Gypsum Daze

The 5K Run/Walk at Gypsum Daze starts on Valley Road at Lundgren Boulevard, under the Gypsum Daze Arch. The free Core Transit shuttle buses drop riders at that same corner. Most of the celebration happens a few steps away, on the Town Hall and Gypsum Recreation Center campus and the lawn of Lundgren Amphitheater. Gypsum is an Eagle County town on I-70, 35 miles west of Vail and Beaver Creek. The Town of Gypsum runs the event, with Briar Schreiber as events manager. The town says it celebrates “Colorado, our Western heritage, and rural mountain fun,” and most of the family activities are free. The 2026 celebration ran July 16 through 18.

Trout, atlas stones, and a talent show

The weekend opened on Thursday evening at Gypsum Ponds on Trail Gulch Road. For the Fishing is Fun event, the Colorado Department of Wildlife stocks the pond with thousands of rainbow trout. Local fishing guides help the younger anglers bait, cast, and untangle their lines, and no license is needed. The same evening, on the grass field in front of Town Hall, Mountain Recreation held a new event for 2026, Gypsum Daze of Strength. Competitors worked through the axle press, deadlift (conventional deadlifts only), truck pull, farmers carry, and atlas stones. Winners were scored on total points, and the prize was a month’s adult membership at the Gypsum Rec Center.

Friday began with a pickleball mixer on the eight courts south of Gypsum Creek Golf Course. Thirty-six players drew a new partner each round. In the afternoon, bounce houses and water features went up free on the Town Hall/Library Park lawn. Brown’s Amusements set up carnival rides and midway games in the east rec center lot and the library lot. A $10 wristband bought a day of unlimited rides, and the games cost extra. In the evening the Youth Talent Show took the Lundgren Stage, with performers in two age groups, 12 and under and 13 to 18. The rules allowed no lip-synching and no group acts, and no act could run past three minutes. The younger group competed for prizes that included Best Costume, Most Unusual, and The Voice. Between the talent show and the free outdoor movie, School of Rock, Uncle E, the Gypsum Daze event announcer, played an intermission set. Food trucks served until 10 p.m. both nights, and nonprofit booths stood alongside them. Patrick Tvarkunas, who owns a local attractions business with Lucila Tvarkunas, has supplied a mechanical bull for the festival. One account gave it as his fifth year running it there.

Saturday from pancakes to the hose

Saturday began at 7 a.m. in the rec center parking lot with the fireman’s pancake breakfast. A $10 donation bought pancakes, sausage, juice, and coffee, and the proceeds went to the equipment fund of the Gypsum Fire Protection District, a department of paid and volunteer members. The 5K went off at 8 on a loop course. The town calls the race “a tradition in Gypsum-33 years strong,” and it held the awards at the finish line at 9. In Town Hall Park, the Gypsum Creek Cruisers car show filled with classic cars, pickups, street rods, muscle cars, off-road vehicles, and motorcycles. Its awards included Mayor’s Choice, State Patrol’s Choice, Fireman’s Choice, and Sheriff’s Choice, and its call to entrants read, “If you can rev it, bring it!”

The parade stepped off on Valley Road at 10. The 2026 theme was “Pioneer to Present,” marking Colorado’s 150th anniversary and the nation’s 250th, and floats ranged from covered wagons to modern life. Entrants were asked not to toss candy from the floats. Walkers beside each float handed it to the crowd instead, so that children would not run into the street. In the town’s telling, the parade has drawn hundreds of people to Valley Road since 1983. It ends with the Gypsum Fire and Airport trucks hosing down the crowd.

The rest of the day spread across town. At Gypsum Creek Golf Course, the Superintendent’s Revenge tournament put golfers up against tricky pin placements and “cunningly altered fairways” set by the course superintendent, with proceeds going to Habitat Vail Valley. At the Gypsum Shooting Sports Park, the Eagle Valley Rod & Gun Club held a free family day on the range. Certified instructors and range officers supervised families firing small-bore rifles, pistols, shotguns, and air guns, and the club furnished the firearms and ammunition and served hot dogs, hamburgers, and soft drinks. At 3 p.m., the Jalapeño Eating Contest took place in the Pavilion at Town Hall/Library Park. Contestants registered on the spot, and the top men’s and women’s prizes were $150 each. The weekend’s program also listed a horseshoe tournament.

Country music on the amphitheater lawn

The concert gates at Lundgren Amphitheater opened at 6 p.m. on Saturday, and music began at 7. General admission is open lawn seating, and concertgoers bring chairs and blankets, though coolers and outside food are not allowed. VIP ticket holders eat dinner at tables on a patio, and some stay there for the whole show. In 2026 Ashley McBryde headlined, and Chayce Beckham opened. “Hosting Grammy, CMA and ACM winner Ashley McBryde at the Lundgren Amphitheater is an incredible opportunity for Gypsum,” said Kyndal Emerick, the town’s communications and marketing coordinator.

The concert has featured big-name country artists since 1997. That year Rick Trevino played, followed by Dan Seals in 1998 and Hal Ketchum and Ty Herndon in 2000. Later headliners included Pam Tillis in 2002, Terri Clark in 2006, LeAnn Rimes in 2013, Gary Allan in 2017, and Scotty McCreery in 2019, with The Lone Bellow opening for him. A Vail Daily account estimated that 4,000 to 6,000 people came each year. In 2011, for the town’s centennial, the historical society added a cemetery tour, with the Porchlight Players portraying prominent Gypsum pioneers. The society also produced a walking guide to the town’s historic properties.

For 2020 the town announced its first two-night concert, with Jimmie Allen on Friday and Pat Green and LOCASH on Saturday. COVID-19 canceled that year’s event, and the town’s talent history lists the same three acts for 2021. After four years of two-night concerts, the town returned to a single night in 2025. That same year Brown’s Amusements brought a full carnival with rides for all ages. The town contrasted it with the year before, when the rides were only for small children. The carnival took up so much space that Gypsum Daze stopped hosting for-profit vendor booths. In announcing the 2026 lineup, the town said the event was “embracing its roots once again.”

Rainy Daze in August

According to the town’s website, a couple of residents started the celebration in 1982 as Gypsum Days and coordinated it until 1984. The parade on Valley Road followed in 1983. The accounts of the next handover differ. One says Pam Schultz and her daughter Tammy Conway took up a challenge to revamp the event in 1984, and that Schultz then coordinated it for 20 years. The town’s website says that in 1985, Mayor Eldon Bindley proclaimed the first Saturday of August as Gypsum Days. It also says that from 1986 to 1994, Schultz, then a town council member, kept the celebration going. Her daughters Tammy and Alison helped, along with their friends, volunteers from the Lutheran Church, and the Gypsum Fire Protection District.

The festival was held in early August in those years. Marie Sanders, the town’s special projects coordinator, recalled that it rained so much that people called it Gypsum Rainy Daze. She remembered about 800 to 1,200 people showing up every year and dancing in the mud.