UTOPiAfest moving to Reveille Peak Ranch; decision comes during debate over permit
Hidden Ranch Road off CR 200 in Burnet County was at the heart of a debate over a ‘mass gathering’ permit application for UTOPiAfest music festival. Before Burnet County Sheriff Calvin Boyd made a decision on the permit application, the event’s organizers decided Oct. 3 to move the event to Reveille Peak Ranch. Staff photo by Jared Fields
STAFF WRITER JARED FIELDS
After weeks of friction between festival promoters and local landowners, UTOPiAfest organizers are moving the event to Reveille Peak Ranch.
At issue has been a “mass gathering” permit application for the Nov. 2-4 event that had been planned for a private ranch on Hidden Ranch Road off CR 200 east of Burnet.
About 100 people attended the Burnet County commissioners meeting Sept. 25 to voice opposition to the festival. The permit is required for events with a planned attendance of more than 2,500 people.
At the meeting, Burnet County Sheriff Calvin Boyd said he would deny the permit if he had to decide that day. The dirt road from CR 200 to the festival grounds gave him the greatest concern regarding traffic and emergency vehicles being able to get in and out of the property.
If the permit had been denied, organizers have previously stated they might instead limit the event to an attendance of 2,499 people to avoid the permit requirement.
Reveille Peak Ranch, 105 CR 114 west of Burnet, regularly hosts large events with thousands of people. In moving the location, the traffic issues should be no different from other large events held there with more than 10,000 people.
9 thoughts on “UTOPiAfest moving to Reveille Peak Ranch; decision comes during debate over permit”
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I’ve just come back from Burnet and the 10th Utopiafest and I had a lovely time, at least as far as the local area treated us. The music was very good, the attendees were some of the kindest people we met. The logistics of the event itself left some to be desired but my GF and I are in our mid 50’s and stayed at the local Comfort Inn and drove to the festival Thursday and Friday; we left Saturday as there were no acts we HAD to see playing and airfare was much cheaper for Saturday’s flight out.
So we stayed at the hotel, 3 nights; bought some wine and water at the local HEB; shopped at an antique store and your library’s thrift store. I picked up some great leather cowboy boots, Justin’s if I’m not mistaken, for very cheap. The locals are very kind folks. We’re the types that might like the diversity of Austin but honestly, I’d rather come back down to Burnet with my flat bed F250 and stock up at every thrift shop, yard sale, flea market and antique store there! There were lots of younger people at the festival but there were many older folks like us, folks who aren’t shy of dropping $1000, $2000 for a fun few days where we feel safe and welcomed. Please don’t toss out this opportunity for your area to host this event next year.
‘Keep the weirdos in Austin.’ Really? Is that the compassion and understanding your pastor taught you? I am SO sad to see that the ‘good Christians’ of Burnet have been so unwilling to allow a little diversity into our sleepy town for one weekend. It is a boon for our small businesses (imagine if each attendee spends only $5 in town – that’s $30k that our businesses wouldn’t have made!) and a great opportunity to stimulate meaningful conversation about diversity and compassion. So traffic might be bad for a weekend, so maybe you should avoid the area. Actually, please do, I would hate for our visitors to think this attitude somehow represents our community.
Reveille Peak Ranch is a great place to have the event!
This is NOT something Burnet residents want period? Who would have thought Revelle Peak Ranch would turn into a Woodstock? They said the reason for leaving Utopia was to be able to start selling alcohol and to get bigger. Why aren’t they going to Austin, that’s their target customer anyway? Sheriff Boyd and Judge Oakley I hope you really think this through. This is a bigger part of Burnet being effected and NOT given a chance to fight it. It’s still a problem for Burnet residents just moved to a different location.
Bet positive replies are NOT Burnet residents.
Hi, I believe that November 1st-4th will come and go and you won’t even notice a difference. I will would like to come back to this thread and check if you are still living at the same quality of life on November 5th.
I do feel sorry for the Harrison Brothers, with the property on CR 200. I had no idea we had so many leftwing Protesters in the county. People here largely seem to be pro-freedom, pro-business, & pro-private property rights. They’ll say they are, too. Until they’re told they might be mildly inconvenienced for a weekend.
Looking forward to the event. Thank you Sherriff Boyd for working that out! The music will be great!
Way to go utopiafest!! That is a way better location. Now I may actually have to attend. I sure hope this is a for sure thing, because they are still doing work on the ranch down cr200. I hear them as I am typing! Steve- the “ranch” on cr200 is 100 acres, not 1,000.
Great. Shove it over to another part of the county that doesn’t want to have to deal with all the traffic and BS, either. What was wrong with the ranch they were having it on before? Did they wear out their welcome there? In initial reading of this matter they stated that it was being held on a large ranch (1,000 acres?) so what was the problem with leaving it where it was. Keep the weirdos in Austin where they are so happy to be and keep them out of Burnet County.