By Cheri Felix
This Thursday, here in Boulder, we have such a cool opportunity: the GiddyUP! Film Tour will be playing at The Dairy Center. Festivities start at 7:00, but you’ll want to get there a bit early to grab a drink, schmooze and jockey for the best place in line. I asked Dan Farrell to tell me a bit about the film tour and why you might want to join in the fun on Thursday.
This is the third year of the GiddyUP! Film Tour. What keeps you at it?
It’s definitely a labor of love/passion project for me. I’m a dad with two kids, a husband and a corporate sales guy living on airplanes. All of the tour work is done on my off hours and on the weekends. That said, there are two things that keep me motivated and eager to grow each year. The first are the people that come up to me after a show and tell me they’re inspired to dust off their mountain bike and get after it this season. The people that tell me they’re planning an epic trip and that a certain film inspired them. Those interactions are super cool.
The second part is that doing good feels good. I like to partner with trail advocacy groups, high school mountain bike teams and junior cycling teams to help them raise awareness and funds at our shows. We’re certainly not saving the world, but I’d argue that motivating people to get on their bikes and off their couches is a good thing. One of our favorite non-profit partners is the Amy D. Foundation. We partnered with them from the beginning and we host a couple of shows each year with a fundraising component to directly benefit the great work they do for young women in the sport. (Read Cheri’s take on the Amy D CX race HERE)
Speaking of women…let’s talk about women. Do they show up? Should they?
One thing that is really cool is that 40% of our typical crowd is female.The first year we had zero films featuring women. I talked about it at each show and shared how I bummed I was that we couldn’t secure any good films with female riders or filmmakers. The crowd at our first Boulder show let me have it with some light-hearted boo’s. I promised to never do another tour without films featuring women. This year we have four films featuring women, and three of them have been crowd favorites. It’s definitely not easy finding those films because there just aren’t that many out there. It’s an issue across the cycling industry in general. I think things are headed in the right direction but there is definitely a long way to go.
How is this year’s tour different?
Overall, I believe the films are better this year. But the theme remains the same. It’s a variety pack of short-form films; comedy, adventure and drama. We try not to go too heavy on what I call ‘tail whips and back flips’. We really focus on the bulk of the films having a good storyline so folks are engaged the whole time regardless of their personal riding ability.
Check out the trailer and then come join us all in supporting The GiddyUP! Film Tour. It will be fun. There will be beer and oh yeah, there’s a raffle with amazing schwag. Think Feedback Sports, Handlebar Mustache, Qloom and prizes for training and coaching (and much more). Look for me and please say hello!
Details:
Thursday Aril 13, 2017
The Dairy Center Center for the Arts in the Gordan Gamm Theater
7:00 p.m.
Tickets: $15.00
https://303cycling.com/event/giddyup-film-tour-4/
0 Comments