The Snowmass Concert series finishes tonight on Fanny Hill. This summer, most of the shows have avoided the anecdotally present rain that seems to have interfered in previous seasons. The series featured music industry veterans like Taj Mahal and newcomers like Jamestown Revival.
Brandy Garcia was at the concert Saturday. She’s visiting from Denver. Garcia had been coming to Snowmass nearly every summer since she was a kid. Garcia said part of what makes the concerts so special is the landscape.
“This doesn’t seem real,” she said. “This looks like a backdrop. It’s a fantasy. It’s amazing. This feels like home to me.”
When you can’t hear, though, it’s hard to participate. A newer element of the concert series are the translators standing in front of the stage — putting the music into American Sign Language.
Lesa Thomas, the executive director of the Aspen Camp for the Deaf and Hard Of Hearing, said she and her team do about a week’s worth of preparation for each concert. That includes learning lyrics and the timing of songs.
“We sort of just went and did it,” said Thomas about the first concert they translated.
There are two translators at each concert. They switch in and out after 30 minutes or so. That’s because they get tired.
Brandy Garcia loves the raucous concerts on Thursday nights during her vacations. She also loves the different sort of environment she can experience when she’s not listening to music.
“You can just sit and watch the band play amazing music, but you’re in the most amazing setting ever,” said Garcia.
The Boulder-based group, The Samples, close out the series. The band got their name from the King Soopers grocery store, and all of the free samples they ate there.
