Colorado Pizza Festival Raised $60,000 to Fight Hunger After Chaotic First-Year Debut
Organizers say the inaugural downtown Longmont festival drew thousands of people, overwhelmed its entrances and still raised tens of thousands of dollars for four food-security nonprofits.
The first Colorado Pizza Festival raised $60,000 to fight food insecurity in a melee that packed thousands of people into downtown Longmont and created lines stretching for blocks.
The festival, held Saturday Sept. 5 near 4th Avenue and Kimbark Street, brought together pizza shops, vendors and nonprofit organizations for an event organizers described as much larger than they had anticipated.
“Because of all of you, we raised $60,000 to help our community fight food insecurity,” Colorado Pizza Festival organizer Lindsey Beddard said Thursday.
The money will support Slice Out Hunger, Longmont Food Rescue, Community Food Share and Colorado Friendship.
The festival was designed as both a celebration of Colorado pizza and a fundraiser. The non-profit Pizza With Purposed formed this year from the union of Antonio's Pizzeria, Rosalee's Pizzeria and Urban Field Pizzeria and Restaurant. More than 20 other pizzerias from Longmont and across the Front Range eventually joined them in the cause.
Organizers said 100% of the event’s proceeds would go toward nonprofits working locally and nationally to address food insecurity.
But the festival’s first year was also marked by unexpectedly large crowds.
Organizers said that when gates opened at 1 p.m., lines at the event’s three entrances stretched for a combined six city blocks, with people standing several abreast.
More than 4,000 guests were processed through the gates in the first 45 minutes, according to organizers — more people than the total number of tickets that had been sold as of that morning.
Organizers said they had placed caps on ticket sales but adjusted them multiple times during the day in an effort to respond to demand. They acknowledged afterward that the changes did little to relieve the crowding and, in some cases, made the experience more frustrating.
“We planned for thousands of people to attend, but there was no way we could have known they would all show up at the same time,” Beddard said.
Before the festival, vendors had been instructed to arrive beginning at 10 a.m. and be fully set up by 12:30 p.m., ahead of the 1 p.m. opening. The festival was scheduled to continue until 9:20 p.m.
Those preparations were quickly tested once the crowds arrived.
In countless comments on Reddit, Facebook and other town forums - Longmont residents and guests have described a frustrating and in some cases, dangerous experience.
Several folks reported passing out or feeling close to fainting due to a brutally hot day with not enough water on-site or shade.
Attendees also reported frustrations with portion sizes and whether they got the "all-you-can-eat" prospect they paid for with the festival's golden ticket.
In a public statement after the festival on Sept. 7, organizers thanked people who attended, those who tried to attend but could not, and those who endured long lines. They said the event was “bigger, louder, crazier, and more meaningful than we ever imagined.”
Organizers also acknowledged criticism about crowd management and said they had received numerous comments and messages about the experience.
They promised to use the feedback in planning future festivals and said they were already committed to improving crowd-management procedures.
For Longmont Food Rescue, one of the beneficiaries, the money comes as a big boost as it looks to expand distributions for seniors at the Longmont Senior Center and its other programs.
The organization runs community fridges and distributes food through weekly "Produce In the Park" distributions. I have previously volunteered with and benefited from Longmont Food Rescue and its "no questions asked" approach that does not require residents to show any documentation to get assistance.
Organizers did not provide a breakdown showing how much each nonprofit would receive.
Still, the fundraising total became the clearest measure of what organizers said they hoped the festival would accomplish despite its first-year problems.
“We have a lot to learn from this first festival, and we are taking those lessons seriously,” Beddard said. “We know there are things we can do better.”
She said the organizers nevertheless considered the fundraising effort a success.
“At the end of the day, this festival was about bringing people together and doing something good for our community,” Beddard said.
Organizers said they intend to bring the Colorado Pizza Festival back next year.
