Behind the Scenes of WinterWonderGrass, "A Festival Inside a Snow Globe"

Building a bluegrass festival in the dead of the Colorado winter might have seemed like a “terrible idea” back in 2012, Scotty Stoughton admits, but now WinterWonderGrass Steamboat is the preeminent musical event during this time of year.

“It wasn’t created with this strategy like, ‘Let’s build it. Let’s grow it. Let’s sell it. Let’s dominate.’ It was more like, ‘Let’s do something that feels really good for all parties — bands, community, nonprofits, staff,’” the festival founder says.

And it did. Following the success of the inaugural WinterWonderGrass, which took place in the parking lot of the former Crazy Mountain Brewery in Edwards, the fest moved to California’s Lake Tahoe and then Nottingham Park in Avon, before settling into its current home of Steamboat Springs in 2017. There have also been annual editions in Tahoe and Manchester, Vermont, Stoughton’s early stomping grounds, though this year’s California festival gave way to the first BajaWonderGrass in Baja California Sur, Mexico.

“After we did it a couple years, it just felt so good on so many levels. It didn’t matter what band was there, it didn’t matter where we were,” Stoughton explains. “We just have this goal to create culture and a really warm, loving, high-vibing space. Once we realized we weren’t alone in our desire to commune like that, we knew that this would be around for a longtime in any way — big, small, didn’t matter.”

This year, WinterWonderGrass Steamboat weekend is Friday, February 28, through Sunday, March 2, at Steamboat Ski Resort. The lineup Friday includes Shadowgrass, the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, Pickin’ on The Dead, Sam Bush Band and Kitchen Dwellers. On Saturday, the Fretliners, Mountain Grass Unit, the Brothers Comatose, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country and Leftover Salmon play. The fest culminates on Sunday with Pixie & the Partygrass Boys, WinterWonderWomen, Yonder Mountain String Band, the California Honeydrops and Trampled by Turtles. Whew, what a list.

But there’s even more to do throughout the three days surrounding the main stage, including late-night sets, craft beer tastings, an on-mountain diner, free performances, a kids zone and music workshops through a partnership with the Coletrain Music Academy (the nonprofit started by Yonder Mountain String Band violinist Coleman Smith).

Stoughton, who fronts his own longtime band Bonfire Dub, is still in awe at times and invariably appreciative for everything his initial DIY initiative currently encompasses, including the RiverWonderGrass series he started six years ago that puts musicians and fans on rafts and sends them playing and partying down the river in Dinosaur National Monument.

“It’s nurturing an idea and letting it grow and succeed as it’s meant to without manipulation,” he says of the wider WinterWonderGrass community.

“We always say culture trumps strategy. There’s never been a plan. Our intention was more like, ‘I want to grow old around this musical community and hand it over but still participate until I go to the next level, the next phase, the next life.’”
Nothing is more powerful than creating core memories, he continues. The bands that brave the elements never forget such sets either, according to Dave Simonett, the harmonica-playing lead singer and guitarist of Trampled by Turtles.

The Duluth, Minnesota, bluegrass group is no stranger to inclement weather. In fact, the band recently went on a winter run through Wisconsin, so Steamboat’s forecast won’t be a surprise. Trampled by Turtles aren’t rookies, either. Simonett recalls picking through a blizzard during the band’s last WinterWonderGrass appearance in 2019 and how he’s grown to embrace whatever happens once the music starts.

“It can be five degrees outside. That used to scare the hell out of me. Your fingers don’t work right. You can’t keep anything in tune. It’s really not an ideal environment for putting on a professional concert,” he says with a laugh. “But what that weather does is it makes people fully let go of that, like, ‘You know what? Screw it. Just go up there.’ It’s been some of the most fun. You just let all the ego go. Everybody’s cold. It strips down to this level that I really now enjoy.”

While it’s certainly a challenge, the point isn’t necessarily to play perfectly, he adds, but that everyone’s there together.

“It really adds this element of fun to it, especially because the crowd is ready for it and they kind of like it,” Simonett says. “It’s pretty amazing to see. It’s one thing to play a show in that shit, but then to see a crowd and nobody leaves. There are a lot of places where they’d cancel a show. It’s really one of my favorite towns I’ve ever been on stage.”

For Stoughton, that’s what it’s all about, and what WinterWonderGrass is and always will be.

“For me to hear that, that’s an amazing nod of appreciation and acknowledgement that we’re something special. I don’t look at us like something special. I look at us like we’re doing the best we can to make something great,” he says, adding that “we’re all in the snow globe together.”

“Anybody can throw an event in the summertime. It’s a little bit crazy to do it in the winter,” Stoughton concludes. “The challenges are insurmountable on many levels, but the result is something so unique and wonderful to share.”

WinterWonderGrass Steamboat, 2-10 p.m. Friday, February 28, 2-10 p.m. Saturday, March 1, and 2-9 p.m. Sunday, March 2, Steamboat Ski Resort's Upper Knoll parking lot near Mount Werner Circle. Three-day passes are $300.