Bancroft Park looked like the Pikes Peak region at its best on Sunday, September 13: trees in full shade, Pikes Peak on the horizon, purple tents on the brick, and a crowd in boots lining up for instruction and dancing.
The 2026 Pikes Peak Outdoors Awards and Celebration Hoedown was three hours of live country, line dancing, seven awards, food trucks, and an online auction that capped off the evening. While in its first year, it will become the organization’s largest fundraiser of the year. That only works when businesses and partners put real gifts on the table. Thank you to all who helped make it a success!
The Experience
Jason Wulf Band loaded in at noon and opened the park at 3:00. Awards came in short bursts so the music and dancing could keep the energy up: two awards, a set, two more awards, an auction spotlight, then Rocky Mountain Country Dancing took the pavement for nearly two hours. People who swore they do not dance found themselves in the middle of the line. Partner tents created valuable connections and framed in the dance floor. QR codes for the auction sat at the check-in tent, on signs, and in every host reminder.
The run of the day was simple on purpose. Music first. Honor people. Dance. Bid. Do it again. Close with one last award and a final push on the auction. The park stayed busy and the bids kept moving while people were having fun.
Thank you to our sponsors
The stage banner told the story before anyone picked up a guitar. Thank you to Adventures Out West, the City of Cripple Creek, El Pomar Foundation, Angler’s Covey, Predator 4WD, and CommonSpirit. Your names were between the crowd and live action.
Thank you to every business and partner who donated an auction gift
These are the packages people bid on. If you gave one of them, you helped turn a $10 Sunday ticket into support for the outdoor community.
On the water and on the mountain
- Angler’s Covey — guided fly-fishing trip for two at Bar Star Ranch in Como
- Mountain Chalet — Kästle ZX 100 L skis and a Black Diamond backpack
- Monarch Mountain — lift tickets
- Flying Horse Resort & Club — golf foursome
- Front Range Climbing Company — climbing trip
- CityRock — day passes and gear
- Gripstone Climbing — passes and gear
- Pikes Peak — America’s Mountain — tickets
- Cheyenne Mountain Zoo — experience package
- Arkansas River Tours — trip for two
- Royal Gorge Bridge & Park — tickets
Nights away and a night out
- Chamonix Casino Resort — overnight stay in Cripple Creek
- Golden Nugget Cripple Creek — Cripple Creek hotel stay
- Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort — overnight stay
- Butte Theater — tickets
- Pikes Peak Regional Airshow — tickets
- Venu — Joe Nichols signed Nashville Guitar Works acoustic, plus Bourbon Brothers and comedy-night tickets
Wheels, courts, and community
- Women’s Mountain Biking Association — mountain bike package
- Criterium Bicycles — ride, recovery, and accessory packages
- Kids on Bikes — week of bike camp
- Springs Pickleball — court rental
- Scheels — gift card
- Colonel Mustard’s — basket and gift card
- Springs Wealth Group — cozy fireside basket
- David Cannon — “Pika-Boo” painting
- Ragain Family — private Switchbacks suite for a 2027 match
- Pikes Peak Outdoors — merch package
What we want donors to remember
People did not experience your gift as a line on a spreadsheet. They experienced it as a guitar signed by Joe Nichols, a ski season that suddenly had a start date, a Sunday on private water, a suite in 2027, a night in Cripple Creek, a climbing day, a week of bike camp for a kid. The auction stayed open the whole event, with live spotlights around 4:00 and again near 5:50, and a last call at close.
See you next year
Thank you to the band, the line-dancing instructors, the volunteers at check-in and the tool-free auction table, the food trucks, the nominees and award winners, and everyone who bought a ticket and stayed through the last song.
If you want to be part of the 2027 Hoedown — sponsor, auction gift, or both — reach out to Pikes Peak Outdoors.
