In 1993, a recent college graduate named Scotty Stoughton was getting ready to start his first post-college job in Boston, when he had a change of heart. He packed up his car and headed west, eventually landing in the Vail Valley, in Avon.
The rest, as they say, is history. Stoughton has spent the bulk of the last thirty-two years in Colorado (taking a short break to pursue a music career in Los Angeles). He’s the frontman for reggae-roots band Bonfire Dub, the founder of the Bonfire Entertainment production company, co-founder of Stand-Up Paddle Colorado, and the creator and driving force behind multiple outdoor music festivals, including WinterWonderGrass, BajaWonderGrass, Billy Strings’ Renewal, and Smalltown (formerly Campout) For The Cause.
Today we’re talking to Scotty specifically about Smalltown For The Cause, which this year is scheduled for September 19th and 20th in Salida. Despite having to make a last-minute venue pivot, Smalltown For The Cause, which has been on a COVID-related hiatus for the last five years, is just around the corner.
As you’ll read in the following interview, the festivals Stoughton puts together are about a lot more than music. Foundationally, they are about doing the right things for the right reasons, appreciating and protecting the world around us, and building community. I spent a little more than half an hour with Scotty, and I will tell you… the man knows how to inspire…
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Rick: Thanks for joining me today, Scotty. I definitely want to spend the bulk of our time talking about the Smalltown For The Cause Festival, but before we get to that, I’d like to level set a bit on your own background.
You came to Colorado in 1993, right? After graduating college and preparing for a job in Boston, you chose instead to pack your car and drive to Colorado. Do I have that right?
Scotty: Yeah, that’s pretty much it. I grew up surfing, and I’d been traveling after college around the globe, doing that. I was also on the ski team in college in Rhode Island, which was very much the beer league. All my friends (from the ski team) had moved to Vail. So, right before I was about to head north to follow in the footsteps of every other person around me, I decided to hang a left.
At that time, I had started touring with the Grateful Dead. I’d been exposed to this amazing bohemian culture of not only music, but parking lot antics and connectivity and wild hand drumming… and I was just being absorbed into this bohemian vibe. And so taking a drive west seemed like the logical thing to do. I landed in the Vail Valley first, got into a band immediately, and the rest is history.
Rick: So, when you got in the car and started driving west, was Vail the planned destination, or it was kind of up in the air. I mean, there’s lots of nice places out in the western part of the country. You could have gone to Jackson, Wyoming, or maybe Moab, or even on to California.
Scotty: No… my parents had taken me skiing in Utah a few times growing up, but I’d never been to Colorado. Colorado was always just this shining beacon on the hill. I was listening to Colorado bands like The Samples and Big Head Todd and the Monsters, and Leftover Salmon. There was just something about the state. And then my friends just happened to get a condo in Avon, and I landed there. Seven of us in a three bedroom.
Rick: The reason I’m asking about how you ended up here… I’m a Colorado native, and I love hearing stories from people, like yourself, who aren’t originally from here, but who made a conscious decision to come here, and ended up staying. For you it’s been thirty-two years. So, my follow up questions are, (a) did you find what you were looking for, and (b) was it what you thought it would be?
Scotty: I think even at a young age, I had learned to not have a lot of expectations. I was entrenched in Jack Kerouac’s On The Road at that time, and the beatnik vibe, and the romance and the poetry of the West, and the vast expanse, and so that’s what I thought it would be. And it was a whole lot more than I ever could have dreamed.
There’s this shared sense of freedom, and how that influences your presence and your thinking. Being inspired by the mountains, the rivers, the space, the trees, the hiking, and the camping and backpacking and things that I really didn’t do coming from New Jersey. I live in Steamboat, and I can go out my door and be hiking in the Zirkel Wilderness for, you know, five days. And if I don’t want to see anybody, I don’t have to. That ability of Colorado to deliver the opportunity to explore its natural beauty has created who I am.
I’ve lived here longer than any other place. There are more people here now, like-minded people who happened to collectively find themselves in this small community. In Steamboat, for example, there are so many great people, either from Colorado or from around the country and from around the world. They’ve been drawn to the natural beauty, and the ability to get away, the open space, the rogue freedom, and the individualism. I love Colorado for that. I’ve got friends that are ski industry executives, farmers, Trump supporters, Biden supporters, and we can all actually have great conversations about humanity, music, culture, family and what makes us tick. I find that Coloradans are fairly open to allowing different perspectives to permeate the conversation. And for me, as a world traveler, I appreciate that so very much.
Rick: Wow… you really captured the spirit of this place, man. We’re glad you’re here… you’ve done a lot for the state, and it’s much appreciated. I think that’s a good segue to start talking about Smalltown For The Cause. But before we dive into the event itself, I want clarify something for people reading this, who are learning about Smalltown for the first time.
When you founded the festival in 2009, it was called Campout For The Cause. But there’s been a very recent name change to Smalltown For The Cause. I’m going to be directing people to the event website (https://www.campoutforthecause.org/), where they’ll see the terms Campout and Smalltown being used somewhat interchangeably. Was the name change necessitated when you had to move the location from Hutchinson Ranch to downtown Salida?
Scotty: Yeah, that was it. And, yeah, it’s clunky. You know, we had a very clear mission to reignite Campout, which we’d held since 2009, but took a hiatus from during COVID. People loved Campout, which was very family centric, with a lot of kids, and just a great vibe.
We’d built a great relationship with the Hutchinson Ranch and had made inroads into the Salida community. It’s such an amazing community. So many layers, so much history, so many new entrepreneurial spirits that have moved to the town. It’s not aligned to a ski resort, which gives it the opportunity to grow a little bit more authentically and in a way that’s not influenced by mega mansions and mega development. So Salida really revealed itself as a place we wanted to be. And Hutchinson Ranch was going to be a great place to do this event. It’s a seventh-generation family farm, hundreds of gorgeous, untouched acres, three miles from downtown Salida, perfect fit for us, and we were going to really help them out, because surviving on agriculture alone is extremely difficult.
We were ready to go. We dialed it in and announced it. And unbeknownst to the land owners, the Hutchinson family, they were in a gray area regarding events with their partnership with a conservation easement corporation. When we found out they didn’t like the idea (of the event at this location), the family was really upset. We were obviously bummed out. We were there to help them survive.
When we learned that we couldn’t do it (at Hutchinson Ranch) this year, option one was to cancel. Option two was to pivot. I’m a big believer that when one door closes, the next one that opens could be a better opportunity. And even though that might be painful, and the risk is really high and real, I just felt it was the right thing to do. The town of Salida opened their arms, offered up this amazing Riverside Park area. I talked to all the local businesses and the Hutchinson family, and everybody was very excited.
But could we still call it Campout For The Cause? There’s no camping on site, right? The campgrounds are a mile away, and we didn’t want to tell people it’s one thing and then deliver something else. So rebranding it as Smalltown seemed to allow us to tell the story of what it’s become. We’re moving three miles from the Ranch to the town, and there’s still camping, but it’s a mile away. The facility is absolutely gorgeous, and this is a quintessential small town, so it just felt right.
Rick: Salida isn’t the original home of the festival… it’s moved around a bit since you started it in 2009.
Scotty: Yeah, it has moved around. I cut my teeth on every level in the world of music at a little old outpost called State Bridge Lodge. Perhaps you’ve heard of it (chuckles). We could talk for hours about that place and the history and what it did for me and other touring musicians. I lived there. I built a teepee and stayed there when I was really struggling. Then I started booking bands. I learned how to produce shows. I became the general manager. I eventually became a partner. We started Campout For The Cause there. But then it burned down (in 2017).
So, we moved Campout to Rancho Del Rio, which is another absolute gem of Colorado. Then, when we were looking to expand, I was drawn to Chaffee County. The community there, and the culture… we found a great property and moved it there. I actually got married there in 2019 at the last Campout (before the COVID hiatus).
So yes, it has evolved. I allow things to evolve as they’re meant to. I don’t start events to grow and scale them. For me, bigger isn’t better. And if something’s not working, I’m not afraid to change it. It’s why we moved WinterWonderGrass from Avon to Steamboat. And that’s why we’re now in Salida, and it’s called Smalltown.
Rick: And I think that’s another really good segue, because when we talk about festivals, the natural inclination for most people is to focus on the music component of the festivals. But, with all of the events Bonfire Entertainment is responsible for, there’s a lot more to them than music, right?
Looking at Smalltown, specifically, music’s obviously a big part of it. But there’s so much more. I was recently reading an article in 303 Magazine, where they said about this festival that it “undeniably epitomizes everything that’s simply perfect about Colorado.” That’s seriously lofty. How do you feel about that characterization?
Scotty (sporting an ear-to-ear grin): I think it’s accurate. Yeah, it’s a music festival. Sure, it’s a party. But in everything we do at all of our events, we try to encapsulate a message of purpose and appreciation and gratitude and awareness for how lucky we are to be in this beautiful place. Let’s highlight what’s great about Colorado. Let’s support every style of festival goer. Let’s welcome the kids. Let’s offer music education. Let’s promote hiking and biking. Let’s promote local business. Let’s get people on the river. Let’s bring in the yoga. Let’s do everything we can.
We vet all of the food trucks to make sure their ingredients are as organic and local as possible. Everything is done with the theme of trying to make you feel better, feeling a little bit more complete than when you arrived. I want our attendees to feel more inspired, connected and more alive when they leave than when they got there. It’s like going to the mountains for a camping trip with your best friends. You go on a big hike or a big bike ride. You rally around the fire. You bring out the guitars. The kids are running around. You’re grilling food on the open fire. You’re singing songs. You’re sharing stories. There’s not a phone in sight. Nobody’s looking down on a screen. You’re looking up at the stars.
Having a huge kid’s zone at all of our events, whether you have kids or not, really has helped us be inspired by that true, simple, authentic, vulnerable, wide eyed human that’s not looking for screen time, but just looking for connection, looking to take their shoes off and run and get dirty and roll around and laugh and sing and make new friends and sleep hard and get up early and just feel alive, you know? That’s the point, and I think that’s what Colorado’s all about.
Rick: I’m glad you brought up the kids’ thing, because I wanted to ask you about it. Again, if you were to ask the average person what they think most music festivals are like, I don’t think the first thing that comes to mind is “family friendly.” But that’s definitely a focal point for the events you put on.
Scotty: I just think it’s a missed opportunity for event promoters and producers to not spend time, effort, and money on that sector. I understand why they don’t, because it’s really expensive. We do charge, I think, maybe ten or twenty bucks for young kids, which is new. We put that money directly into more experiences that will help families feel good about bringing their kids to shows. You can bring your kids to our events. At WinterWonderGrass we’ll see 5,000 people a day and have four hundred kids in the kids’ zone. At Smalltown we expect to see maybe three hundred kids. We want to show kids that it’s really fun and wholesome to connect around music and to connect with their parents. To be silly and have fun and dance. I think that it really inspires kids and breaks down walls.
And here I want to give a huge shout out to the Coletrain Music Academy, a group that’s out of Buena Vista and Salida, led by Coleman Smith, who is the fiddler for Yonder Mountain String Band. He’s developed a phenomenal music education program for kids and adults too. They’ve got camps, as well as brick and mortars. We’ve brought them in to be a partner for many past events, and now Smalltown. They’ve got instruments. They’ve got instructors. They’re teaching kids how to write songs, introducing them to different instruments. They get to hold them. They get to touch them. The performing musicians walk off the main stage and pop into the Coletrain program. You should see the kid’s eyes. They’re like, they were just on stage and now they’re talking to me! It’s really fulfilling to give that experience to these kids. Like, why the heck would we not want to inspire the people that are going to hopefully be providing better leadership down the road than we have today?
Rick: Yoga instruction features prominently in the agenda for Smalltown. Tell us a little more about that.
Scotty: We brought yoga into the Campout program from the very beginning. I had started practicing yoga years before that. I have a chronic back injury, pretty debilitating. I started practicing yoga and it blew me away how effective it was not only to make your body feel better, but to allow your mind to have space to unwind. And so, I thought, let’s combine these things. And we’ve seen it evolve and grow each year at Campout. We’ve got some amazing teachers. The theme that we share, from our yoga director Steph Winsor to all of the different teachers, is that yoga is for everyone. Men, women, young, old, all body types. Yoga is for you to feel better about yourself and to be amongst the community, and when you combine that with the music, it’s pretty awesome.
You’re underneath the cottonwood trees while you stare at the mountain, and you hear the river gurgling, and it’s 45 minutes, and you’re just feeling so good. You’re meeting people. There’s no barriers. Everyone’s the same. Everybody’s just feeling connected. Then you go have lunch at the food truck, and you meet another person that you took yoga class with, and then you’re at the show, listening to your favorite band, dancing. It’s a great way to build connection with one another and to really feel good. That’s the perfect day.
I’ve learned if you’re going to do something and create something with your heart, you’ve got to believe in it, and you’ve got to be inspired by it. I can’t sell anything that I don’t like, and I can’t promote music that I’m not interested in, and I can’t put on an event that’s not focused on family, nature, and sustainability, because that’s how I try to live.
Rick: All right, man, you’ve inspired me. It’s obvious that you care about, and believe deeply in, all the aspects of the events you plan and promote. And I assume that includes the causes and organizations that you support through those events. In the few minutes we have left, let’s talk about the Cause part of Smalltown For The Cause.
There isn’t a singular cause, right? In fact, there are generally multiple causes that can change year to year. Tell us a little bit about the organizations you’re supporting with this year’s event, and also the process you go through to determine which organizations or causes you’re going to support on a year-to-year basis.
Scotty: Campout really started because I had been doing work in Central America, working with a nonprofit, and then in 2010 I volunteered in Haiti after the earthquakes, just to help those folks dig out. It was really eye-opening, you know, the world of NGOs and NPOs and those kinds of global humanitarian operators. So for those first few years, we helped All Hands All Hearts, which is a group we continue to support through the WinterWonderGrass Festival. They’re currently on the ground in the Guadalupe River Valley in Texas, going in and supporting families, cleaning up and doing the tough work.
That really inspired me, what they do, how they do it, and how they mobilize volunteers. And as Campout evolved, we would usually tie in a humanitarian nonprofit or a local environmental NPO, and usually a kid’s education cause.
Since we took a long break, we kind of had a clean slate on nonprofits and partnerships. And once we met the Hutchinson family, we realized this was a family that really could use our support, keeping open spaces open, keeping their land away from development, and providing something that the community could get great benefit from for many, many years. So that seemed like a really great natural alignment. Another nonprofit we’re working with this year is the Colorado Tick-Borne Disease Awareness Association. That one is pretty near and dear to me. My wife’s had Lyme disease for eight years, and I’ve been through the struggles firsthand, the devastating effects on the human body and mind and spirit, and the lack of awareness and support from our federal medical organizations, groups, and insurance companies. For the longest time, and even to this day, they fight with us about not really recognizing Lyme disease. It’s pretty shocking, because a lot of people have Lyme disease, and there’s no simple cure. It’s also, unfortunately, popping up all over the west, and specifically in Colorado. So we’re supporting this group, which is based in Salida.
Rick: We’re getting close to the end of our time, Scotty, so I’ll wrap things up by making sure I didn’t miss anything. What message would you like to send to people who are going to be reading this, who might not know anything about the festival, or maybe they’ve heard of it, but they haven’t decided if they’re going to go? What do you want them to know?
Scotty: I think I’d like everyone to know that they’re welcome here. Every kind of person, every genre music fan is welcome to come here and experience something that collectively is really hard to describe. The feeling that you get when you participate in our communities is incredibly nurturing, incredibly inspiring and fulfilling. It’s safe, it’s a ton of fun, it’s healthy, and it’s the one musical event or festival or show or concert where you can guarantee that the feeling you leave with will be greater than when you arrived. That’s something we work hard to achieve, and it’s delivered collectively by our community. Every time we do this, the first timers come and they’re like, “I can’t believe how kind everybody is, how sweet and thoughtful and full of gratitude the entire staff, the artists and all the attendees are.” I think that’s really important right now, in a time of such division and media manufactured competition that’s all fake. We all live in that world, but we can get back to the real world, get back to what’s truly inspiring and remember what it feels like to take your shoes off and put your head up and just feel alive.
Rick: That’s a great way to close things out, Scotty. But before I go, do you mind if I give a shoutout to your band in the article? I know you don’t automatically plug Bonfire Dub into the lineup for all of your events, but I noted that they are on the schedule for Saturday.
Scotty: No, I mean, that’s awesome. I appreciate your acknowledgement of that. You know, I used to be a touring artist, and I put out records with other bands, and then I started Bonfire Dub pretty fast and furious. And then I took a big pause on it, as we all had kids, developed our businesses, and stopped touring. But it’s always been out there. Bonfire’s first show was actually Campout For The Cause, so we were kind of created in conjunction. And lately I’ve really gotten back to the music, and it’s been something I’m just so grateful to still have. We’ve got this band of brothers, and we go deep.
So, we’re back now. We’re playing a lot of shows. We just got out of the studio with Dan Africano, who’s the bass player for the Thievery Corporation. That guy really knows how to produce reggae. We’ve shot some videos. We’re releasing new tracks this fall. And we’re really excited to be back at Smalltown/Campout because that’s our roots. We’ll have a lot of artists up there with us, and a lot of collaborations are already in the works. So yeah, we’re really excited, and you could definitely mention that.
Rick: Consider it done, my friend.
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The 2025 Smalltown For The Cause Festival is slated for Friday and Saturday, September 19th and 20th, at Riverside Park in downtown Salida, CO. In addition to the full schedules for those two days, there are welcome activities scheduled for the afternoon and evening of Thursday, September 18th, and a closing yoga session the morning of Sunday, September 21st.
You can find all the information you need on the event website, at https://www.campoutforthecause.org/. PLEASE NOTE: In order to ensure an intimate experience, and to promote a sense of community, only 2,000 tickets will be issued for the festival. In other words, if you’re thinking about going, don’t procrastinate.
Scotty Stoughton’s band, Bonfire Dub, will be performing on the main stage on Saturday afternoon at 5:30 pm. To learn more about the band, visit their website at https://www.bonfiredub.com/.
Smalltown For The Cause is just one of several festival events presented by Stoughton’s Bonfire Entertainment production company. To learn more about the organization, and the various festival events they manage, visit the company’s website at https://bonfirentertainment.com/.
Interview/story by Rick Witt www.rickwittphotography.com
