Outside Festival Will Celebrate Colorado's Truly Great Outdoors June 1-2

The first-ever Outside Festival will take over Civic Center Park June 1-2, filling it with a celebration of everything outdoors, including adventure films, speakers, immersive experiences and live music acts ranging from Fleet Foxes to Thundercat, Lettuce, Andrew Bird, Say She She, The Heavy Heavy and more.

“The outdoors is the lifeblood industry of the State of Colorado, contributing more than $62 billion to the state and supporting over 500,000 jobs — that’s 18 percent of the workforce in Colorado,” said Conor Hall, director of Colorado’s Outdoor Recreation Industry Office, in announcing the new festival. “Historically, Colorado’s outdoor industry has not had a voice that is relative to its size and importance. With the Outside Festival, we are creating a gathering that unifies our voice and empowers the industry and community it represents.”

Colorado is also filling a gap left when the Outdoor Retailer show returned to Utah after five years in this state; Hall has high hopes of turning this festival into the outdoor equivalent of South by Southwest in Austin. His office is partnering with Boulder-based Outside Interactive and Visit Denver on the event.

Early-bird tickets for the Outside Festival start at $39 for a single-day general admission, $59 for the full weekend, and $103 for VIP; you can reserve them starting today.

Here's more on the lineup:

Music: Thundercat, Lettuce and Say She She will headline the festival on Saturday, June 1, followed by Fleet Foxes, Andrew Bird and The Heavy Heavy on Sunday, June 2. Popular Colorado bands will be added to the lineup.

Film & Ideas Summit: The Denver Art Museum will offer screenings of everything from documentaries to adventure films, working in partnership with the Boulder International Film Festival, Telluride’s Mountainfilm Festival, and the Mountains of Color Film Festival. There will also be speakers ranging from Diane Nyad to Shaun White.

Gear: The Outside Festival will include vendors and demos as well as the latest from the Outside Lab @ CU Denver, a state-of-the-art gear-testing facility.

Festival Experiences: Other offerings will include yoga and wellness classes, as well as kid-focused activities from Denver’s Museum of Nature & Science.The North Face’s climbing wall will feature climbing competitions, while Adaptive Adventures will provide an accessible climbing experience.

Find out more here.