Location, location, location may be on the mind of a Colorado winter music festival that’s hunting for a new home following news that officials in Breckenridge have dashed relocation plans.
AEG’s SnowBall Music Festival, which took place in the town of Avon for the past two years, announced in June the event had “outgrown its current location.”
“We understand it is in our best interest to focus on finding a long term area that will simplify many of the costly logistical challenges for us and our fans,” a statement said at the time.
With that in mind, SnowBall organizers apparently approached the town of Breckenridge in recent weeks to float the idea of hosting the 2013 installment of the fest.
But Breckenridge leaders balked at the more than 100 drug- and alcohol-related arrests that occurred during last year’s SnowBall, according to the Summit Daily News.
“This is an event that I can’t really back,” Breckenridge Mayor John Warner told the paper. “There was a medical emergency aspect to the Avon experience. There were over 20 rushes to the hospital for alcohol and substance abuse overdoses. I just worry about that happening in our community.”
AEG Director of Operations Rob Thomas explained the problems stemmed from “the way that Avon approached it,” the Summit noted.
“These same artists play Red Rocks, which is a city-owned venue, all summer long without incident,” he said “That’s the bottom line with it, is it works at Red Rocks.”
This year’s SnowBall March 2-4 featured performances from Snoop Dogg, Bassnectar, Rusko and TV On The Radio, among others.