Anyone interested in hosting TDIFest 2014 in Denver?

[bhtooefr]

Fred is looking for expressions of interest for TDIFest 2014, and I've been looking over the map of locations where TDIFest has been held. A few of us have noticed that Denver would be an interesting, relatively central location in an area that has been underrepresented in TDIFests, especially as of late.


(click for a Google map of all TDIFest locations)

I'm wondering if there are any TDIers in the area that would be interested in hosting a TDIFest. We would need local people to lead organization of the Fest, plan events, scout out good driving roads for a group drive, advertise on forums, and have boots on the ground.

If you're interested in helping make TDIFest happen in Denver, please post in this thread, and mention what you'd be willing to help with.

I can contribute by doing research from my end on what's available, among other things. (Here's some research I had previously done on hotel options, looking at Denver for 2013. I should go ahead and update it for 2014.) And, I believe there are others that would be willing to assist with other elements of the event.

Thanks!

 

[Judson]

I will be moving to Cheyenne, WY this year.

Denver the city is a dump. And that area in general is just not an interesting place to be, as its out away from the mountains and is more like endless suburbs. (I lived along the front range for 12 years back in the 80s and 90s). I think the TDI population of drivers out there would be much, much happier to have it in Golden, Boulder or even Fort Collins.

I'd be interested in helping out, but most definitely NOT in Denver. Sounds harsh, but there you go. And honestly, for me, Golden would be a stretch. Boulder or Fort Collins I could definitely could help with.

.02, IMHO, FWIW.

 

[aja8888]

From that map, it looks like the entire middle of the U.S. has not had any fests. I agree about Denver being a non-event (lived there too). Why not TEXAS???

 

[bhtooefr]

I will be moving to Cheyenne, WY this year.

Denver the city is a dump. And that area in general is just not an interesting place to be, as its out away from the mountains and is more like endless suburbs. (I lived along the front range for 12 years back in the 80s and 90s). I think the TDI population of drivers out there would be much, much happier to have it in Golden, Boulder or even Fort Collins.

I'd be interested in helping out, but most definitely NOT in Denver. Sounds harsh, but there you go. And honestly, for me, Golden would be a stretch. Boulder or Fort Collins I could definitely could help with.

.02, IMHO, FWIW.

Thanks for the input!

And, I guess I should've clarified, "the Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area", with leeway to extend to the Fort Collins-Loveland MSA, or even to something like a ski resort or something actually in the mountains - I'm thinking more that general area, than Denver proper.

Texas could be interesting (Austin, maybe?), my concern is weather for Labor Day weekend.

 

[1854sailor]

...Why not TEXAS???

Austin!!

 

[VeeDubTDI]

I will be moving to Cheyenne, WY this year.

Denver the city is a dump. And that area in general is just not an interesting place to be, as its out away from the mountains and is more like endless suburbs. (I lived along the front range for 12 years back in the 80s and 90s). I think the TDI population of drivers out there would be much, much happier to have it in Golden, Boulder or even Fort Collins.

I'd be interested in helping out, but most definitely NOT in Denver. Sounds harsh, but there you go. And honestly, for me, Golden would be a stretch. Boulder or Fort Collins I could definitely could help with.

.02, IMHO, FWIW.

Judson, Fort Collins, Boulder, or one of the other local areas would certainly be preferable to Denver proper. Kind of along the same lines where the 2009 DC Fest was actually in Herndon, VA.

I'll actually be coming through that area at the end of July and will gladly scope out some venues if anyone is interested. :col:

 

[Judson]

I got you on the general nature of calling Denver the area, not the city itself. But just wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page...

I think there's a couple of diesel outfits. For example, this fellow in Golden:

http://www.dieselland.net/

Just a thought....

 

[bhtooefr]

And, you may notice that on the map of points of interest that I made, I did include hotels in Boulder, Golden, and one between Ft. Collins and Loveland.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

I got you on the general nature of calling Denver the area, not the city itself. But just wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page...

I think there's a couple of diesel outfits. For example, this fellow in Golden:

http://www.dieselland.net/

Just a thought....

DieselLand is aNUT on this forum. Nice guy.

 

[Judson]

Ah! Missed your link there.

I certainly would be happy to help out any way I can. I don't know how much participation you'll get, however. It's not a dense region, population-wise. It is fairly centrally located in the Western state region, but note that it is still a long, long drive for anyone coming from out of state.

On the other hand, people are used to traveling longer distances and the wear and tear is nothing like traveling along the I-95 corridor on the east coast. So, you probably will get attendees from Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota. Maybe Montana as well, as possibly even Nevada and further parts such as the panhandle, Amarillo, TX and such.... It is at least a full day's travel for anyone coming from one of these states if not more.

Hotels in Boulder will be much higher than anywhere else. A little outside of town the rates start dropping quite a bit.

DIA is out in the middle of nowhere, and the highway (E-490) from DIA over to Boulder, I-25 north and etc. is actually a tollway and one needs a transponder of you'll get fined and a ticket in the mail. Car rentals are very expensive at the airport - one can take a bus from DIA to Boulder, for example, and then rent a car in Boulder.

We can push this information out to perspective attendees if/when we get closer to the Fest, of course.

Other thoughts: if you choose a place closer to the mountains, you'll have people just itching to take a cruise. Out of Golden, or Boulder, are some fantastic canyons and driving roads (Golden especially). Fort Collins less so, Loveland is like a gateway to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National park - though note that the more tourists there are the more RVs there are and that road up to Estes Park limits passing quite a bit. Golden has easy access to I-70 and from there the options are limitless.

A tuned turbodiesel will fly by other cars up the mountain passes: 4% power loss per 1,000 feet means that at 10,000 feet your naturally aspirated car has lost 40% of its power. Turbos work harder and lose less, and because the power is at lower RPMs, one doesn't have to rev the engine silly to maintain speed. Just watch your EGTs if really hammering it all of the time.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

Indeed regarding all of the above. Additionally, I have heard a lot of positive comments from the east coast folks about a Denver area Fest - a lot of people seem to be intrigued by the idea and are looking for a good reason for a road trip out west.

 

[JSWTDI09]

Since nobody is California seems to be willing to work on a Southwest fest venue, you can count me in to help with running a fest in the Denver area (it's within a one day drive from where I live). I don't have the time to go and scope out venues, but I would be more than willing to help during the fest in any way that would be useful.

Have Fun!

Don

 

[VeeDubTDI]

That's a great offer, Don. So it looks like we have you, Judson, and myself (assistance, guidance, venue organization/negotiating, whatever you need from me), which is a great start for this stage in the game.

While you might not be available to go to and from Denver during the planning phase, are you willing to invest your time in advance of the actual Fest? We need take-charge people who will commit to getting things done. Most of the pre-planning can be done online through Google Docs, conference calls, IRC chat, etc and does require face-to-fact interaction.

Fred is looking for a 2014 proposal by the May-July timeframe this year (a few months away). The next step towards getting this moving forward more is to reach out to some other local folks - perhaps Anuthee and others and gauge interest. Start developing the team, shake out the hierarchy (who is going to take the lead?), explore locations, pricing, and activities, and get some stuff down on paper.

Anyone who is seriously interested in moving forward with Denver-ish 2014, feel free to give me a call - I'm more than happy to get you up to speed on what sort of organizational structures are already in place and what positions and responsibilities need to be filled. PM me for my cell phone number. We can even set up a conference call with the interested members in the near future.

 

[bikeprof]

Going back a "couple" of years...,, I had somewhat/something organized for a possible BOULDER area FEST when I had my GTG in Pagosa Springs.
I do presume that most of the localities are still there, repair shops and other stuff including people who have read the book "the Republic of Boulder", maybe have been in it also.?.

Boulder would be THE place to be at for the GTG, mainly the north part(N. Broadway). There is plenty of space there and easy travel to SIGHT SEEING areas: Estes Park, Lyons, Ft Collins, "Peak to Peak Highway", etc... and ALL other BEAUTIFUL northern parts of Colorado!

Just thinking...

 

[JSWTDI09]

Boulder would be THE place to be at for the GTG, mainly the north part(N. Broadway). There is plenty of space there and easy travel to SIGHT SEEING areas: Estes Park, Lyons, Ft Collins, "Peak to Peak Highway", etc... and ALL other BEAUTIFUL northern parts of Colorado!

Just thinking...

We need more than thinking. Probably what we need first is someone local (perhaps you?) to check out venues. Perhaps a ski lodge (out of season) or just a large hotel. What we need is a place that can let us reserve at least 100 rooms, plus conference/meeting rooms, registration space off the lobby, meals, and lots of parking, and free (or included) wireless internet. We will need parking for at least 200 cars in a reserved area (only for TDIs) that can be used for parking and contests and vendors. We have experienced members who can handle the negotiations for rates and meals, etc. but we need feet on the ground who can actually scope out the venues and make sure that they can supply all the space we need.

Have Fun!

Don

 

[bhtooefr]

And, it's a good idea to actually stay at the hotel for a night or so, and use the amenities including the food at the hotel.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

Let's not put the cart before the horse, guys. First things first is to develop a team of people and get organized, which I think we're making good progress on.

Regarding the venue, I have a couple of calls out to my contacts at Marriott and Hyatt (work smarter, not harder) to see if they can come up with some suitable venues that meet our specifications (based on previous events that both companies have hosted). We can certainly reach out to other venues like Sheraton and others, but I figured this would be a good start.

If anyone has a good venue in mind, let me know and I can reach out to them and get the preliminary legwork done. Doing site visits doesn't really make sense until you know that a particular site can meet the needs and specifications of the event.

Again, in the interest of prioritizing work, the first step is to get a team of people going and work towards writing a proposal. The proposal doesn't need to list a specific venue, although that certainly helps. Remember that we can't contract anything until the proposal is approved by Fred and we could be talking about more than one proposal if another group of people is interested in hosting a TDIFest in their area of the country.

Just so that everyone is on the same page, Judson and I have done a lot of messaging over the past couple of days and he is interested in taking the lead on a 2014 Colorado TDIFest project, as he will be relocating to that area in the near future. I'm on board for providing guidance, handling venue negotiations (I do event planning and venue management for a living, I enjoy it, and it's a great way for me to give back to the club), etc.

We did some discussion about potential venues for Colorado last year and came up with this map of potential candidates. https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=209631723170365146718.0004c0e9427e2ee15afc3&msa=0 Prices listed are before group rate negotiations, so don't pay too much attention to what's listed in the map, although it's a good starting point.

I'd love to get some local feedback on the venues listed above to see what you all think about them. The venue that really catches my eye right now is the Millennium in Boulder... http://www.millenniumhotels.com/millenniumboulder/ ... has anyone been there?

 

[arne487]

I can help however is needed. I just need some direction.

I know plenty of great drives in the Fort Collins area. Depending on length, there are lots of canyons, mountain passes, reservoirs, etc.

I also talked to a dyno owner recently in Fort Collins and he said he would be willing to offer a great group deal if we did a GTG in the area. He suggested a "horsepower king" competition in which the most powerful TDI gets half the entry fees, but that's just one idea.

Beer and cars don't mix well, but I also have connections with some of the local microbreweries if we decided to have drinks at one, or have a few serve drinks at the fest. I wouldn't want it to turn into a beer festival, though.

Oh, and E-470 from the airport is a non-issue. A transponder gets you 20% off from the toll, but if you don't have one they will just mail you a bill (not a ticket) which you can pay online.

 

[PeterV]

Fred also has a steering Comte to help. 2014 is a way out but planning is always a good thing. There is help there. Many of the experienced fest organizers are currently planning the 2913 Fest in Maine. But getting a core team on board is always a good thing.

 

[JSWTDI09]

I can help however is needed. I just need some direction.

You might want to contact VeeDubTDI. He and Judson and I are putting together the beginnings of a committee to try and pull this off. Judson will be moving to the Denver area in a few months, but having a local in the group would be very helpful. I am sort of in the same boat as you (needing some direction), but VeeDubTDI has experience putting together several fests. We are very close to having enough interest to really get this moving but having a local presence would be very helpful. You should talk to Lawson (VeeDubTDI) and get in on this. You can send him a PM with your phone number and email and I'm sure he will contact you.

Have Fun!

Don

 

[VeeDubTDI]

Arne, very intriguing ideas! Your assistance is definitely welcome.

Shoot me a PM with your contact info and we can go from there.

-Lawson

 

[rotarykid]

I will be moving to Cheyenne, WY this year.

Denver the city is a dump. And that area in general is just not an interesting place to be, as its out away from the mountains and is more like endless suburbs. (I lived along the front range for 12 years back in the 80s and 90s). I think the TDI population of drivers out there would be much, much happier to have it in Golden, Boulder or even Fort Collins.

I'd be interested in helping out, but most definitely NOT in Denver. Sounds harsh, but there you go. And honestly, for me, Golden would be a stretch. Boulder or Fort Collins I could definitely could help with.

.02, IMHO, FWIW.

WT!, Really?? Such hostility towords Denver metro area?????

The weather in the area is some of the best in the country, best in the world for that matter where winter pays regular a visit. Spring time shows up any time of year, warm days are common year round.....

A foot of snow then 60s-70s the next day is not uncommon here on the front range. upper 60s today, we are expecting 75 *F in the metro area tomorrow, it has been warm all week. Snow possible on Monday then back to mid to upper 60s later in the week.

The Denver metro area is Minutes from the mountains, Red Rocks outdoor theater is only minutes west of Denver, Bandimere Speedway is here just outside of Golden, Lookout Mountain overlooks the metro area, Coors for beer tours, Bud is an hour north for beer tours, Garden of the Gods is one hour away in Co Springs, ~not far from (1 hour drive to Rocky Mountain National Park) trail ridge road a drive that anyone that ever takes it never forgets, 1 hour from Pikes Peak, 2 hours from the sand dune national monument, minutes from gambling outside of town if you are into that thing, All sorts of things are just minutes from the metro area. Hot springs in the mountains just west of town.

There really isn't anything that isn't offered in the Denver metro area, front range of Colorado region. Sorry you hated it so much here, but my guess that hate is unrelated to the actual area....

 

[Judson]

Denver is the city. The area is the Front Range.

There are better places than Denver proper... Like I said, Golden, Boulder, Fort Collins, even the ski areas in the summer are nice, like Breckenridge. Evergreen is nice too. There are all kinds of possibilities either minutes away or right in the Rockies....

 

[VeeDubTDI]

I think Boulder is very intriguing.

 

[arne487]

Anyone still want to pursue this? I'm still available for footwork in northern Colorado.

 

[JSWTDI09]

Anyone still want to pursue this? I'm still available for footwork in northern Colorado.

It might be a little early for much footwork, but the offer is appreciated. Have you been in contact with VeeDubTDI? We have the beginnings of an organizing committee, and we can always use more help.

Have Fun!

Don

 

[Bugwithaltitude]

TDIFest in Colorado?!? That would be awesome, I would love to attend for the first time! We have tons of stuff to do here year-round and lots of scenic roads for cruises. I would promote it on newbeetle.org, our NB Facebook page and my local dealer in Fort Collins.

 

[rotarykid]

I have been pushing for this for a long time but I can never seem to get the core supporters willing to do the leg work to come together. My health is a problem today but I am more than willing to help in putting this together if we can come up with the required ~dozen of so people required make this work.

Also the last time it looked like I might be able to get this off the ground I polled the leaders at the time of a couple of front range VW clubs in the region to see if they would be willing to support our bid with help, I got a positive response. But it is a must that we have that core of 12 or so willing to make and support the bid here to make this work.

 

[BadMonKey]

I will be moving to Cheyenne, WY this year.

Denver the city is a dump. And that area in general is just not an interesting place to be, as its out away from the mountains and is more like endless suburbs. (I lived along the front range for 12 years back in the 80s and 90s). I think the TDI population of drivers out there would be much, much happier to have it in Golden, Boulder or even Fort Collins.

I'd be interested in helping out, but most definitely NOT in Denver. Sounds harsh, but there you go. And honestly, for me, Golden would be a stretch. Boulder or Fort Collins I could definitely could help with.

.02, IMHO, FWIW.

***! Most of your information is just off-the-wall and incorrect or outdated! Do you realize that a small condo or loft in downtown area of Denver will run you over $500K these days. People aren't paying that to live in a dump. Denver is almost always ranked in the top 10 cities to both visit and live in.

Aug-sept is some of our best weather months as we start to cool down and the hotels will be at their cheapest as it between seasons. Boulder will be the most expensive out of the group as the average hotel is in the $175-300 per night area and all the college rats will be back. There are a ton of TDI's registered there but not many are club members. Fort Collins is a great city but mountain access is limited to the poudre canyon which just experienced one of the largest forest fires in our States history so its not the beauty it once was. Fort Collins also doesn't have that many hotels in the City, they are mostly on the eastern side towards I-25. I love the downtown area night life and my pick of the cities to live in. Loveland is pretty boring and generic IMO but it does have great access to Estes Park, i prefer the Longmont access to avoid monster campers and air-cooled VW's buses clogging traffic.

Golden is a good idea as you can access several mountain pass's from I-70 not to mention lookout mountain is a great short drive and crazy narrow and steep. Downtown Denver is about a 30 min drive (not in rush hour) so lots of options as its centrally located. The downtown area is still pretty old school and unique to the gold mining era and history of Colorado. Just watch out for the hotels off I-70 South of Golden that is a pretty shady area at night in places.

I also wouldn't forget about the Colorado Springs which has tons of stuff to do like Garden of the Gods, Cave of the winds, AF academy, Cheyenne Mountain, Pikes Peak, Pikes Peak raceway, and for the gamblers Cripple Creek is a short fantastic drive. Hotels are more reasonable then most places also.

I would offer to help out in organizing, i often travel internationally on long trips so I couldn't lead anything.

 

[samuraitd]

There is nothing fancy about where I live, but to have it in nebraska would be sweet!!!!