In December 2023, when Jay Peak, Vt., unveiled its first WinterShine event—a month-long celebration of twinkle lights and community with weekend fireworks and food, live music, and free s’mores—it “had an immediate impact on early December bookings,” said communications and marketing coordinator Dehlia Wright.
“Given the success, we’re using it as a template to kick off an April-long event that will focus on sugaring, maple syrup, big brunches, and horse-drawn rides, paired with live music,” said Wright. “The hope is that this event, paired with the various spring break weeks for our major markets, will create even more reasons to visit late season, much like WinterShine supports early season.”
As at Jay Peak, across the ski industry, special events are essential in driving business, particularly during the early and late shoulders of winter.
“Events are highly effective in extending our season and driving skier visits during off-peak times,” said Charli Sayward, marketing and communications manager at Sugarloaf, Maine. “They also help to provide guests with a great experience that is not dependent on weather.”
Growing business. Sayward said Sugarloaf’s three-day reggae festival in mid-April (going on 37 years) plays a “significant role in boosting late-season visitation and generating revenue across lodging, retail, and food & beverage, regardless of the weather.”
“Early and late season, more often than not, the goal for events is pretty clear: We are trying to drive bodies to the mountain, visits and volume,” said Troy Hawks, marketing and sales director at Red Lodge, Mont.
With Easter falling on April 20 this year (vs. March 31 last year), Red Lodge is aiming to grow spring business with a new College Weekend that will include several on-snow happenings and is “looking at a few other events to add to our calendar to keep folks on our slopes late into the spring,” said Hawks.
At Cannon, N.H., “events bring in their fair share of revenue to be sure,” said Jen Karnan, director of marketing and sales.
“Primarily, though, they provide more value for our guests, whether they’re season passholders or visitors for the day, and are a way for us to engage with our community.”
Building community. Presley Quon, communications and community relations manager at Mt. Bachelor, Ore., added that events can also help showcase the unique character of a resort. “Resort events are a reflection of the vibrant culture that makes Bend a choice destination for recreation, art, music, and craft beer.”
She said events build community. “The hype and anticipation around signature events like RendezVan, The Dirksen Derby, and Big Wave Challenge continue to build year after year and are a highlight of the guest and employee experience,” Quon said. “Through these events, we have built strong partnerships with businesses, athletes, and cause-based organizations to further establish Mt. Bachelor as an anchor of recreation and tourism in Central Oregon.”
At Killington Resort, Vt., marketing specialist Brooke Geery said, “Our events are not so much business drivers as experiential elements for our guests to enjoy.
“We try to focus on events that will benefit the customer that is already here to ski or ride and shy away from things that may add crowds of non-skiers during peak times.”
An off-peak boost. During off-peak times, however, Geery said events are important in bringing attention and visitors to the resort. For example, the women’s World Cup race Thanksgiving weekend has brought tens of thousands of people, as well as national media coverage, to Killington for the last several years.
“The impact of this event on the area cannot be overstated,” Geery said.
A Wide Range
Other events at Killington include the popular Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge and Pond Skim—both late-spring traditions—and several terrain park events, including the Loaded Turkey rail jam, which kicks off the season, as well as events with visiting pros such as Alex Hackel’s Hike and Hang. Killington also hosts several third-party events such as Boarding for Breast Cancer’s Love Your Peaks and the Slash and Berm Banked Slalom every March, which raises money for a different charity each year.
Doing good. Charity events are popular at many resorts throughout the season and beyond. Besides its reggae festival, Sugarloaf hosts the Charity Summit in January to raise money to fight cancer. Other events include Fire on the Mountain in February, a weekend-long Grateful Dead music festival, and The Sugarloaf Marathon & 15K in May.
Cannon, where Olympic great Bode Miller learned to ski, welcomes him back every year to host the Bode Ski Festival, a kid-friendly fundraiser for Miller’s Turtle Ridge Foundation. In January, the mountain invites all active duty and retired, reserve, and veteran members of the military to ski free, lands a Blackhawk helicopter in the base area, and has a flag parade on skis. On closing day last April, Cannon hosted a solar eclipse viewing party, levied a cover charge, and sold out the event.
Incorporating holidays. Boyne Mountain, Mich., hosts Carnival Week near the end of the season in mid-March, which “conveniently lands around St. Patrick’s Day and Mardi Gras,” said Kari Roder, director of marketing.
“Anything goes—drinks flow, music is loud, slopes are prime, and the costume contest is pure entertainment. We are also leveling up our late-night antics with the Mountain ’til Midnight series, where we will spin the Mountain Express lift on select Friday nights until midnight.”
In on the secret. At Steamboat, Colo., the month-long April “Springalicious” celebration is “not an event.”
“It’s an attitude,” said Steamboat director of communications Loryn Duke. “It’s the way Steamboat does spring skiing and riding, and it’s the entire month. April tends to be a quieter month, but often it’s the best conditions. We celebrate that all month long with a variety of events, and then we go all out for our closing weekend with the Pond Skim and Cardboard Classic, one on each day, followed by Bud Light Rocks the Boat concerts. It’s our way of celebrating our staff, our locals, and our loyal guests who know the secret of spring.”
At the other end of the season, Duke said Steamboat also holds a big opening day event primarily for locals.
Balancing the equation. “The early season and late season event equation is tricky,” said Red Lodge’s Hawks, “because you have no idea how much snow you are going to have.” Consider the ubiquitous pond skim: “How do you plan a pond skim if you don’t know if you’ll have the snow to make a pond?” He asked. “And you have to make the call two weeks out.”
“These days, you have to build events that you are guaranteed you can do,” regardless of snow conditions, Hawks added. “And you want to build events for all levels of abilities that everyone can enjoy.”
For Red Lodge’s new College Weekend, the resort will build a progression park with small features for a no-skill competition, run a “Doppelganger Downhill” in which the team costumes are as important as the course times, and host a college colors parade.
Measuring Success
When it comes to building out a new event, “consistency is important,” said Hawks. “You have to bring events back and give them at least three seasons to saturate the marketplace.”
Success metrics. In terms of measuring a new event’s success, he said, “A lot of times, you do it as a pilot project, and then ask questions like, did it resonate with folks? How well did we get the word out? Did it create earned media? And you look for opportunities to improve it next year.”
Resorts measure an event’s success in different ways: “Crowd size, publicity, ancillary product sales,” said Duke at Steamboat.
“Attendance, participation, revenue generation, including ticket sales, food and beverage, retail sales during the event, social media engagement, likes, comments, guest feedback, repeat visitation,” added Quon at Mt. Bachelor.
At Cannon, Karnan said an event’s success is measured on a few year-over-year factors, including “attendance, revenue if applicable, ancillary spending on site, amount of funds raised compared to prior years, and overall fun had by guests.”
She said some recurring, free-of-charge events, such as the resort’s après music series, bring more people into the base lodge’s Cannonball Pub, where they stay to enjoy free, live music but will purchase more food and drinks.
Sayward said Sugarloaf measures success through skier visitation, guest feedback, participation levels, and revenue generated across different resort outlets during events.
“Many events are ticketed, so we can track attendance trends year over year and adjust accordingly,” she said. “The overall goal is to enhance the guest experience while driving business.”
Added value. “Certainly, the goal is that each event is a financial success in and of itself,” added Wright at Jay. “But we’re also cognizant of the value these events have to guests planning their vacations. Events like WinterShine don’t have a dedicated registration or admission fee, they’re set up to set Jay Peak apart when guests are looking at the overall value of booking their vacation with us. WinterShine is just in its second season, and we’ve already seen a great response—better lodging bookings and, just as important, it’s become an event that local folks look forward to attending.”
Geery said events at Killington “are not necessarily a direct revenue driver, most are free to attend, and many don’t have a cost to participate. Those that do charge an entry fee mainly use that to cover their costs. However, events do bring people to the resort, which obviously boosts ancillary spending. Some do have a fundraising element, and with those the resort often matches or contributes to the donations in support of our community.”
Supporting and building community is a prime goal of ski resort events, agreed Roder at Boyne Mountain, who added one more metric: smiles.
“We measure the success of an event by the sentiment created afterwards,” she said. “If people are smiling and having a great time with friends and family, then we know that we have succeeded.”
Front of mind. “In spring, you are fighting backyard syndrome,” said Hawks at Red Lodge. “It isn’t going to be snowy in their backyards in Bozeman, so you are trying to keep skiing front of mind.” Late-season events support that effort and help drive season pass sales for the next year, he said. “You want your guests sitting on a sunny deck with their friends thinking, ‘This is fun, let’s do this again.’”
