The festival season in Telluride is jammed with what seems like non-stop activities beginning in the late spring – which typically kicks off with the Telluride Mountain Film Festival over Memorial Day weekend – and keeps a steady pace throughout the summer until the unofficial ending with the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival which normally falls in the middle of September.   Octoberfest and some other smaller festivals will take place in early Fall until things finally quiet down for the winter ski & snowboard season in Telluride.

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Many of the larger festivals are oriented around music; however, many others are educational or experiential.   The number of festivals and jockeying for position within Telluride’s busy calendar has become a bit of an issue in recent times.  Some community members fully embrace a full capacity festival season in effort to help stimulate the local economy, while others have become weary of the constant influx of the hectic pace of attracting thousands of visitors on a regular basis to what is otherwise a very tranquil and unique natural environment.

Personally, I like and attend most of the music festivals which are held in town; however, living in Ophir affords the best of both worlds in so far being close enough to make it an easy daily commute, yet far enough to escape the hordes of festivarians which inundate the Town of Telluride.

Here’s a partial list of all the festivals in Telluride:

Telluride Mountain Film

Telluride Bluegrass Festival

Telluride Wine Festival

The Ride Festival (Music)

Telluride Film Festival

Telluride Yoga Festival

Telluride Mushroom Festival

Telluride Jazz Festival

Heritage Festival

Telluride Blues  & Brews Festival

While not necessarily a full fledged “festival”, there was a free day of music – dubbed “Mountain Town Get Down” – in the Telluride Mountain Village around the last day of the ski season in 2014.  Here’s a clip featuring the band John Brown’s Body: