{"id":1317440,"date":"2019-12-28T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-29T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=992099"},"modified":"2019-12-30T09:47:20","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T16:47:20","slug":"sunday-profile-pat-miller-has-a-lot-on-tap-as-he-works-to-build-glenwood-springs-special-events-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/sunday-profile-pat-miller-has-a-lot-on-tap-as-he-works-to-build-glenwood-springs-special-events-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Profile: Pat Miller has a lot on tap as he works to build Glenwood Springs\u2019 special events culture"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Pat Miller looks out at downtown Glenwood Springs on a chilly Thursday afternoon ahead of the city’s big New Year’s Eve celebration.<\/strong>
Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The whiteboard in Patrick Miller\u2019s office has a long list and he\u2019s busy checking it at least twice if not three times a day to make sure everything is on track for Glenwood Springs\u2019 big New Year\u2019s Eve celebration.<\/p>\n

Set-up crews scheduled \u2013 check.<\/p>\n

Final confirmations with the band, fireworks and other entertainment \u2013 check.<\/p>\n

Porta-potty delivery set \u2013 check.<\/p>\n

Streets crews at the ready to close down Seventh Street the day of the party \u2013 check.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot to get done to pull off a big community celebration. But it\u2019s all in the capable hands of Miller and his team of city workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be able to give everyone involved \u2014 from the bands, right up to people cleaning up afterward \u2014 as much information as possible so that they know going into the event what they\u2019re supposed to be doing and the proper way to do it,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

Miller wears the dual hats of events and marketing coordinator, as well as recreation manager for the city of Glenwood Springs.<\/p>\n

In addition to the detailed itinerary on his office wall, he has three notebooks filled with event planning information.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot to take on, but the team here makes it a lot easier,\u201d Miller said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t do it without them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Go West, young man<\/h2>\n

Miller, who\u2019s 29, became Glenwood\u2019s first events and marketing coordinator in the spring of 2018 when city officials decided to bring more events coordination in house instead of seeking an outside contractor. <\/p>\n

Earlier this year, he added the title of recreation manager; overseeing city athletic leagues, arts and community programming.<\/p>\n

Originally from upstate New York, where he earned his bachelor\u2019s degree in sports management with a minor in business from SUNY-Fredonia, Miller left the Adirondacks for the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to take an internship at Beaver Creek Resort.<\/p>\n

He transitioned from the internship to sponsorships coordinator to event manager in Beaver Creek Village, where he worked for about five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy background was mostly in sports management, but I quickly fell in love with the world of events planning,\u201d Miller said. <\/p>\n

Glenwood Springs Parks and Recreation Director Brian Smith tapped him for the newly created position here, as the city looked to expand its event offerings.<\/p>\n

Since then, under Miller\u2019s direction, the city\u2019s Fourth of July celebration has grown to become one of the Roaring Fork Valley\u2019s go-to summer holiday attractions.<\/p>\n

Regular events have begun populating the new public space along Seventh Street under the Grand Avenue Bridge. And, the city had what it hopes will be an annual Oktoberfest celebration in conjunction with the Glenwood Springs Brew Garden along the revamped Sixth Street corridor. <\/p>\n

That inaugural event alone drew about 1,100 people.  <\/p>\n

\u201cPat has been able to put together a comprehensive calendar of events, and has been really good at working with other community event organizers to try to maximize what we can offer,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Smith notes that Glenwood Springs has a goal that, for every dollar invested in special events the city will see a $4 return into the local economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile a lot of these events are sponsored by the community and we don\u2019t charge for people to attend, the value and economic growth you see bring a lot of value to the city,\u201d Smith said. \u201cPat has a great vision for events and how to market them, and really just does it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Empty palate<\/h2>\n

Miller said he feels lucky to have joined the city at a time when several new public spaces were being created that could host a variety of events.<\/p>\n

From the space under the new Grand Avenue bridge, to the pedestrian-friendly \u201cfestival street\u201d improvements along Seventh, to the diamond-in-the-rough across the river on Sixth Street, the possibilities are endless, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGlenwood has done an amazing job of creating those spaces, and renovating some of the existing spaces like Two Rivers Park and looking ahead to Sayre Park and the North Landing,\u201d Miller said. \u201cI kind of came in with a different eye looking at all these spaces that are now beautified and able to be hosting events.\u201d<\/p>\n

His experience at Beaver Creek gave him the freedom to create events from the ground up, including working within a budget, staffing, security, permitting and other fine details.<\/p>\n

Established events, such as the Beaver Creek Blues, Brews and BBQ and Oktoberfest, draw upward of 15,000 people over the course of a couple of days. Numerous events are also planned around the Alpine Ski Championships every year.<\/p>\n

That provided a strong foundation for his work in Glenwood Springs.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last year-and-a-half, we\u2019ve made lots of changes for the positive \u2026 and I\u2019ve been very lucky to be part of that change,\u201d Miller said. \u201cI\u2019m originally from a small town in upstate New York, so this was kind of a perfect transition from the hustle-bustle of a five-star resort to this community.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a perfect fit for his avid outdoors lifestyle, as he enjoys fly fishing, snowboarding, backpacking and all that western Colorado has to offer.<\/p>\n

Last year, his girlfriend, Sierra Verburg, also joined him in Glenwood Springs. She now works for Colorado Mountain College in the academic recruiting office.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really been loving just getting to know everyone here in the community, and finding out what people like and want in the way of events,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

When he\u2019s not coordinating a Glenwood Springs community event, he and Verburg are often checking out some of the events other area communities have to offer, gleaning ideas that could be adapted for Glenwood.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s more than just throwing some ideas up on the wall and seeing what sticks, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a good idea of what the community wanted, and what they wanted to see when this position was created,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

A big focus in 2020 will be to expand Glenwood\u2019s art offerings. One of Miller\u2019s jobs is to oversee the newly renovated Glenwood Arts Center space on East Sixth Street, and to expand programming in that facility.<\/p>\n

Another area of focus will be to come up with events to fill out the spring and fall shoulder seasons, he said.<\/p>\n

jstroud@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pat Miller looks out at downtown Glenwood Springs on a chilly Thursday afternoon ahead of the city’s big New Year’s Eve celebration.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent The whiteboard in Patrick Miller\u2019s office has a long list and he\u2019s busy checking it at least twice if not three times a day to make sure everything is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1317440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 07:13:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1317440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1317452,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317440\/revisions\/1317452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1317440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1317440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1317440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}