A Look Back at Telluride’s 2018 Fire Festival

The fourth annual fiery fest pulls off another dazzling art spectacle

The charming town of Telluride sits at the base of the San Juan Mountain on Southwestern side of Colorado, with some of the highest concentration of mountainous peaks reaching up to 14,000-feet in the United States. Not to mention their world-class skiing and golf scene, the Victorian “box canyon” is also a place full of exploding art culture – none more so than the annual Telluride Fire Festival.

Intoxicated with the ideology from Nevada’s Black Rock Desert’s “Burning Man” event, Telluride brings a taste of this culture to the Rocky Mountains with bonfire-like art sculptures, fire spinning and one-of-a-kind artistry to enchant guests.

Fest-goers got the chance interact with the art spectacle, with activities including beginners fire spinning and glass blowing, as well as a course illustrating the correlation between sound and music.

Saturday evening was the grand finale, “The Fire Ball,” a black-light lit party featuring glow-in-the-dark aerial performers, beverages and of course, fire. The night finished off with three wooden art installations set ablaze at the Fire Sculpture Garden from Arizonan artist group, Chris Turner, Michael “Oaks” Wright, and Meredith Miller; local artists, Keith D’Angelo, and Niel Ringstad.