In the two years since KBCO pulled its sponsorship of the festival that once drew 40,000 people to Boulder Reservoir, volunteers have struggled to keep the tradition alive. They held a scaled-back event last year at Twenty Ninth Street mall, and were working with Boulder’s Parks and Recreation Department to possibly hold this year’s along Boulder Creek or at a park on June 13.
“Boulder Parks and Recreation did go out of their way for us as far as they could,” volunteer Charmaine Getz said. “We simply ran out of time to meet the necessary financial and logistical requirements for renting city facilities by our scheduled event date.”
Organizers withdrew any interest in holding the event on city property Tuesday, parks department spokesman Paul Bousquet said.
Getz said Millennium Harvest House “stepped up” and offered a “very fortuitously timed offer” for the location. There won’t be water, but participants will still race the hand-made, human-powered contraptions that Kinetics was famous for, she said.
“We’re calling it an ‘urban challenge,’” she said. “We hope to have a lot of fun. We hope to raise a lot of money for charity.”
Proceeds benefit the Boulder-Broomfield County Foster/Adoptive Family Association.
Since the group had already planned on displaying the sculpture vehicles June 12 at the hotel’s garden concert series’ Friday Afternoon Club, Getz said that staying on the grounds for the next day’s festival “will work out conveniently.”
Keeping the tradition alive in Boulder is especially important for the 30th anniversary of the event, Getz said.
“This long-time Boulder tradition is one of those things that keeps Boulder unique,” she said.
Aside from a Kinetics sculpture skill test along the outer perimeter of the hotel grounds, the event will include a contest for decorated bicycles and costumed riders, said one of the organizers, Paul Bailey.
Dan Pirrallo, general manager of the hotel, said the grounds provide an ideal location.
“We’ve got 16 acres of property and quite a large garden,” Pirrallo said. “(Blue Canyon Boys) will play a free concert June 12 in the garden, and the floats will be on display.”
For Saturday’s race, the barbecue will be going and the bars will be open, Pirrallo said.