Thursday Getaway: 42nd Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival

At this point in the week, we suspect you're in the mood to get out and enjoy the world outside of your computer screen, but it's Thursday, and you can't–yet. Don't despair! We've got just the thing to make you smile, daydream or draw inspiration from for your weekend, which is just around the corner.

Today marks the start of the 42nd Annual Festival of what has become known as "Telluride Bluegrass." This unique sound of American roots music has developed as a result of over four decades of experimentation on stage among what many consider to be the world's most discerning bluegrass audience. According to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival website, "Performers say there is a unique thrill to performing in front of the smartest, most attentive audience in the country. Artists are encouraged to take risks in Telluride, and the Festivarian audience is regularly rewarded with unique blends of voices sharing the stage for the first time - as new musical friendships cultivated backstage make their debut on the Telluride stage."

Klean Kanteen is proud to be a partner to one of the most inspiring festivals out there, especially because of its commitment to minimizing its environmental impact. In fact, an article was published in 5280 Magazine just this week titled: How Telluride Bluegrass Became an Environmentally Friendly Festival. In it, the author speaks to the Festival's ban on plastic water bottles: "In 2004, we introduced the world’s first corn plastic bottle. A couple years after, we realized we shouldn't worry about compostable water bottles, but really, we should be thinking about reusables. That’s when the water station idea came about. It cost about $3,000, and we had to buy commercial-grade filters to filter out chlorine and solids. We basically brought the Telluride snow melt and high lake water back to spring water. We were sick of going to Red Rocks and paying $8 for a plastic water bottle. Free filtered water became our mantra." 

We couldn't agree more with this mantra, and we're stoked to be a part of a festival that believes so wholeheartedly in reducing single-use plastic waste. We'll be celebrating the summer solstice alongside the rest of the Telluride Festivarian audience this weekend, where we'll also be debuting our brand-new colors and the just-released Insulated Classic line of Klean Kanteens. Be sure to swing by to take a look at the newest product, and say hello!