Brought to you buy the City of Glenwood Springs, C4 Waterman, Kavu, Aspen Sup School, Teva and more, the Rocky Mountain Surf Festival brings a dose of the beach to the mountains. It also includes the American Rivers Raft Trash Rescue Regatta, a raft adventure/trash pickup event.
“It’s an awesome time,” says organizer Paul Tefft. “Water levels won’t be as high as last year, but there’s still plenty to host a great stand-up festival. We’re expecting lots of people.”
DOWNRIVER – June 9th
The Downriver is a timed event starting at the top of the Whitewater Park. The race will feature mass starts in each division from the eddy above the park’s river wave. Competitors will entertain the festival-goers as they charge through Glenwood Springs’ legendary whitewater feature. After the race competitors will head back up to the park for the next round of stand up paddling action.
SUPCROSS – June 9th
The SUPcross will also take place at Glenwood Springs’ world famous park. This crash and burn packed event is similar to boarder/skier cross races. Contestants will be seeded by their times in the Downriver and will compete in knock out heats made up of 4 competitors. The entrants will line up at the launch site and with a mass start paddle upriver and around a gate then peal out into the main current. The race continues through the G-Wave and then the competitors have to eddy out in the swirling current and negotiate an upstream gate before charging downriver to the finish line. It promises to be one of the biggest crowd-pleasers of the festival.
SURF – June 10th
The Whitewater Stand Up Paddling Championship’s culmination will be a surfing contest on the main wave at the Glenwood Springs Whitewater Park. A traditional surfboard contests will also be held (the Alpine Quest Sports River Surfing Championship, featuring both short and long board competitions.
MOUNTAIN LUAU – June 9th-10th
The Glenwood Springs Whitewater Park is the hub of action throughout the festival, with a PBR Beer Garden, prizes and the PBR Limbo. “There will be endless activities to entertain the crowd at this Hawaiian-themed two-day long riverside rage,” says Tefft. “Costumes are encouraged and spot prizes will be awarded throughout the festival to those with the most outrageous outfits. Come join us at this riparian surfing paradise for excitement packed competitions and parties.”
EnviroAction Productions has also teamed up with the Colorado River Surfing Association and American Rivers to create the American Rivers Raft Trash Rescue Regatta June 10. The regatta features raft teams floating from Two Rivers Park on the Colorado River down to the surf festival at the Glenwood Springs Whitewater Park. “Costumes are encouraged; Polynesian themed outfits are a good fit, but anything goes…the more outrageous the garb the better,” adds Tefft.
American Rivers’ National River Cleanup is a series of nationwide community-based river and stream cleanups. This popular annual event raises public awareness about the need for healthy rivers and is great opportunity for civic engagement. The Rocky Mountain Surf Festival will be participating along with tens of thousands of volunteers taking part in hundreds of cleanups across the country to remove trash from local waterways.
“Participating in a river clean-up is one way that citizens can do their part for the river we all love,” says the regatta’s coordinator Chad Parsons. “Rivers connect us to each other, to nature, and to future generations.”
“It’s wonderful to see so many people in the Glenwood Springs and across the country taking action to protect and restore their rivers and clean water,” adds Bob Irvin, president of American Rivers. “We applaud the work of EnviroAction Productions for what they do on behalf of the river and the community.”
Info: info@envioractionproductions.com; (970) 923-3955.