I moved out of my parents home at 18 to go to college in a small town in the mid-west. I felt like a fish out of water. I moved back and transferred to go to college in Boulder and when I did, I still felt isolated. A decade later I can look back and admit I was a very mixed up kid

The first thing I did to step out of my comfort zone and discover who I was, was to buy a ticket and hop on a party bus with 25 of my college peers to Rowdytown I. I ended up watching from the front row as Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Griz opened for Big Gigantic to create my first ever Red Rocks experience; an experience that ultimately shaped the rest of my life.

In summary, I found more than a live entertainment experience that day. I found a community of like minded passion that created the support, mentorship and love that often doesn’t exist anywhere else. These are the ingredients necessary for personal growth.

The next year at Rowdytown 2 I became a lil G and continued to return for the Lil G program every year through Rowdytown 9, it was my way of giving back. I connected with kids that reminded me of myself, I did body paint for members in the crowd with my Big Gigantic fanny pack full of pastel crayons, I passed out candy, stickers, bracelets, I took care of our fallen family that needed care during the show, I ran the water station, I helped backstage, spread positivity, and I even got to meet and hang out with Dom and Jeremy a few times as they became accustomed to the annual tradition of signing my sneakers. As I got older, Rowdytown’s 4-6 I began actively applying my experience creatively. I made a documentary, I made recap party bus videos, websites, tons of media content, ticket contests that actively fought ticket scalpers and redistributed them to real fans. I recruited a “Rowdytown Dream Team” by passing out Dream Team shirts to members of the crowd I saw fostering the community. I organized, hosted, marketed and ran my first ever event–“Rowdytown Underground” a preshow for Rowdytown attendees at The Lazy Dog before Rowdytown 4 that raised enough money to feed 500 homeless people. I became addicted. I couldn’t stop giving back and building new programs to foster the community, the love, and every other lost soul I could find in the crowd that reminded me of myself. As I got into my late 20s I began focusing on the video and marketing side of it all. I continued to do video work and network with new artists and creative minds in the Lil G program and the Big Gigantic Family, I continued to promote, and advertise events for Rowdytown’s benefit. I connected with lil G’s that were freelance digital marketers that mentored me to eventually take on my first video and paid media clients in the music industry.

Today I did not return to the Lil G program for the first time since the program began at Rowdytown 2.

Instead, I got an early night’s sleep and showed up at Red Rocks this morning at 8:00 am and blessed the Rowdytown atmosphere with an hour long meditation in front of the famous Red Rocks view. As I meditated I remembered my experience from Rowdytown 1-9, I thought about how mixed up and lost I was 10 years ago and who I am now.

As I drove off to go on my early morning hike down highway 93 I almost teared up. At Rowdytown 1 I dreamed of being part of this community, and a professional advertiser, marketer and digital creative inspiring people with my work. Today, I drove from the house I now own in Denver, CO up to Red Rocks to meditate and get a yoga flow in. I work at my dream job, a digital advertising role at one of Denver’s very best Advertising Agencies. I do freelance video work, content, branding and paid media for musicians to help them spread their messages of positivity and love in my freelance practice. I run my own blog and music brand of self-empowerment. I think to myself, I was raised in a town called Rowdytown, CO. Population 9,525. I encourage you to watch the documentary about this experience at the top and if you are making it out to Rowdytown, please, allow yourself to be vulnerable in the crowd and the experience. You might just look back at it divinely in 10 years with tears in your eyes.

I was blessed with such a great opportunity with the Lil G’s, and it’s time to open up my spot to another mixed up kid to find themselves. To everyone that was apart of my experience, I love you eternally.