Boulder 101

Boulder's pedestrian mall and the closest thing the city has to a main street. Shops, restaurants, street performers, and most of what happens downtown during the festival.

The University of Colorado Boulder's flagship campus sits right against downtown — a big part of why Boulder feels the way it does, and likely home to at least some festival programming.

Boulder sits on land the Arapaho and the Ute lived on for thousands of years. In 1858 a party of prospectors camped at Boulder Creek, found gold at Gold Hill, and stayed — in breach of both the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie and a promise made to Chief Niwot, whose name is now on a town up the road. They founded the Boulder City Town Company in February 1859 and named it for the boulders in the creeks.

Growth was slow. Boulder incorporated in 1871 with barely 340 residents. What changed it was the university: townspeople lobbied for it, donated the land, and matched the territory's $15,000 appropriation out of their own pockets. Old Main opened to its first students in 1877 — and is a Sundance venue this January.

The second thing that changed it was science. In the 1940s, worried that young people were leaving for lack of work, Boulder's citizens raised $70,000 in eight days to buy 217 acres and hand it to the federal government for the National Bureau of Standards. That one bet brought the rest: Ball Brothers in 1956, IBM in 1965, NCAR in 1967, NOAA after. It's why a town of 100,000 has this many physicists in it.

The pattern is the thing to notice. Three times — the university, the labs, and later the open space that rings the city — Boulder taxed or organised itself to buy something it wanted to exist. The place didn't happen by accident.

Boulder sits around 5,430 feet above sea level — noticeably higher than most places, low enough that most visitors adjust within a day or two. Expect to feel out of breath faster than usual and to want more water than usual. See Hydration below.

Colorado's front range gets a lot of sun even in winter, and Boulder's January days often swing from cold mornings to surprisingly warm, bright afternoons — hence the local joke about 45 degrees being shorts weather. Snow happens, but at this elevation it often melts within a day or two. Dress in layers: a real coat for mornings and evenings, something lighter for midday.

Altitude and dry mountain air dehydrate you faster than you'd expect, especially if you're also adjusting to the elevation. Drink more water than feels necessary, especially the first couple of days.

Recreational cannabis is legal in Colorado for adults 21 and over, sold through licensed dispensaries. It is not legal to consume in public spaces, in most hotels, or in a rental car — treat it like alcohol in terms of where you can and can't use it.

Colorado runs its film work through the Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media, part of the state's economic development office. That's the place to start for production incentives, permits, and the state's crew and location directories.

Boulder's own film life runs through the Dairy Arts Center's Boedecker Theater, the Boulder International Film Festival each spring, and CU Boulder's film program — which is part of why the city had the venues and the audience to take Sundance on in the first place.