A Colorado EDM Festival That Forgot to Be Huge

Most Colorado EDM festivals measure success in headcount. Badger measures it in the distance between you and the nearest stranger you haven't met yet. Set in the high plains of Hartsel at 9,000 feet, it's electronic music with room to breathe — and a horizon instead of a fence line.

Bass, house, techno, and the weirder edges of the spectrum play across sound systems built for open air, not stadium reverb. No tens of thousands packed shoulder to shoulder. Just space to dance, dirt under your boots, and a sky that does half the lighting design itself.

Whether you've done a hundred of these or this is your first night sleeping in a tent beside a sound camp, Badger takes you in. You'll leave with new friends, a new favorite artist, and the specific kind of dust that never quite washes out. That's the deal. We think it's a good one.