FRUITA — George Gatseos is a little weary but happy.
Standing in his bustling Over the Edge shop in Fruita on Sunday — the final day of the town’s annual Fat Tire Festival — Gatseos noted how the festival’s business will help carry the store through the year.
“It’s the ultimate weekend for the store and for the mountain biking in Fruita,” said the co-owner of Over the Edge, which also has shops in Utah and Australia and has a fourth in the works. “We sell a lot of bikes this weekend.”
When the 16th annual festival concluded Sunday, so did Fruita’s busiest week — a sort of Christmas in spring.
Like Salida’s FIBArk or Olathe’s Sweet Corn Festival, the four-day Fruita Fat Tire Festival has become a destination event, drawing more than 1,000 mountain bikers who fill the town’s taverns, eateries and shops.
The beery pedalfest features live music, races and parties as the world’s most popular bike companies set up temporary shops downtown.
The event also ranks as one of the busiest for public lands in Colorado. Other areas can have more visitors on a busy holiday, but few events compare to the passionate use of public lands like the Fruita festival, said Steven Hall, spokesman for Colorado’s Bureau of Land Management.
“This is a perfect example of the relationship between the public lands administered by the BLM and the importance of these public lands to their local communities,” Hall said. “Recreation on public land administered by the BLM provides a driving force for local economies, and the combination of great terrain and passionate local communities will continue to add to local jobs, budgets and bank accounts.”
Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374 or jblevins@denverpost.com
