The Pitkin County Board of County Commissioners received an update Tuesday on the 2026 Up in the Sky Festival held on Buttermilk by Belly Up Concerts LLC Aug. 7 and 8.

Up in the Sky debuted in Aspen in 2025, and the Concert Series was then issued a three-year Special Event Permit for 2026 through 2028. Because of the size and duration of the event — the original application from July 2024 was a concert for 16,000 attendees — the Community Development Director referred the application to the Board of County Commissioners for consideration.

According to an economic impact study performed by Angelou Economics, a third-party company that has worked with major international events and corporate clients, this year’s iteration of the event contributed $193.2 million to the regional economy — the equivalent of 947 full time jobs — with over $67.2 million in labor incomes paid to regional employees.

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The top sectors by economic output were air travel ($45.2 million), hotels ($40.9 million) and food and beverage ($36.5 million).

“The numbers are astronomical,” Commissioner Greg Poschman commented, joking it could help pay for the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport.

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The report states the analysis of the Up In The Sky economic impact is comprised of two models: festival operations and attendee expenditures.

“Festival operations data was provided by Belly Up Concerts and were used to generate the festival operations model,” the report states. “The attendee expenditures model was created using inputs from survey data and assumptions estimating the amount of money spent by attendants on various categories of expenditures.”

For local economic activity, the report determines that the festival brought in an estimated $42.4 million. Aspen employees were paid over $5.5 million in labor income as a result of the festival operations.

“For every dollar spent at the festival, a portion recirculates through the local economy, suppliers get paid, employees spend their wages locally, and so on,” the report states.

But there were still a number of suggestions to improve the overall event and experience next year. Noise, traffic and transit impacts were the primary complaints from local departments and community members. 

According to the staff report, Belly Up Concerts contracted Hermes motor coach services to provide transportation to and from the Buttermilk Parking Lot, with shuttle services to and from Wagner Park in Aspen, the Brush Creek Park and Ride and two locations in Snowmass — Town Park and Base Village. RFTA provided additional support in Aspen and Snowmass and the town of Snowmass Village added two extra local buses, calculating a 2.5% (700 people per day) increase in demand for buses.

The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority also added 10 additional buses to the Buttermilk Route with an estimated additional 20 trips into Aspen and the Brush Creek Park and Ride provided above regular scheduled service. Buses were reported as at capacity from the event, and the report states that “local bus users expressed difficulty getting on buses at times due to the number of people on the regular service lines.”

Belly Up Concerts did strategically provided small after-party events on site to stagger the exit and decrease the length of the shuttle lines. 

Belly Up Concerts also had a contract with a towing company during the event, and approximately four vehicles were towed.  

While Belly Up Concerts obtained a Noise Variance from Pitkin County Environmental Health prior to the event, noise complaints were received during this year, according to the report. County staff wrote that the Aspen Music Festival shared they received multiple complaints from members of the audience during the music festival’s 5:30 p.m. concert on Friday. 

County staff additionally confirmed that the concert site was “restored to its former condition after the event,” although Pitkin County Public Works mentioned that debris in the Buttermilk Lot could have been cleaned up more quickly. The Brush Creek Park and Ride was also reported to have “some trash after the event.”

Improvement recommendations for 2027

A number of local agencies requested what the staff report called “small improvements” for the 2027 iteration of Up in the Sky.

According to the notes, the sheriff and public safety put in a request for communication with all vendors, not just food vendors, about proper food storage and removal of scented attractants each evening. They also expressed there should also be increase physical signage and announcements at buses and shuttles, as well as within the venue itself, regarding no smoking and the risk of fire danger.

The documents outlining the general layout of the venue, the Buttermilk Lot, the Brush Creek Park and Ride and Wagner Park were not submitted within an adequate timeframe ahead of the festival, and need to be submitted to the county for 2027 at least 90 days prior to the event. 

Public Works requested increased communication with regard to the movement of barricades and use of the Buttermilk commuter lot, as well as a need to ensure the Buttermilk Lot, Wagner Park and Brush Creek Park are all fully cleaned immediately after the event. 

The location and number of toilets should also be reviewed for next year, according to the report, as well as enhanced communication with Public Works regarding overnight parking of buses at Brush Creek Park and Ride. 

Public Works additionally requested that the event provide space for commuter parking at the Buttermilk Lot and the Brush Creek Park and Ride in 2027.

RFTA is requesting a method of driving passengers to use dedicated shuttle buses instead of local RFTA buses post-event, in addition to the provision of more fencing and crowd control at the Buttermilk Lot once people begin leaving the venue and are directed to RFTA bus stops.

Other requests include “increased wayfinding signage in the Brush Creek Park and Ride to direct concert attendees from the RFTA area to the staging areas dedicated to the event” and that all the Hermes shuttles and buses coming into the city of Aspen come in on Original Street — and shuttles do not have permission to use Rubey Park as a turnaround. 

RFTA added that, as the event continues to increase in scope, there may be a need for funding assistance to offset operational costs. 

The city of Aspen requested that “buses pulled too far forward at Wagner Park,” and that extra trash pick-up and additional crew to manage passengers offloading at Rubey Park were needed, among other things.

The town of Snowmass requested concert shuttles pick-up and drop-off at the Snowmass Mall — concert goers expressed confusion about where to find the Skittles Lift and concert shuttles, leading to what the report calls “safety concerns” as groups of concert goers walked down Carriage Way in search of a shuttle, since there was no pick-up at the Snowmass Mall.

According to the county staff report, an oily substance also appeared puddled in the Brush Creek Park and Ride lot Thursday prior to the event.

“Nobody knew where it came from; the event subsequently was blamed,” the report reads, “but it wound up being the City of Aspen.”

Commissioner feedback

Commissioners ultimately expressed continued support of the Up in the Sky festival at Tuesday’s work session, asking that Michael Goldberg and his sons, David and Danny, address the issues that arose this year in anticipation of next year.

“Little things that kind of went off the rails, they’re trivial, but they’re not trivial if it happens again next year,” Poschman said. “The one concern that comes back again are the complaints from the Aspen Music Festival that your festival is ruining the experience of their festival. For me that’s a real problem. We have to fix that.”

He stressed that the Aspen Music Festival is an essential part of the city’s cultural community, as the Belly Up concerts are becoming, noting, “they shouldn’t be in conflict.”

Michael Goldberg responded that he was already speaking with the Aspen Music Festival and School’s new President and CEO Meghan Martineau Umber, and they will be meeting in the next two weeks with the goal of better integrating the music school into the festival.

“I don’t know what more to offer than that,” he said. “We’ll do a better job next year.”

The Goldbergs also assured commissioners that they are constantly looking to implement new technology that will improve sound containment.

“What really impresses me is how quickly you guys respond to issues,” Commissioner Patti Clapper said. “I’m excited about seeing it move forward in the future and seeing where it goes.”

Commissioner Ted Mahon agreed he was looking forward to seeing how the festival progresses with integration of the provided feedback.

“You’re not going to execute perfectly right away,” he said. “We see that with other events that have been going on for decades … For two nights, I think the resort town can handle this.”

Chair Jeffrey Woodruff commended Belly Up Concerts’ modification to the site plan, management of drought and wildfire conditions in year two and innovations with transportation.

“Thanks for being collaborative,” he said. “Thanks for working with us.”

David Goldberg thanked commissioners and county staff for the feedback, emphasizing the desire to address the concerns and requests and improve year-over-year.

“It’s just about getting better every year and taking the feedback and taking the criticism and taking the positives and building upon the positives and finding a way to address the issues we did have,” he said.

No formal action was requested of the board at this time.

Original reporting from aspentimes.com