Thank You For A Great Summer Celebration by Anne Janik

A traditional summer festival activity is the pie-eating contest! Both adults and kids had a chance to gobble up !

Bring on the Summer Outdoor Festival on Memorial Day weekend brought several hundred youth and families to River Bottom Park to join in a fun summer celebration! The festival was an opportunity to bring our community together and be outside enjoying games, food, and music. There was something for everyone. The idea behind the festival was to engage kids and families in outdoor activities that they could continue to do  throughout summer.  Organizations that provide summer programs, workshops and camps for youth were encouraged to participate and engage kids and families with a taste of their offerings for the summer.

As part of the festival, a skateboard contest drew 17 competitors of all levels including Ollie Graves, an upcoming athlete from Western Colorado with Olympic potential. Prizes were awarded to the top three contestants in the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels as well as for the highest air, and best trick. The skate maneuvers were artistic and innovative attracting over 150 observers. Junktown Clothing and La Familia Music Group (LFMG) sponsored the contest.  The competition drew teens and young adults to the festival. "We hope Montrose will be part of a regional competition and we can continue to host this as an annual event," said Johnny Sales, competition host. Other outdoor sports included a basketball tournament sponsored by Dripping Industries and disc golf sponsored by Aces Flys Dyes. "It was great to have the community come together at this festival and to see the teens and young adults wanting to participate in it. These types of events are needed in our community and we plan to provide more fun events like this in the future," said Edgar Quiroz, of LFMG Music Academy and festival co- organizer. In addition, a few timeless festival events included the cornhole tournament, pie-eating contest, and the ducky races - all with great prizes provided by Hot Water Productions, Mi Mexico, Fiesta Guadalajara, and Tacos and Beer. Safeway and City Market (South) provided the delicious pies!

The Montrose Art Guild is hosting several summer youth art workshops and organized a bird art activity that attracted many young artists. After creating their own birds, kids were able to learn to identify common local birds with representatives from the Black Canyon Audubon Society. A few other activities included a fossil dig, displays of dinosaur skulls, rock painting, chalk art, bubble play, face painting, bouncy house, backyard games, free books for summer reading and much more.      
A Time to Dance featured several dance style demos as teasers to their summer dance programs, and Montrose Surf and Cycle provided wave surfing demos. The One Takers provided live music. LFMG Music Academy brought out a student artist to perform music he has been working on at the Academy during a short jam session.

The festival is the primary fundraiser for the nonprofit Friends of Youth and Nature (FOYAN).  All proceeds will help FOYAN cover the cost of getting more kids outside, which has been proven to help kids build confidence, resilience, healthy lifestyles, and skills for problem solving. One of FOYAN'S goals is to remove the barriers for our local youth to participate in nature experiences that build these traits.  FOYAN helps cover the cost of bus transportation for many school district field trips, provides scholarships for underserved youth and other community youth for camps, assists with costs associated with field trips and nature learning events, and will expand available items in the free outdoor gear library for youth partners of FOYAN in Montrose and Ouray Counties.  

"We would like to thank our community members for their support of the event and our efforts to get more kids engaged in healthy, active outdoor activities. This event could not have been such a success without our sponsors, all the organizations that provided an assortment of summer activities for our youth and the invaluable volunteers that helped  Bring on the summer - Outdoor Festival" said Anita Evans, FOYAN Chair  We hope families and kids attending the festival took home a few new ideas for summer.  Please join the fun next year and help us get more kids outside!

Thank You to all the providers of youth activities for the festival:  Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Colorado Canyons Association, Montrose Regional Library, Bill Heddles Recreation Center, the Montrose Recreation District, The Museum of Western Colorado, Montrose Art Guild,  Hispanic Affairs Project, Audubon Society, Metaphorse (horse therapy), Montrose City Youth Council (all around festival help), Black Canyon Boys and Girls Club,  Partners West (cornhole, ducky races), Second Chance Humane Society, Girl Scouts of Colorado, and Boy Scout Troops (490 and 491).

List of Sponsors:
Platinum ($1000+)
Western Colorado Community Foundation
Colorado Health Foundation
The Kampe Foundation
Montrose Hardware
LFMG Music Academy
 
Bronze ($500+)
Circle of Dreams Foundation
Montrose Community Foundation
City of Montrose
Bank of Colorado
Grove Street Alchemy
High Country Beverage
Montrose Daily Press
Colorado Boy Brewing
Hot Water Productions
 
Silver ($250)
Chow Down Pet Supply
Rocky Mountain Ice
 
Bronze ($100+)
Davis Service Center
Montrose Ford Nissan
Peer Kindness
Alpine Bank
San Juan Coffee House