Denver, Colorado is looking to become home to the next music festival giant. The city and local music industry leaders have working together to bring a huge Coachella-Like music festival to an area within the Overland Park neighborhood. The purposed location of said music festival is at the Overland Golf Course (the oldest in the sate). The golf course is consider public land and Denver officials see the location as a way to turn a huge profit to the city and return some of that profit back to the Overland Park area.
Denver Parks and Recreation division of Golf marketing pictures of Overland Golf Course in Denver, CO., Tuesday, June. 11, 2014. (Photo by Barry Gutierrez)
Representatives of the Denver's Mayor Michael Hancock said the festival could bring in an estimated $1-$2.5 million dollars to the city and, “if all goes as planned, much more to the corporations that say they will donate some of the revenue to local nonprofits”. Although some of this money is slatted to return back to the Overland Park neighborhood, the director of finance said that the current Mayor will likely face opposition in the next election and that another mayor may want to us the money differently. Many of the other local officials also advocated for the money to return to the neighborhood.
Though the festival is just now making it's first appearances in headlines, the festival has be in the making for almost half a decade at this point. AEG Live Rocky Mountains has been a part of planning and conceptualizing the festival since 2010, which was the same year their “Mile High Festival” folded due in part to the Great Recession causing the festival to not turn large enough profits. The CEO of AEG Live Rocky Mountains said that the festival is far from guaranteed to be held at the Overland Park Golf Course or even in Denver for that matter but it seems that has been the location of interest so far.
As far as locals are concerned, at a meeting on January 30th locals seemed spilt on whether to sacrifice peace and quiet on the greens for the festival. Some activists in favor lobbied that the economic benefits of holding the festival were enough reason to move forward with the event, but their was definitely opposition. opposing activists argued that renting our public land to the highest bidder is a dangerous precedent for city to set. David Ehrlich, the consultant for AEG Live Rocky Mountain's CEO, presented other AEG live events successes as leverage showing encouraging numbers on how the festivals benefited the surrounding communities, but failed to mention any of the concerns those communities faced about noise, litter, and safety; Three things that surround all music festivals no matter how big or small. These concerns were inevitably brought about by meeting attendees and is a problem that needs to be address by all music festivals and their attendees. 
As far as the likelihood of Denver becoming the the next major music festival destination, it seems only time will tell as the city continues debate on the pros and cons of making such a huge decision.
