Outside Festival’s second annual event in Denver on May 30 – June 1st, 2025, was proclaimed a hit by the Denver publication Westword, who called it, “… a powerful reminder to get outdoors—and to take care of our neighbors and the Earth itself.”
In Colorado, where the outdoor recreation and tourism industries are a critical and multi-billion dollar piece of our economy, nobody says “take care of our neighbors” better than our volunteer-powered nonprofit backcountry search and rescue community. We decided CSAR had to be at the event this year.
The Festival began with two days of industry networking events, called Outside Ignite and Outside Summit, which our executive director and treasurer attended. Moderated panels by industry leaders, business pitch competitions, keynote speakers and breakout discussions formed the bulk of these two days, attended by a national and diverse audience of entrepreneurs, tradespeople, state government, nonprofits involved in stewardship and conservation, and outdoor brands. CSAR executive director, Jeff Sparhawk, comments, “After attending the first two Outside Summits, I believe this is the seminal event for deep thinking and critical discourse in the outdoor space about the direction of the industry, our shared economic and political concerns, collaboration, appropriate growth, job creation, housing, and strategic thinking about our future. My conversations often enlighten participants how backcountry search and rescue serves this entire space but is often taken for granted. I am very thankful to the Colorado Outdoor Industry Office and Outside for enabling these incredibly valuable events.”
On Saturday, the larger public festival began, featuring national music acts, outdoor films and talks, outdoor recreation activities and demonstrations, and retail and nonprofit booths. Last year’s 18,000 attendance grew to 35,000 this year, and the event organizers did a great job of keeping it green, using a public benefit group called Green Disco Group to measure the ecological impact of the event and provide a carbon and waste audit.
CSAR had a great booth location, right in the middle of the festival between the main entrance and the main stage. With five CSAR directors and program managers alternately staffing the booth, we were able to chat with the many people who stopped on their way by. The number one question was, how do I join a team? (See this blog article for the answer.) Visitors also wanted to know how backcountry search and rescue is funded in Colorado, and we explained that although we have some recent state funding from the Keep Colorado Wild Pass Program, private donations and team fundraising activities remain critical to our operations. Some visitors wanted to tell stories about themselves or friends and family being rescued, and others were just curious to hear how it all works and how CSAR supports the 50 BSAR teams across the state (read this blog article for more on who we are and what we do). Some visitors were from other nonprofit or government organizations interested in partnering with us for technology, safety education or event projects. Many generous visitors made online or cash donations, for which we’re grateful.
After so many engaging conversations and new contacts made, CSAR is looking forward to attending more events this summer. Will you be at the Overland Expo in Loveland on August 22 – 24th? Be sure to stop by our booth to say hello.