The Outside Festival, which drew more than 35,000 attendees to Denver’s Civic Center Park in June, is moving to a new location with a new name next year.
Outside Days will be at Denver’s Auraria Campus next year, with a two-day industry conference May 28-29 and three-day festival with 16 musical acts, films and presentations running May 29-31, the weekend after Memorial Day.
“The whole longtime vision has always been to take over as much of downtown that the global outdoor community could fill, from Confluence to Civic Center,” said Christopher Jerard, the head of the two-year festival hosted by Boulder’s media juggernaut Outside Inc. in partnership with the Colorado outdoor recreation office. “This actually brings us one step closer to that vision.”
Outside didn’t necessarily want to move out of Civic Center, but the city of Denver last week launched a $50 million overhaul of the venerable park, the first phase of which will stretch into the summer of 2027.
The second annual festival drew more than 35,000 people in early June, doubling its debut in 2024. The two-day Outdoor Summit before the two-day music festival drew almost 1,000 outdoor industry business owners, policymakers and athletes.
Next year Outside Inc. will host three nights of music at a larger site on the Auraria Campus, with a festival that will include films and presentations by outdoor luminaries. The Thursday and Friday before the festival will include a job fair and startup company competition as part of the Outdoor Summit gathering of industry leaders. The summit also will include a gathering for endurance event organizers and a travel business forum, said Jerard, the chief experience officer for Outside.
“Four days just stacked with true South By Southwest programming across the board,” said Jerard, noting the global Austin gathering as the inspiration behind Outdoor Days.
Outside expects to announce musical acts and early ticket sales for the 2026 event next month.