What sad news, another true festivarian passes …
Dancing Hippie
RIP
:peace
That was actually my first exposure to Pat, that exact dance to Jerry Douglas. Right after that tune someone brought back four beers in a drink holder and Pat made a mask out of the drink holder within seconds, placed the mask over his face, and off e went, dancing to Jerry’s next tune. >sigh< I need to find that picture. :medal
Iriecycle, you also bring a wonderful vibe to this place, and I thank you very much. 
Well, Pat never had anything to hide and was an honest to God true Festivarian.
He will be missed. :flower
I loved that energy. Sunburned to a crisp and danced all 4 days. LOVE em and he will be missed for sure!
Hadn’t heard, that’s very sad news Iriecycle!
I did not know Pat very well, but definitely sensed a kindred spirit in him at musical events around the area over the years … still can recall him “dancing” by running around that big cobblestone circle to the music of Joint Point last year on (ski area) closing day in the TMV plaza. He had a huge smile on his face while almost sprinting around this 20 yard diameter circle of stone, very much like a kid playing in the snow … just having fun.
I really think that this discussion of Pat needs to move to its own post topic. It’s important that people who may not care about his locals’ tickets topic know about this tragedy.
Pat was iconic. Everyone know of the “dancing guy” up in the front of the stage. I never knew him well, just had a beer and a pick with him once, but he was really a nice guy.
I also think that we festivarians who watched with awe as he shook and shimmied in the early afternoon sun should honor him with a dance of our own at a pre-planned time and day. What say you?
Oh no! He was a staple! Will definitely be missed. 
Oh no! That is awful about Pat! I danced with him many a time, in the festival grounds, at the opera house for various shows over various years, and up on the mountain a couple of years ago on the last day of ski season. Oh my gosh, that just breaks my heart. May I ask, where did this happen?
RIP my dancing friend. :dancing
If I am there, I will most certainly dance for Pat.
:thumbsup I think it will save a lot of headaches by doing it this way (although would be one to suggest considering adding single day tix to this pool in the future … since it’s a big commitment to take off 4 days of work).
http://www.telluridenews.com/articles/2012/10/18/news/doc507de2c1484ef621421591.txt
Bluegrass begins preparing for 40th
Hoping to get ahead of the curve this year for locals tickets, crowd size
By Katie Klingsporn
Editor
Published: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 6:06 AM CDT
Last year, organizers of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Telluride officials and long-time festival-goers were caught by surprise when an unprecedented demand for tickets fueled a record-breaking sell-out of the annual music festival.
Planet Bluegrass was forced to react to the demand with last minute measures and tweaks in its processes. It moved its annual locals ticket sale a month earlier, parceled out single-day tickets via an online lottery for the first time ever and even released 400 more passes for residents of San Miguel County, pushing its crowd capacity up to make room.
With its 40th Anniversary coming up and the experience under its belt, Bluegrass is hoping to get ahead of the curve this year and has already begun preparing for another big demand.
Planet Bluegrass was given permission by the Telluride Town Council last week to increase the maximum crowd size in Town Park from 11,500 to 12,000 for its 2013 festival. In addition, Planet Bluegrass is changing its local ticket option — it will be selling locals passes at a holiday discount price in November this year, much earlier than in years past.
“If next year’s anything like last year, it’s likely these tickets will be gone before Christmas,” Craig Ferguson, president of Planet Bluegrass, told the council last week over a conference line. He said Planet Bluegrass hopes to avoid a re-run of last year, when many locals accustomed to waiting until the last minute to buy their passes missed out and then were upset.
This time around, Planet Bluegrass is addressing the issue in a couple ways, according to Brian Eyster, director of communications for Planet Bluegrass.
First, it will be offering nearly three times the number of locals discount passes — 2,500 four-day passes will be available at Telluride Music Company. Second, these passes will be available in a special pre-sale during the month of November. (Tickets for the general public will be available on Dec. 5).
“We realize that purchasing tickets in November is a significant change that will require pre-planning,” Eyster said in an email. “But we feel it’s the only way to avoid last year’s ticket crunch for locals. We can’t predict the pace of this year’s ticket sales, though history has taught us that anniversary years typically generate a large initial ticket demand.”
The details of the sale are as follows:
• Planet Bluegrass will sell up to 2,500 four-day passes to residents of San Miguel County. These tickets will be available from Nov. 1-30, while supplies last.
• Tickets will be sold in-person only, exclusively at Telluride Music.
• No single-day tickets will be sold during this pre-sale.
• Residents of San Miguel County must present a proof of residency (local ID, utility bill) at time of purchase. Each San Miguel County resident may purchase one four-day pass for him/herself, as well as a second four-day pass for a guest (who need not be a San Miguel County resident).
• If the allotted 2,500 passes are not sold during the pre-sale they will be sold to the general public (at the regular price) beginning on Dec. 5.
• These passes will sell for $180, which includes a $15 discount from the regular price. (Planet Bluegrass is not increasing four-day passes for 2013.)
The town council was in support of the measures.
“I think this makes all kinds of sense, particularly given the celebratory nature of the 40th anniversary,” said council member Ann Brady. “I’m all for this. I think all the preplanning is excellent.”
Town Manager Greg Clifton said he really hopes the word gets out.
“The message that needs to get out is: This is an opportunity for you to purchase your local tickets early … but it will not come back this year,” he said.
Whatever works!
However, I remember one of the problems with in-town tickets in the past was a hint of scalping. Making even more tickets available might increase that.
I guess we’ll see how it works. It is an awful lot of tickets, but maybe they’re just playing it safe to see how it works out this way.
If I were intent on scalping (which I’m not), I’d still be hesitant to take a chance given the way things worked out last year (yard sale for tix) … even in light of it being the 40th.
If there is an issue, PBG could always revert to the system they used for locals’ tix for the Phish shows … which was the strictest I’ve ever seen in terms of needing an ID at the point of purchase to be placed on a list (no ticket issued), then needing an ID to have the wristband placed directly on your wrist before the show.
As for scaling down the popularity of TBF like discussd in this thread by some forumvarians, I have some insight into a similar situation in Asheville with the Bele Chere festival…
As recent as 5 years ago Bele Chere attracted 300,000 patrons. For anyone who has been to Asheville, its not hard to tell that this number is much larger than the town can sustain in a safe and enjoyable way. In this case, it was not about how much money was being spent, whether 3k by out of towners or $20 by locals, the numbers just got to be too much and the festival lost its spirit, along with local businesses becoming shut out by vendors and alcohol sales almost exclusively.
The solution here was to minimize the Bele Chere festival drastically and for the past 3 years almost exclusively put local and regional acts on the lineup. Even with this change, the momentum of Bele Chere has been hard to stop and the attendance has only slowly been getting less each year. Point is… sometimes its not about the money that is brought in but the sustainability, spirit, and safety of hosting major festivals that are in small towns. Just some food for thought… :flower :cheers
Asheville is substantially larger than Telluride, and probably considerably less reliant on tourism for its livelihood. Without tourism, Telluride would probably be a ghost town. With that in mind, if I were a resident, I’d be really skeptical of anything that reduces the number of people coming through the town… Even if some weekends are a little crowded.
good point shattered arm…
another thing about the Bele Chere festival is that it is a free festival. this of course allows for a non-issue when it comes to availability of tickets for locals.
just a thought, but if telluride became a free festival, and camping plus night grass events became the tickets for cost then the number of people coming into town would increase and access to the festival via town park & warner would stay the same… allowing tickets for locals to no longer sell out…
but then again, why make something free when everyone is willing to pay?.. :8
I don’t believe Telluride would work as a free festival, simply because of the location. I don’t think you’re actually suggesting this, but the box canyon and town are too small to support the amount of people that making it a free festival would bring.
I’ve heard it mentioned a number of years ago (10-15) during some “high demand years” in the past that PB engaged in “negative” advertising to dissuade the ticketless from flooding the town. Not sure if this is true, but do recollect something to this effect.
Since we are inundated with negative advertising of a political nature right now, I’m curious about your comment. How would “negative” advertising be done in a case like this? Is it something subtle like not advertising at all, or straightforward (“Don’t come to town without a ticket…or else.”)?
I don’t recall actually reading or hearing such “negative ads” directly … just hearing about their possible existence from others at one time a number of years ago.
But yeah, I think it would probably have went something along the lines of “WE’RE COMPLETELY SOLD OUT, DON’T COME TO TELLURIDE WITHOUT A TICKET. YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO PARK, LETS KEEP THIS SUSTAINABLE, ETC”.