Posted by: Tom Boyd
Many of you have visited the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, and perhaps you noticed an engraving on a rock just after entering. It contains a message we find extremely pertinent today:
“The world is not a lonely place, there is light and life and love enough for all of us.” – President Gerald R. Ford
Right now our community is doing the right thing by staying apart, but in doing so, we are revealing something essential about human behavior: we love and need to gather together. In fact, coming together is an essential part of what it means to be human.
Places like the Amphitheater allow us to fulfill that need. At the Vail Valley Foundation, we feel it is one of our most solemn responsibilities to care for and maintain such places, and to extend a welcoming invitation to all who want to come join us and commune at our venues.
Now is not a time where we are able to extend such invitations, and yet we remain hopeful and optimistic that those days will come soon.
We look forward to the day we can open our doors, turn on the lights, and lead the way back again to the moments, memories, and performances that ultimately play such a large role in creating our shared identity.
Today we share something exciting and new with you. When we do gather together again at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater it will be with new and refreshing brand elements and a renewed effort from all of us at the Vail Valley Foundation to bring this amazing venue to the forefront. We will celebrate “The Amp” as the incredible hidden gem of our community that it is.
For those of you that know the venue well, you will notice that the icon reflects the beautiful architecture found at the Amphitheater. For others, it may represent the sounds that emanate from the stage or the sunrays that beam down on the open-air venue. Representing all of this was taken into account when developing the new brand. Summer in Vail is epitomized by the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater and this mark needed to be something that reflected that.
It’s true our intention was to roll this out during a lively summer full of events.
We don’t know yet what our summer will look like, but we wanted this community to know that many good times are ahead, many beautiful summer evenings filled with music, dance, laughter and connection still await us, and when we do see each other again, it will be with a refreshed view of life, a new appreciation for the wonderful colors of nature, and an unlimited love for the beautiful artistry that humankind is so fortunately capable of creating.
We hope to gather again soon. We look forward to welcoming you back to “The Amp.”