Brandon Johnson (@bjohnsonxar)
Audio By Carbonatix
Outside Inc. will host its third festival in Denver next year, but the 2026 edition will see two big changes: its title and place.
Now dubbed Outside Days, the festival will take place at Denver’s Auraria Campus from May 28 to 31; the first two years were set in Civic Center Park, which is currently under construction. In addition to a lineup of music acts and speakers that have not yet been announced, the festival includes an outdoor industry conference, which is slated for May 28-29.
More than 18,000 people attended the inaugural event in 2024. In 2025, the festival expanded its footprint and included such programming as an Outside Film Festival and a Shark Tank-style competition. Over 35,000 people flocked to Civic Center Park this spring to attend programming and see headliners and speakers like Lord Huron, Khruangbin, Alex Honnold and Albert Lin.
Outside Days
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The festival came to be after Conor Hall, then the brand-new director of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office, got the idea for creating an outdoor festival that had the potential to become the South by Southwest of the outdoor recreation industry. With Outside Inc. – the parent company of Outside that moved to Colorado from New Mexico in 2017 after Robin Thurston purchased the magazine and other assets – the state had an obvious partner, and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and Governor Jared Polis joined Hall in February 2024 to announce the new festival coming just months later.
Earlier this year, Outside laid off twenty employees on the editorial, product, marketing, sales and finance teams (eight of them in Colorado), but the layoffs didn’t affect the festival, which is funded by Outside Inc. with the help of ticket sales, food, beverage, merchandise sales and more than a hundred sponsors. This year, one of those sponsors was Colorado’s Economic Development Commission, which contributed a grant of around $300,000.
Outside Days
While many attend the festival for the headlining music acts, it’s also an event for outdoor enthusiasts of all levels. “Whether you’re a hardcore hiker/biker/climber/skier or you’re just getting ready to go on your first hike or have a sandwich in the park, we consider that part of our mission of getting outside, and our mission is to get everyone outside,” Outside Inc. Chief Experience Officer Chris Jerard told Westword in May.
Outside Days will take place May 28–31 at the Auraria Campus, 1201 Fifth Street.
