Using Events To Generate A Four Season Destination: Telluride Colorado
By Advisor. Filed in Florida |
Each major city has events. Dallas Texas follows the trend, hosting many events. There areDallas corporate events, Dallas team building events, Dallas social events and plenty others. Any city is host to a multitude of gatherings, some to inform, some to entertain and some to promote business. Some cities and towns build economies around events, others see a a way to enrich their town and want to keep it going. Some towns have seasonal economies and struggle to find ways to make them year round.
Telluride Colorado has a distinct advantage over summer resort communities. Telluride is an isolated ski town that has a charming town and an excellent ski resort. During the ski season, the town is crowded with the many tourists. People travel there to like the winter recreation and spend money throughout the town on meals, clothes, food, massages and entertainment. Skiing attracts a more affluent crowd so luxury and non-essential businesses do well. But Telluride has a challenge; there’s no skiing in the summer. Telluride’s advantage was that it’s busy time was the cold winter months. Different from resort towns in the North East, the off season in Telluride offers some of the best weather. This was a perfect opportunity to create a four season resort town.
Telluride located in the far reaches of Colorado which isn’t far from Durango in the southwest corner of the state. It is a small town in a box canyon far away from any major urban population center. Telluride began as a mining town but now offered little industry outside of being a winter resort destination. The town planners began scheduling summer festivals including music festivals, a mushroom festival, a film festival and art events. There are lots of outdoor adventures and tours for visitors who come to Telluride. It constructed a city campsite that bordered the wilderness and was also close enough to walk into the town, though shuttles ran on a regular schedule. The Telluride Bluegrass Festival turned into a major event. The film festival has gained a strong reputation and a loyal following. The films were shown in charming old theaters. There was also an effort to turn the celebrity event more accessible to the public, with outdoor seminars and theater in the park in the shadows of the mountain.
The town was also hindered by real estate limitations. The town is located between three cliffs. There was no real property to develop and many of the structures couldn’t be torn down without destroying the charm and history of the town. Building the town to meet the demand would mean destroying the charm that helped draw the crowd. Here again Telluride had an additional advantage. The bulk of the ski area was on the slopes on the other side of the mountain. To travel by automobile it was nearly a 15 mile trip, but the Gondola was able to function as the umbilical chord between the two areas. The original town could maintain old fashion charm, the other could offer all the modern amenities of resort living.
Telluride has created a four season destination by utilizing its natural resources, protecting its heritage, and creatively expanding both the town and the town’s attractions.
