Denver’s annual Outside festival will return next spring for its third iteration with a new name, a new location and an extra day of programming.
Previously known as the Outside Festival, held at Civic Center Park and organized by Outside Inc., the event has been renamed Outside Days. The celebration of all things outdoors and music will be held May 29-31 on Denver’s Auraria Campus. Previously, the event lasted two days.
Based in Boulder, Outside is a multi-platform media company that includes Outside Magazine, Ski, Warren Miller Entertainment, Trailrunner, Climbing, Backpack, Climbing, Triathlete, Runner and multiple platforms related to cycling. According to Outside officials, this year’s festival attracted more than 35,000 outdoor enthusiasts, a 94% increase over the inaugural event in 2024.
The move to Auraria was necessitated by construction to renovate Civic Center Park. Whether the move is temporary or permanent is yet to be determined.
“We found an incredible partner with Auraria,” said Chris Jerard, chief experience officer for Outside Inc. “We’re going to see how it goes. I will say, we love Civic Center Park. We were not looking for a new site. The move was very much prompted by the fact that we did not have a choice, but the silver lining is that we found a place where we could see the event (take place). There are a lot of advantages to being right there with the skyline of Denver behind us.”
Jerard said the outdoor footprint at Auraria is about 30% larger than what the event had at Civic Center. Indoor programs, which were previously held at the downtown Denver Public Library, will take place in facilities on the Auraria campus, including the Tivoli and the King Center performing arts complex.
If the event continues to grow, Jerard envisions a day when the event could expand to utilize Auraria, Civic Center and other downtown locations as well. From the start, Outside has seen potential for the festival to become an outdoors version of South by Southwest, an international festival in Austin, Texas, that brings together music, film, tech and innovation influencers. Founded in 1987, it attracts more than 100,000 attendees annually.
“Denver, from a geographic perspective, has everything we need to do a global gathering,” Jerard said. “From Confluence Park to Civic Center Park, there is enough space that you could have 100,000-plus people descend on Denver to celebrate the outdoors. There’s enough to program for a full week. That’s always been the long-term vision.”