When Colorado’s cannabis tourism scene first emerged in 2014, longtime tour guide Erich Roeseler saw a business opportunity. But permitting was tricky in the budding industry, so rather than hosting dispensary and grow tours, he pivoted to a shuttle service.
“We [would] pick you up at the airport, take you to a dispensary and then drop you off at your hotel,” he explains. It was a successful model for several years, but with many other states now having legalized recreational use, Roeseler has focused efforts on a different tourism driver: Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Last year, it was the third-most-visited music venue in the world, according to Billboard.
So Roeseler created Party at Red Rocks a couple years ago, after coming up with the idea through small talk with passengers. After picking them up from DIA, he would ask what visitors were in town for, and the answer often included a concert at the iconic venue. One day, a group requested a ride there, and everything clicked.
“It just kept becoming more and more,” recalls Roeseler. “People would say, ‘Can we stop at a liquor store on the way?’ and I’d be like, ‘Yeah, that’s cool.’”
But he admits that dropping clients off on the side of the road with a six-pack felt incomplete. Eventually, Roeseler started bringing along a cooler and a Bluetooth speaker and offering a full tailgate experience in the Upper North Lot, just outside the venue’s entrance.
“We [would] pick you up at the airport, take you to a dispensary and then drop you off at your hotel,” he explains. It was a successful model for several years, but with many other states now having legalized recreational use, Roeseler has focused efforts on a different tourism driver: Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Last year, it was the third-most-visited music venue in the world, according to Billboard.
So Roeseler created Party at Red Rocks a couple years ago, after coming up with the idea through small talk with passengers. After picking them up from DIA, he would ask what visitors were in town for, and the answer often included a concert at the iconic venue. One day, a group requested a ride there, and everything clicked.
“It just kept becoming more and more,” recalls Roeseler. “People would say, ‘Can we stop at a liquor store on the way?’ and I’d be like, ‘Yeah, that’s cool.’”
But he admits that dropping clients off on the side of the road with a six-pack felt incomplete. Eventually, Roeseler started bringing along a cooler and a Bluetooth speaker and offering a full tailgate experience in the Upper North Lot, just outside the venue’s entrance.
Now, Party at Red Rocks is expanding that service by hosting pre-concert parties in the Lower South Lot on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Roeseler anticipates drawing a crowd of around fifty guests for each show. Priced at $65 per person, the package includes tailgating essentials — shade structures, chairs, speakers and access to ice-stocked coolers — as well as a round-trip shuttle ride.
Attendees can opt for pick-up at either the Daniels and Fisher clocktower, at 1601 Arapahoe Street in downtown Denver, or the Fox Theatre, at 1135 13th Street in Boulder. From these locations, its fifteen-seat shuttles will depart for Red Rocks, making a thirty-minute detour at a shopping complex just off I-70 at the Morrison exit. Featuring a Maverik convenience store, a liquor store, Outcrop Dispensary and three restaurants with online pre-ordering, this one stop allows guests to collect everything else needed for a visit to Red Rocks.
Party at Red Rocks will also offer two pick-up times, with 4 p.m. being the more standard option among shuttle companies. But with its 2 p.m. pick-up, guests have more time to experience the park’s hiking trails, the Red Rocks visitor center and other things to do near the venue. However, both pick-up windows allow ample time to enjoy the party, with the tailgate setup remaining through 8 p.m.
Party guests are free to come and go, but those familiar with Red Rocks know that the Lower South Lot is quite a trek from the venue’s entrance. To save patrons the lung-busting walk, which is even more exhausting when adjusting to the altitude, a Party at Red Rocks vehicle will make intermittent trips up the hill.
“All the other shuttle companies, they just meet at a bar. You get some deals on drinks there or whatever. But for the most part, it's a ride out there and a ride back. You don't really get much of an experience,” says Roeseler, adding that he's surprised pre-concert lot parties aren’t already a thing.
Book tickets to be part of the first celebration on Friday, August 30, ahead of REZZ Rocks VI.
Party at Red Rocks will launch its Lower South Lot pre-concert parties on August 30.
Party at Red Rocks
Attendees can opt for pick-up at either the Daniels and Fisher clocktower, at 1601 Arapahoe Street in downtown Denver, or the Fox Theatre, at 1135 13th Street in Boulder. From these locations, its fifteen-seat shuttles will depart for Red Rocks, making a thirty-minute detour at a shopping complex just off I-70 at the Morrison exit. Featuring a Maverik convenience store, a liquor store, Outcrop Dispensary and three restaurants with online pre-ordering, this one stop allows guests to collect everything else needed for a visit to Red Rocks.
Party at Red Rocks will also offer two pick-up times, with 4 p.m. being the more standard option among shuttle companies. But with its 2 p.m. pick-up, guests have more time to experience the park’s hiking trails, the Red Rocks visitor center and other things to do near the venue. However, both pick-up windows allow ample time to enjoy the party, with the tailgate setup remaining through 8 p.m.
Party guests are free to come and go, but those familiar with Red Rocks know that the Lower South Lot is quite a trek from the venue’s entrance. To save patrons the lung-busting walk, which is even more exhausting when adjusting to the altitude, a Party at Red Rocks vehicle will make intermittent trips up the hill.
“All the other shuttle companies, they just meet at a bar. You get some deals on drinks there or whatever. But for the most part, it's a ride out there and a ride back. You don't really get much of an experience,” says Roeseler, adding that he's surprised pre-concert lot parties aren’t already a thing.
Book tickets to be part of the first celebration on Friday, August 30, ahead of REZZ Rocks VI.
