Steamboat’s Newest Stage

Piknik Theatre started with a gazebo on Spring Creek Trail. The stage sat among wildflowers, and actors’ voices were accompanied by chirping birds. A small audience made the trek to the location, ready to enjoy the summer sun and a high-quality show.

Since 2008, Piknik Theatre has provided a space for outdoor performances. Its founder, Stuart Handloff, developed the theater as a way to provide to the Steamboat Springs arts scene, believing in the inexplicable yet tangible power of an outdoor performance. Piknik’s original Spring Creek setting, while beautiful, had its flaws: parking was difficult, it was a decent hike to the gazebo and the imposing threat of bad weather left the schedule extremely tentative. After three years, Stuart made an agreement with the Yampa River Botanic Park to use its carefully curated outdoor garden and Bud Werner Memorial Library for use of its grassy space. While the current performances at these two locations were excellent, Stuart wanted more from a venue. “The current locations were simply not sustainable long term, and I had no backup if something went wrong or had to be canceled,” Stuart says. There was a need not only for his own private facility but for high-quality sound equipment, a quiet and isolated area, and a covered space – so that inevitable gloomy weather wouldn’t halt a performance altogether. So Stuart came up with his own solution: a brand new amphitheater.

Although Steamboat is bursting with prime outdoor locations, it took Stuart months to narrow down the perfect setting. He eventually settled on the open field situated at the edge of Strawberry Park, directly adjacent to the Strawberry Park Elementary School grounds. He obtained a lease from the Steamboat Springs School District, and immediately began planning. The conceptual design has been complete since 2021, but the project has gone through financial and contractual setbacks. This year though, the project is finally ready for construction.

Stuart envisions the new amphitheater as a space that anyone in the community can utilize for their artistic expression. “Steamboat is the singular Colorado resort town without an outdoor performance venue,” Stuart points out. He believes Steamboat’s first will benefit everyone. Because it will be located on school property, the space will be available for students to use during the warmer months of the school year. In the summer months when the theater is active, the old school house will be used for quick changes as well as storing props and costumes. Potentially, the space could be open to other groups for music and dance shows. Piknik Theatre will still run occasional shows at the botanic park and the library, but the new space will provide an isolated location for the best quality performances.

The $650,000 project has received funding from numerous outlets, with more donations coming in each week. Besides money from private donors, the state of Colorado alone has given Stuart and his team $120,000 and they’ve received donations from local foundations like Yampa Valley Electric Association and the Yampa Valley Community Foundation. They’re still in need of about $85,000 but Stuart is hopeful that they’ll reach their goal before mid-May, so that construction can begin in early June.

“Every community deserves an outdoor space for performance,” Stuart says.

For more information, or to donate, visit www.pikniktheatre.org.