Eagle Music Festival returns for a third year of promoting teen health and wellbeing
Special to the Daily
Born out of a two-year close partnership between The Red Ribbon Project and the Eagle River Youth Coalition, The Eagle Music Festival returns for its third year at the recently-renamed Boneyard restaurant in Eagle. From 4-10 p.m., guests will hear music from four local bands – two of which consist of students at Battle Mountain High School and Eagle Valley High School – bid on auction items and raise both awareness and funds for local youth-focused non-profits.
“It is our only community-wide fundraiser for the whole year, so it’s real important to us not only for the revenue we might gain, but also just for awareness of what we do,” said Paula Palmateer, a Red Ribbon Project co-founder and board member. “Anybody can just walk in to the Boneyard to have dinner or drinks or whatever and don’t even know there’s a fundraiser going on. We can let them know what we do.”
This is the first time the two groups have combined their annual fundraisers into one event. Each organization tackles teen issues, and between both of them, they raise about $20,000. The Red Ribbon Project promotes safe sex practices and educates teens about pregnancy, STI’s and HIV/AIDS, while the Eagle River Youth Coalition tackles a wide range of issues, including substance use, screen time, LGBTQ issues and mental health among others.
“We complement each other for the whole picture for a young person,” said Palmateer. “We’ve always collaborated on programs, but it’s been three years since we’ve really been that close.”
Collaboration between the two is natural because their missions tackle related issues, but also the partnership means access to more resources; like time, manpower and money. The partnership has made coordinating the event a breeze, and additionally, they’ve been able to secure bigger and better items for the silent auction. Some of the prizes for sale include Colorado Rockies tickets, spa treatments, hotel nights, a Bravo! Vail 2020 season pass and Vail Resorts lift tickets.
Support Local Journalism
The close partnership was partially born out of support from Denise Kipp, who works as the Director of the Red Ribbon Project part-time and as Prevention Manager with the Youth Coalition part-time. Her ability to pivot between both organizations allowed for a quicker planning period and improvements to the event.
Palmateer is especially excited about the Music Festival this year because having a date in August means the bands can play longer, the weather is nicer and more enjoyable. Previous festivals have been held in September and October when the weather can be a little iffy. Saturday’s weather in Eagle was projected for 85 °F and partially cloudy at the time of writing.
If you go …
What: Eagle Music Festival
When: Saturday, Aug. 24, 4-10 p.m.
Where: The Boneyard, formerly known as the Dusty Boot, Eagle
Cost: Free to attend, with a voluntary contribution at the door in exchange for drink tickets. Food and drink available for purchase at the event, as well as silent auction items. Proceeds benefit the Red Ribbon Project and the Eagle River Youth Coalition.
More information: Visit redribbonproject.org, eagleyouth.org or email info@redribbonproject.org or info@eagleyouth.org.