The first annual Tour de Rock took place Thursday night, bringing with it a good time for Colorado Mesa University students and alumni, as well as community members. The event took place downtown, at 4th and Main street.
On the Downtown Grand Junction website, the event post reads, “In its first year, Downtown Grand Junction is excited to join forces with Colorado Mesa University to bring students, alumni, and community members to the heart of Grand Junction for a night of bikes, brews, costumes, and music.” Tour de Rock, modeled after the “ever-popular” Tour de Fat, included food vendors and a beer garden.
“This event encourages participants to use the 10th Street bike path that connects the CMU campus to downtown,” supportingcmu.com says. “Participants will enjoy a variety of food trucks, a beer garden and three hours of live music at 4th and Main Street!”
Food trucks were parked on the streets and Mesa alumni set up a tent for people to get their beer, right next to the buffalo statue in front of Wells Fargo. Rockslide Brewery, which sat at the edge of the event on 4th street, was the title sponsor and official beer provider for the night.
Tour de Rock started out at 7:30 p.m. with a fair bit of rain as local band, Bicycle Annie, set up on-stage. After their performance, Suckafish took over. There were three hours of live-performance music, and students, alumni and community members alike took advantage of it.
People danced and partied in the street to the tune of a variety of music, drinking beer and hanging out in creative costumes. Tour de Rock was attended by CMU Foundation Board Member Louis Buescher, who later in the night confirmed that it was a good time.
It was also attended by the Justice League of Hope, a small group of individuals who wear superhero-themed costumes and visit sick children in hospitals. As they enjoyed the festivities, they handed out fliers for free hot dogs at Mad Margaret’s Costumes & Lingerie Customer Appreciation day. It was truly an event that brought normally separated parts of Grand Junction together.
The party got intense, but not too intense, as several versions of Marvel’s Daredevil showed up, along with a t-rex, and a crazy rockstar guy with wild blond hair, a denim jacket, and very short shorts to match.
A few children attended the festivities in the earlier hours, during Bicycle Annie’s performance, but as the night progressed, the atmosphere shifted to a slightly wilder setting, though not nearly as wild as one might expect from a stereotypical event involving university students.
Security guards stood at the edges of the blocked off streets, but for the most part, they didn’t have a whole lot to do, other than maybe having to warn someone not to strip off any more clothing and leave it in the street. The first annual Tour de Rock seemed to be a hit and it would not be a surprise to see it return in 2018.
