31 Mar Sheridan Arts Foundation: Rebuilding Wild West Fest!
After 32 years, and much consideration, Telluride’s Sheridan Arts Foundation has decided that it is time to revamp our Wild West Fest. Hopefully the changes will result in a program that not only continues with the goal of educating and enriching the lives of kids who participate, but also provides new activities and greater opportunities for fun and lasting memories.
Go here for more about the history of the Wild West Fest.
Go here for more about the Sheridan Arts Foundation.
The 2025 Wild West Fest is cancelled to give us the time and personnel resources to carefully evaluate and thoughtfully assemble elements of the new program. Your input, ideas and continuing financial support are much needed as we embark in this new direction. If in the past you have had the opportunity to participate in or witness any of the Wild West Fest activities and feel that they are of particular value or relevance, we encourage you to let us know.
If you would like to make a contribution toward the revitalization of The Wild West Fest, you can donate at Sheridanoeprahouse.com/wild-west-fest. Your generosity will go directly toward strategic planning, implementing new programming for the kids, expanding their horseback riding experiences, bringing in guest artists to work with the kids, and creating experiential activities that are not limited to select groups of kids as years past. It is our full intention to make The Wild West Fest better than ever, and that simply is not possible without you!
Feedback? Please email executive director Ronnie Palamar at Ronnie@Sheridanoperahouse.com or mentorship director Leah Heidenreich at Leah@Sheridanoperahouse.com.
Sheridan Arts Foundation, more:
The historic Sheridan Opera House was built in Telluride, Colorado in 1913 by J.A. Segerberg as a vaudeville theater and cultural center, attracting variety shows, orchestras and touring theater companies. Through periods of closure and changing ownership, the building was in a state of severe disrepair by the 1990s. In 1991, the Sheridan Arts Foundation (SAF) was formed as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, saving the building from commercial development and creating a community hub for live theater, concerts, movies, youth education, and lectures in Telluride.
Today, the SAF’s mission continues to stand strong, generating year-round entertainment in Telluride’s beautiful 112-year-old Crown Jewel.
Combined with Young People’s Theater rehearsals, public and private rentals, the building is in use 270 days a year. Rental subsidies of non-profits and local entities average almost $100,000 annually. The SAF has spent over $2.4 million to restore and maintain the historic Opera House.
Sandra Will Carradine
Posted at 15:32h, 09 AprilWell it seems a bit mysterious as the SAF did not appear anonymously or out of thin air but was created by the efforts of
Sandra Will Carradine, Keith Carradine
The first donation given was $50,000$ by
Mel and Robyn Gibson 1991 who later the next year by his attendance and support the SAF raised over 200,000$ from donors and sponsors at that time was the largest fundraiser outcome Telluride had ever seen in the history of the town
Also the Caskell family who was developing the Peaks Hotel at that time donated the remainder funds to save it and without the
Support of Ron and Joyce Allred , visionaries
Of the Telluride Ski and Golf Company none of this would have been possible
Without all of the support and involvement of too many to name here m
None of it would have been possible and
It would have been turned into condos
The. wild Fest event was the brainchild of
Sandra through the help of her friend and Telluride community member
Mickey Salloway
The CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs Denver Co was enticed to visit for a weekend
And that was the beginning of the iconic
And unforgettable event
Later in 1998 after the passing of Marion (Chip) Allen the SAF named the festival
In his honor C.A.M.P. Chip Allen Mentorship
program