A musician with the Laramie band Moral Panic plays as part of the Blue Sky Summer Festival Music Series in 2020 in downtown Laramie. That year it was a weekly touring live music event to support physical distancing during COVID-19. This year it returns to its 2018 roots by hosting a daylong festival and street dance on Grand Ave between 1st and 2nd streets.
A musician with the Laramie band Moral Panic plays as part of the Blue Sky Summer Festival Music Series in 2020 in downtown Laramie. That year it was a weekly touring live music event to support physical distancing during COVID-19. This year it returns to its 2018 roots by hosting a daylong festival and street dance on Grand Ave between 1st and 2nd streets.
Laramie band Wolves in Cheap Clothing plays as part of the Blue Sky Summer Festival Music Series, a weekly touring live music event.
Musician Jascha Herdt plays as part of the Blue Sky Summer Festival Music Series, a weekly touring live music event.
Live music is taking to the Laramie streets this summer, and you can still catch a weekly performance during the next few weeks.
The Blue Sky Summer Festival Music Series takes place at 6 p.m. Thursdays, when a local band sets up on a trailer, setting the stage for a musical parade. The music usually starts in downtown Laramie before moving to a couple other spots in town.
“Some people go to different places and wait for it to come around,” said John Pope, CEO of the Blue Sky Group. “Some people get on their bikes and follow the trailer and listen to it and chase the whole thing.”
The first Blue Sky Summer Festival took place in 2018 — complete with live music, food vendors and a street dance — in celebration of the group’s 20th anniversary. The Blue Sky Group owns a number of local businesses, including Centennial Woods, Cavalryman Restaurant and WellDog.
“It was meant to thank people in Laramie for all the love and support over the years,” Pope said.
Although the company plans to host the festival every two years, organizers didn’t immediately see a way to have one in 2020, given state restrictions on large gatherings put in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Initially we decided not to do it,” Pope said.
Then he saw a video of a band in Hawaii playing on the back of a trailer while driving around the island, and he figured the same thing could happen in Laramie.
“That got us thinking that maybe with a little creativity, we could still have the festival this year,” he said.
They arranged a truck and trailer, enlisted local groups such as Wolves in Cheap Clothing, Moral Panic, J Shogren and The Lost Birds, and started playing.
“We pulled the logistics together and gave it a try about a month ago, and people really liked it, and it’s turned into an every-week event,” he said.
Music starts at the parking lot at the corner of First and Garfield streets at 6 p.m. before the trailer circles the downtown district. Pope said the next stops usually include the Thursday Local Market at Undine Park and the parking lot at the old Laramie High School, where a number of food trucks set up on Thursday evenings.
Pope said there’s no set end date for the mobile concert series as audience members and musicians continue to enjoy the experience.
“We’ll keep doing it as long as it makes sense,” he said.
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