Redstone’s Fourth of July parade is just around the corner, and this year it’s going to look a bit different. As locals have seen with the Carbondale Wild West Rodeo, growth has given way to more structure in what is ceasing to be the Wild West.
The Aspen Daily News printed a story on June 10, breaking the news that Pitkin County is requiring the Redstone parade receive a permit beginning this year. The Sopris Sun sat down with the Redstone Community Association (RCA), which organizes the annual event, to get its take.
Katie Lowery has served as the treasurer for RCA for about four years, but has lived in Redstone for the past 20. She attended her first Fourth of July parade on the Boulevard in 2004.
“I think the only way it’s grown is the amount of people who attend it. The actual parade and festivities themselves have been the same,” clarified Lowery.
She added that they don’t even advertise for the parade anymore, with the exception of social media — and even there, there’s not much of a following. “It’s just known,” she said.
Every year, the parade goes back and forth on the Boulevard, earning the distinction of “the only parade you get to see twice!” There’s a water fight (organized by Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection District) and a ducky derby race. The activities take place over a few hours, and then the village is deserted (at least of visitors).
“People start showing up around 10 in the morning and they’re gone by 2 or 3 o’clock,” said RCA board member Josh Wamboldt.
Wambolt, who owns Avalanche Outfitters, has helped coordinate the horse-drawn wagons in the parade — namely, the Grand Marshall. This year, however, he’ll be focused on parking. Or, as he put it, “trying to coordinate the excessive parking change we have to make.”
That’s what Pitkin County’s reasoning comes down to: parking and traffic and how that can affect public safety.
“Last year, I think we had cars a half mile down on both sides of Highway 133, plus almost half a mile up Coal Basin Road and behind the coke ovens,” said Wamboldt.
In November 2022, the RCA received an email from Pitkin County Community Development, expressing concerns about the amount of people that were attending events in Redstone, and wanted to begin discussions around permits. Since then, the county has joined at least three of RCA’s board meetings.
Lowery began working on the permits in March of this year and discovered they’d need a $1 million insurance policy which ended up costing just shy of $400. “So, not as bad as we thought it would be,” she stated.
Wamboldt pitched the idea of closing one side of Highway 133 for parking, and keeping one lane open for alternating traffic controlled by temporary traffic lights, but that didn’t quite cut it for the county. Instead, parking will be spread out between Coal Basin Road, Elk Park and between the Fire Station and the North Bridge on Redstone Boulevard. There will be flaggers at the coke ovens to stop traffic and guide attendees across Highway 133. But, parking coordination, from Wamboldt’s understanding, falls on RCA volunteers of whom he fears there will be a deficiency.
An A-1 Traffic Control estimate came back at around $3,500 for the event, which Pitkin County offered to pay this year. But, Lowery expressed that RCA has a modest budget and is concerned that the annual fee could have a big impact on the nonprofit’s coffers in the future. Accordingly, RCA considered charging an admittance fee for the parade, but decided not to this year considering other changes spectators will face.
The RCA is also concerned that the county will require permits for other events, including the Grand Illumination. When asked if the county is considering requiring permits for other events in Redstone, Pitkin County Undersheriff Alex Bruchetta simply stated, “To my knowledge, no other event in Redstone attracts attendees at the level of the Redstone [Fourth of July] Parade.”
“We want people to know that the RCA is here, and we are doing everything we can to stay and continue to put on these events,” said Lowery. “But, in order to do that we have to have donations. We have to have volunteers. We’re going to need help.”
Visit www.redstonecolorado.com/rca to sign up to volunteer, donate or to learn more about RCA.