouts sold seed and corn necklaces and Colorado Rocky Mountain School sold gyros. About 800 people attended the inaugural fair.

The events sponsoring organization, the Carbondale Council on Arts and Humanities (later changed to Carbondale Arts), was formed in 1974. A year later in 1975, competitions were added to Mountain Fair, starting with the wheelbarrow race. In 1976 the pie contest was added. The Mt. Sopris Runoff, Horseshoe toss and Limbo contest were added in 1979. Woodspitting began the following year in 1980.

Former fair director Thomas Lawley, then the fairs longest time fair director, held the position for 16 years. Following his resignation as fair director in 2003, Ilene Pevec became the next director. However Pevec resigned before the end of the year. The following year Amy Kimberly took over as fair director. She held the position for 18 years, until 2022, making her the fairs longest time director to date. Current fair director Jamie Abbott took over that same year. She also became the executive director of Carbondale Arts, replacing Kimberly. Over the years, the event has grown in size and popularity.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic a regular fair was not held in 2020. Instead a revised event was held, where musical acts performed from a flatbed truck that drove through town. Additionally on the last day of the event, the local venue Steves Guitars hosted a virtual livestreamed concert.

Events

Mountain Fair has many contests and competitions, such as the Wood Splitting Competition, Limbo Contest and Fly-Casting Competition which are held each year. There are also two contests for Pie and Cake Baking.

For many years the Dance of the Sacred Fire was held at night annually. In 2018 however, due to stage 2 fire restrictions in the area, there was no fire involved in the dance and aerialists performed instead. It was not held again until the 52nd Mountain Fair in 2023, when Garfield County was only under stage 1 fire restrictions.

One of the first events held at Mountain Fair each year is the Rhythm of the Heart Community Drum Circle. It has been led by Laurie Loeb for more than two decades and has more than 400 participants each year.

The event also features many musicians and musical groups, many of which are local to the area around Carbondale. Some local acts include Kan'Nal who performed in 2005 and Elephant Revival who performed in 2011 which are both Colorado based bands. Over the years there have also been many notable musical acts and bands that have performed. In 2005 the three time Grammy award nominated (two time nominated in 2005) band Blue Highway performed. In 2009 the two time Grammy winning band Brave Combo performed. In 2013 the Colombian musical group La Sonora Dinamita performed. In 2017, the musical group MarchFourth Marching Band performed. In 2018 the band Down North performed. Many of the events and music are broadcast live on local Carbondale radio station KDNK, which can be heard on the radio in the area as well as through a stream on their website.

All vendors must use only zero waste supplies, while the Green Team, which has volunteers stationed at stations with compost, recycling and landfill bins during the event each year, has had a 90%+ landfill diversion rate for over 10 years.

References

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Annual fairs
Garfield County, Colorado
Festivals established in 1972