{"id":2449124,"date":"2019-09-25T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=313347"},"modified":"2019-09-25T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-25T11:00:00","slug":"change-of-venue-explored-for-jas-labor-day-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/change-of-venue-explored-for-jas-labor-day-shows\/","title":{"rendered":"Change of venue explored for JAS Labor Day shows"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/p>

A crowd takes in an evening show at JAS Labor Day.<\/strong>
LYNN GOLDSMITH\/special to the aspen times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Jazz Aspen Snowmass officials are considering moving the organization\u2019s main event, the Labor Day Experience music festival in Snowmass Village, to Buttermilk.<\/p>\n

The move would be to eliminate myriad operational issues, which include choke points at the entrance and exits, long bus lines, limited parking and capacity issues at the current site in Snowmass Town Park.<\/p>\n

Jim Horowitz, JAS president and CEO, confirmed in a statement that he and others have initiated discussions about whether it is feasible to move the concerts to Buttermilk.<\/p>\n

For the past three years, JAS has sold out its biggest headline artist by early July, reaching the Town Park\u2019s capacity of 10,000 people months before the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything has grown in the last three years, except for the site,\u201d Horowitz said in the statement. \u201cJAS and the town of Snowmass Village have struggled to keep up with the demands, whether public safety and regulatory compliance, transportation, limited site parking and overall acreage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have real challenges that must be addressed going forward, to safely and efficiently operate the event and continue to meet the high expectations of attendees,\u201d he continued. \u201cAll of these challenges are the inevitable result of an event that has experienced more success<\/a> in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The evacuation<\/a> during the 2018 Lionel Richie concert due to lightning and thunderstorms showed the vulnerability of the venue.<\/p>\n

Town officials attempted to improve the egress and layout of the site since then, but issues still remain.<\/p>\n

Snowmass Village Mayor Markey Butler, who serves as an ex-officio on the JAS board of directors, said Sept. 23 she thinks the fire and police departments did a good job this year but recognized there are constraints on the site.<\/p>\n

She also noted that as JAS brings more big-name acts to the venue, with Sting and John Mayer<\/a> performing this year, the event is attracting more people and the organization would like to sell more tickets.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs they improve the talent, it costs a lot of money,\u201d she said. \u201cThe 10,000 capacity number has been challenged for the past few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butler and Snowmass Village Town Manager Clint Kinney said the town is working to increase capacity and rework the layout of the park and adjacent Rodeo Lot.<\/p>\n

Both said the event is important to the resort community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe town really values our relationship with JAS,\u201d Butler said, adding that Town Park is a great place for a three-day concert. \u201cYou can\u2019t beat the beauty of the site.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kinney said town officials have not been part of any formal discussions about a possible move to Buttermilk.<\/p>\n

JAS and the town are two years into a three-year sponsorship agreement to have the festival at Town Park, according to Kinney.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe value the JAS event here in the village \u2026 it\u2019s a cornerstone event and we really, really like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s something we hold dearly but at the same time, we don\u2019t want to be obstructionists, either.\u201d<\/p>\n

Town Council is currently considering five options to reconfigure the park<\/a> and incorporate the Rodeo Lot to accommodate JAS.<\/p>\n

The top Town Park redesign draft town officials are considering moving forward with, dubbed the \u201cFrankenstein\u201d option as it combines the best features of the four other designs, would increase the JAS Labor Day Experience venue space by 158,000 square feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are continuing to work on things and improvements have been made,\u201d Kinney said.<\/p>\n

JAS moved the Labor Day show to Buttermilk for one year in 2002 when the Snowmass Club golf course was realigned and expanded and the area was under construction. That expansion took about 25% of the previous JAS venue space.<\/p>\n

That year, Bob Dylan performed and attracted a crowd of roughly 12,000 people at Buttermilk.<\/p>\n

Having the Labor Day concerts at Buttermilk would require the approval of Pitkin County commissioners under a special-use permit, according to Pitkin County Manager Jon Peacock.<\/p>\n

Aspen Skiing Co. owns the land at the base of the ski area and would have to agree to JAS using it.<\/p>\n

Skico spokesman Jeff Hanle said no discussions have occurred yet, but the company has no interest in seeing the festival move.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our hope they find a way to keep the event in Snowmass,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s an event that is important to Snowmass.\u201d<\/p>\n

JAS\u2019s assessment of Buttermilk as the site for the Labor Day festival is part of a new five- to 10-year strategic plan for the organization, which will celebrate its 30th season in 2020, according to Horowitz.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, it is the start of a discussion only, and it will take time,\u201d he said in the statement. \u201cAt the same time we are researching options at Buttermilk, we are working with (the town of Snowmass Village) on both the existing site issues, as well as potential improvements to the Town Park site.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe owe it to the greater Aspen-Snowmass community to get this right to ensure the event survives and thrives.\u201d<\/p>\n

csackariason@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A crowd takes in an evening show at JAS Labor Day.LYNN GOLDSMITH\/special to the aspen times Jazz Aspen Snowmass officials are considering moving the organization\u2019s main event, the Labor Day Experience music festival in Snowmass Village, to Buttermilk. The move would be to eliminate myriad operational issues, which include choke points at the entrance and […]<\/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":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2449124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 07:20:48","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":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}