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Seven Peaks Music Festival to put Colorado on stage

Along with several other big-name country music stars, the three-day, multi-stage camping festival will also rely heavily on its surroundings.

BUENA VISTA – Although he lives in Nashville, country music's Dierks Bentley says he wants a regular gig in Colorado.

So every Labor Day weekend, starting this summer, he plans to headline a new music festival in Buena Vista, about a two-hour drive outside Denver.

Along with several other big-name country music stars, the three-day, multi-stage camping festival will also rely heavily on its surroundings.

“You couldn’t have asked for a better location for what we were looking for,” Bentley said while visiting Denver’s Fillmore Auditorium to promote the inaugural Seven Peaks Music Festival. “I love Colorado, love the mountains. I’m trying to create a festival that includes music and my love of family, friends and community and these mountains and these environments.”

Bentley is working with the live entertainment company Live Nation to organize Seven Peaks, a name that refers to the seven 14ers that can be seen from the farm hosting the festival.

“It takes your breath away,” President of Country Touring at Live Nation Brian O’Connell said. “Right on the Continental Divide, right in the Collegiate Peaks – yeah, you can see mountains all over the place – that particular view though – there’s something about it that just captured the magic for me.”

A few artists who've already announced they'll play at Seven Peaks include Miranda Lambert, Brothers Osborne, Elle King, LANCO, Del McCoury, Sam Bush and The Cadillac Three.

“Our mission is to create an incredible country music community in this gorgeous spot,” O’Connell said.

That spot is about one mile from downtown Buena Vista on the bank of Cottonwood Creek.

It’s a hay farm that belongs to real estate developer Jed Selby and his family.

“It’s really an interesting piece of property,” Selby said. “It was the original homestead in the area, and it has the oldest water right on Cottonwood Creek.”

Selby’s love of live music inspired him to try and turn the farm into a live music venue years ago.He has already hosted two music festivals on the property, which is 277 acres with a mile of Cottonwood Creek frontage and a two-acre pond surrounded by a beach.

Jed Selby

“I think the thing that really resonates with Dierks is just the sheer beauty of the place,” Selby said. “It’s the big mountain views, the beach with the pond. It’s the phenomenal camping options. It’s really a perfect place to hold a multi-day camping festival.”

Organizers hope fans and locals will eventually view the festival as a part of Colorado’s culture.

“I want it to become – and it’s Dierks’ vision as well – I want this to become part of the fabric of the state of Colorado,” O’Connell said.

“The town – I want the town to be happy,” Bentley said. “I want everyone that lives here to be psyched about our involvement and walk away with a good taste in their mouth and want us to come back and be a part of the community and to introduce country fans to Colorado that hadn’t been here before – and just the feeling you get when you’re looking up at these mountains and blue skies and just, with friends and – just, it’s a great feeling you can’t describe unless you’re experiencing it.”

Three-day passes for the festival go on sale, beginning April 20 at 10 a.m. at sevenpeaksfestival.com.

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