Riot Fest denied permit for 3

Posted: 07/11/2014 12:14:09 PM MDT

Updated: 07/11/2014 12:16:35 PM MDT

The curtain officially closed Friday on the Riot Fest show in Byers, with Arapahoe County announcing that it will not issue a temporary-use permit for the three-day music extravaganza.

Riot Fest, which features well known rock and punk acts such as Primus, The Cure, Wu-Tang Clan and Slayer, was scheduled for Sept. 19-21 at May Farms in Byers. It made its first appearance in the state last year, also at May Farms.

The festival was expected to attract 17,000 people a day to Byers, a town of just over 1,000 residents located about 40 miles east of Denver.

It's not clear how organizers of the festival will deal with the thousands of fans who have purchased tickets to Riot Fest or whether they will try to find an alternate location in the state.

Organizers had been awaiting word on a special use permit from Arapahoe County after a public hearing on July 1 where residents voiced concerns about the three-day music festival - primarily revolving around noise, traffic and drug use.

'The decision to deny is based upon traffic impacts and public safety concerns that would adversely impact surrounding property owners,' stated a release posted on the county's website Friday.

Riot Fest organizer Max Wagner told The Denver Post in June that he was 'confident that we're going to get to a place where the commissioners, the local community leaders are happy.'

The county commissioners were considering two issues.

The first was the temporary-use permit. The commissioners also are mulling whether to grant a use by special review amendment, allowing May Farms to expand its agritainment operations to an additional 195 acres north of Interstate 70 to accommodate large events like Riot Fest.

Riot Fest has two other shows scheduled to take place - in Chicago and Toronto during the two weekends leading up to the Colorado dates.

Entities 0 Name: Arapahoe County Count: 2 1 Name: Toronto Count: 1 2 Name: Colorado Count: 1 3 Name: Chicago Count: 1 4 Name: Denver Post Count: 1 5 Name: Denver Count: 1 6 Name: Slayer Count: 1 7 Name: Riot Fest Count: 1 8 Name: Byers Count: 1 9 Name: Max Wagner Count: 1 10 Name: Wu-Tang Clan Count: 1 Related Keywords 0 Name: fest Score: 39 1 Name: riot Score: 32 2 Name: byers Score: 26 3 Name: three-day Score: 20 4 Name: temporary-use Score: 20 5 Name: arapahoe Score: 20 6 Name: county Score: 15 7 Name: commissioners Score: 15 8 Name: permit Score: 15 9 Name: mdt Score: 15 Authors Media Images 0