After the third year of Dillon having paid concert parking in certain lots, the Town Council discussed potential changes to the program at its Dec. 16 work session. Council members overall approved of the program but had concerns with reserved parking and signage.

Council members discussed managed parking in August, expressing concerns about the amphitheater lot being closed the morning of concerts and preventing Marina Park users from parking close to the park. Interstate Parking manages Dillon’s parking, and Shelby Schwendeman, the company’s director of mountain operations, said at the August meeting that the closure is needed to ensure nobody is parked in reserved spots when reservation holders arrive for the concert.

The Town Council in August asked Schwendeman and town staff to look into ways to have the amphitheater lot open to park users before the concert parking operations start at 2 p.m. the day of any ticketed concert.

Dillon’s committee on parks and recreation, arts, amphitheater and cemetery discussed the amphitheater parking at a December meeting. Events and recreation director Jessie Klehfoth said the committee supported opening the amphitheater lot to Marina Park users before concerts.

Klehfoth said the committee thought the paid parking program should otherwise stay the same. The amphitheater lot is the only one that takes reservations, but on-demand paid parking is available in the marina lot and on Lodgepole Street on concert nights.

Council member Barbara Richard said she thought, based on the August conversation, that Interstate Parking was going to allow parking in the amphitheater lot before 2 p.m. on concert nights. Klehfoth said the parking management company is still working on a strategy to open the lot and get cars out before reservations start.

According to a staff report, the amphitheater committee also advised against adding daily paid parking to the waterfront, something the Town Council planned to implement in 2024 before reversing course. 

The committee also suggested continuing the promotion of free concert parking for carpoolers at the marina lot and refining the dynamic pricing model, which started this summer and provided cheaper parking to those who bought reserved parking early or arrived early at on-demand paid parking. Klehfoth said the committee wanted the dynamic pricing refined to more reliably fill all available paid parking spaces.

“We now have three years of data with this,” Klehfoth said. “We kind of can start to evaluate what types of shows, what types of audience demographics, are willing to pay certain price points.”

Amphitheater show parking generated about $6,000 in a five-show test run in 2023, over $70,000 in a full season in 2024 and about $56,000 in 2025. Klehfoth said 2025 had less revenue because the season had two fewer paid shows and the dynamic pricing system meant people were able to reserve spots for up to $15 less than they cost in 2024.

Council members expressed concerns about parking signage confusing guests throughout the town, not just at the lakefront lots. Mayor Carolyn Skowyra asked the council if it agreed with directing staff to work on improving the clarity of signage and opening the amphitheater lot on the mornings of concerts, and the members expressed approval.