2014 » Year One

TheBigWonderful, founded in 2014 by Josh Sampson, started as a weekly market (Saturdays and Final Fridays) and was open July 12 - November 1 at Sustainability Park (26th and Lawrence) in Denver’s RiNo Art District. This free community festival focused heavily on food, with unique tastes from local up-and-coming food vendors and food trucks, paired with craft beverages ranging from local beer to creative cocktails. In 2014, TheBigWonderful established a music booking relationship with Scott Morril from Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom, who would continue to help program the stage with the best local and national bluegrass acts - making TheBigWonderful a can’t miss entertainment destination. The widely celebrated weekly festival was an immediate success and dubbed the perfect place to try new flavors with family and friends in the summer of 2014.

“Summer food truck meetups are pretty common, but this one has heart.” - Westword (2014)

“TheBigWonderful is like walking into a working food science lab disguised as a farmer’s market. Area chefs, cooks, brewers, farmers, entrepreneurs, or anyone with something delicious to share can participate and share something new. Your favorite restaurant might be there testing out a new dish, or you might get a taste of the next big thing on tap.” - 303 Magazine (2014)

“TheBigWonderful, Denver's first year-round food-incubator market” - Westword (2014)

“For vendors, it is a low cost, high traffic jumping-off point for entrepreneurs and established businesses alike to experiment and pilot new concepts and get their food to the masses. For attendees, the event offers affordable, inspiring, unique and diverse food options.” - Westword (2014)

“TheBigWonderful Is the Ultimate Patio Experience” - Westword (2014)

2015 » Year Two

On May 2, 2015, the sophomore season of TheBigWonderful’s weekly family-friendly block party opened with a Derby-themed affair, setting the stage for years of Derby parties to come. Josh Sampson partnered with Ben Baruch in 2015 to increase marketing efforts for the festival, which drew 15,000 attendees on the opening weekend! The weekly summer food & craft market also featured beach volleyball, urban farming, cornhole, a dog park, a full-sized stage with local bluegrass bands and DJs, craft beer & cocktails flowing, and more. With a rotating smorgasbord of food & craft vendors, TheBigWonderful was the most unique platform to promote and facilitate small business growth in Denver in 2015, operating weekly from May 2 - October 17th and welcoming thousands of Denverites weekly to celebrate creative culture. 

“TheBigWonderful — an outdoor, sustainable foodie marketplace with its own craft-beer garden and fun and games to entertain the whole family — more than lives up to its name.” - Westword (2015)

“TheBigWonderful has solidified itself as a nucleus of Denver’s burgeoning craft community.” - 303 Magazine (2015)

“Soak up hipster culture at TheBigWonderful” - Thrillist (2015)

“While we can’t predict what the next big thing in Denver’s foodie scene will be, we can pretty much guarantee where it will come from, TheBigWonderful” - 5280 Magazine (2015)

Notable Music Acts in 2015: Trout Steak Revival, Whitewater Ramble, Kyle Hollingsworth Band, Rob Drabkin, Grant Farm, The Drunken Hearts, Eufórquestra, Dragondeer 

2016 » Year Three

2016 was a year of expansion and experimentation. Brad Lewis joined up with Josh as a new business partner, and TheBigWonderful moved away from weekly recurring block parties in RiNo, to larger single day, 2-day and 3-day festivals spread throughout the Denver-metro area. The popularity of TheBigWonderful from 2014 and 2015 created momentum for the event brand to expand locations, bringing the family-friendly food and craft festival to the RiNo Art District, Stanley Marketplace, Littleton, and more.

In 2016, TheBigWonderful hosted the following events: 

• TheBigWonderful at Sustainability Park in the RiNo Art District (Multiple Dates)

• TheBigWonderful at Geneva Park in partnership with The City of Littleton (Multiple Dates)

• TheBigWonderful Stapleton in partnership with Stanley Marketplace (Multiple Dates)

• Art Blast on 16th Street Mall in partnership with the Downtown Denver Partnership 

  • 2-Block Festival activation with live art and mural installations from Dread and Zehb, a Beer Garden, Craft Vendors, and concerts featuring members of The New Mastersounds and The Motet

  • Secret District: 12 DJs in a secret location in partnership with Lyft, MCP Presents, Cervantes and Work & Class

• Blues & Brews Fest: A single-day music, food and beer festival in partnership with Stanley Marketplace

• Oktobergrass: A one-day fall-themed festival with bluegrass headliner Jeff Austin Band in partnership with Denver Housing Authority 

• Wondergate: TheBigWonderful’s twist on tailgating, in partnership with Denver Housing Authority (Multiple Dates) 

2017 » Year Four

2017 was another year of growth and change for TheBigWonderful, focusing on three multi-day major festivals. Kicking things off on Derby Weekend, TheBigWonderful brought it’s mash-up of a beerfest, bands, and bazaar to a new home at the former Denver Post printing plant in Globeville, a location that TheBigWonderful would activate for the following three years. In addition to the Globeville Derby 3-Day Weekend, TheBigWonderful hosted a 3-day summer bash at Stanley Marketplace in July and returned to Globeville in September for an expanded 2-day Oktobergrass festival. By focusing on three signature events in 2017, TheBigWonderful was able to dial in the BEERFEST, BLUEGRASS, BAZAAR experience for attendees and feature the best-of-the-best craft vendors and food trucks that Denver has to offer.

“TheBigWonderful is back and spilling over with its trademark something-for-everyone trifecta, including a huge shopping bazaar and food-truck congregation, a big beer-and-spirits fest and lots of live music, all at one large, open location” - Westword (2017)

“Indulge in Denver’s best food, drink, and retail at TheBigWonderful” - 303 Magazine (2017)

Notable Music Acts in 2017: Jeff Austin Band, Drew Emmitt Band, Andy Thorn & Friends, Rob Drabkin, Everyone Orchestra, Chain Station, Meadow Mountain

2018 » Year Five

Building on the success of the focused 2017 festival format, TheBigWonderful expanded its radius to bring their signature BEERFEST, BLUEGRASS & BAZAAR to Winter Park Resort, Littleton in partnership with Reinke Brothers, LoHi Music Fest, and Westminster. TheBigWonderful returned to Globeville for another round of massive Derby Weekend and Oktobergrass weekends, as well as Stanley Marketplace for an extended spring festival. 2018 was a year that proved the reach of TheBigWonderful extended state-wide, and that the family-friendly festival of shopping, eating, drinking & playing was an undeniably unique can't-miss Colorado event.

“Fuse the waning days of ski season with the amped energy of summer festivals.” - 303 Magazine (2018)

“TheBigWonderful is a bit of a chameleon, moving between different locations and bringing a singular character to every event. It’s way more than a market focused only on the vendors; instead, it resembles a carnival —friendly to all ages, with shopping and food and music and dancing and partying.” - Westword (2018)

“Since its beginning, TheBigWonderful’s growth has been very evident. What began as a small event with 100 attendees is now a giant festival, one that people all around Colorado are attracted to.” - 303 Magazine (2018)

“The combination of sustainability and entertainment makes this festival not only one of a kind but also appeals to the Denver culture as a whole. With so many Colorado vendors working towards a greener future... Colorado is the perfect home for a festival like this.” - 303 Magazine (2018)

“A wiggly and giggly hybrid of artisan bazaar, bluegrass concert and Beerfest” - Westword (2018)

Notable Music Acts in 2018: Leftover Salmon, Jeff Austin Band, Trout Steak Revival, WhiteWater Ramble, DeadPhish Orchestra, Chain Station, Woodshed Red

2019 » Year Six

In 2019, TheBigWonderful returned to Winter Park Resort for a second year, held its signature Derby Weekend festival in Globeville, and expanded to a larger footprint in Stapleton at The Shops at Northfield as popularity grew to be overwhelming for Stanley Marketplace. TheBigWonderful also partnered with Denver BAZAAR to host Boulder Beer BAZAAR during Memorial Day weekend of the Boulder Creek Festival, bringing the mix of craft vendors and beer tasting to Boulder for the first time. TheBigWonderful's strong 2019 events in Winter Park, Denver, and Stapleton continued to pave the way for further growth of the festival as thousands of people, hundreds of local vendors, and handfuls of local musicians continued to prove TheBigWonderful is a signature Colorado event. The BigWonderful also expanded their team in 2019, bringing on Meg Ryan (current Director of Operations). Having had multiple years of experience at that point with both a permanent location and multiple mobile locations, a discussion also began internally in 2019 to consider finding a permanent base location again (similar to how things started).

“The overall vibe — standing around outside, eating, drinking and listening to bluegrass — is probably pretty close to what you'd experience at Churchill Downs.” - Westword (2019)

“A crafty shopping extravaganza” - 303 Magazine (2019)

"The annual Derby weekend festival takes Colorado’s beloved food, music, and market experiences with an emphasis on 100-plus local entrepreneurs and sustainability." - Eater Denver (2019)

“All the beer, wine, shopping, and fun making you hungry? A wide selection of Denver’s favorite Food Trucks will come together to create a mobile Food Court during the festival.” - Stapleton Scoop (2019)

Notable Music Acts in 2019: The Lil Smokies, Meadow Mountain, Whitacre, Whippoorwill, Tejon Street Corner Thieves, My Blue Sky, Brianna Straut, Pick & Howl

2021 & 2022 » Coming Soon!

2020 » Year Seven

While 2020 brought some difficult challenges to everyone in the event/music industry with the onset of a global pandemic, TheBigWonderful still found a way to continue to bring the Colorado community together with laid-back, locally-focused, shopping, drinking, and dancing experiences. And TheBigWonderful found the opportunity they had been searching for by partnering with the Belleview Station development project in DTC to build a new permanent venue. TheBigWonderful Beer Garden at Belleview Station hosted eight straight weeks of events in the fall, featuring their signature shipping container bar and local musicians performing every Saturday and Sunday.