10 Fun Facts About Boulder, Colorado—Sundance Film Festival's New Home

Forbes

30-03-2025

Boulder, Colorado will host Sundance Film Festival beginning in 2027.
It's official: Sundance Film Festival is moving to Boulder, Colorado in 2027 after its more than four-decade residency in Park City, Utah where actor and director Robert Redford launched the internationally renowned festival.
Boulder beat out other bidding cities including Cincinnati and Salt Lake City to become the host destination for the festival that's intentionally held outside of Hollywood in an effort to promote independent and up-and-coming filmmakers.
So, why Boulder?
BOULDER, CO - MARCH 27 : Gov. Jared Polis celebrated Sundance Film Festival is coming to Colorado with the crowd at Boulder Theatre in Boulder, Colorado on Thursday, March 27, 2025. Boulder wins Sundance Film Festival starting in 2027, beating out Utah and Ohio. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
'Boulder is an art town, tech town, mountain town, and college town,' Amanda Kelso, Sundance Institute Acting CEO said in a statement. 'It is a place where the festival can build and flourish.'
Indeed, Boulder—a college town with a population of about 100,000—is a one-of-a-kind destination, nestled against the foothills and about 35 to 40 minutes from Denver. It's technically not a mountain town like Park City, but rather is located where the plains and the Rocky Mountains meet.
I'm a Colorado-based travel writer, University of Colorado alumni and I spent more than a decade working as a reporter for the Daily Camera, Boulder's newspaper. Ahead, I'm sharing some interesting facts about Boulder that you might find fascinating, should you visit this Colorado city for Sundance film screenings or simply to sample some of its famed outdoor recreation.
As it turns out, Sundance founder Robert Redford has a unique connection to Boulder. The Sink, an iconic burger and pizza spot on the 'Hill' across from the University of Colorado, claims that its most famous employee ever was Robert Redford, who worked at the restaurant as a janitor in 1955 while attending college.
President Barack Obama visits the Sink in Boulder on Tuesday, April 24, 2012. Joe Amon, The Denver Post (Photo By AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
The Sink, which celebrated its 100th year in business in 2023, also played host to President Barack Obama in April 2012 ahead of his talk at the university. The president ordered the 'Sinkza' pizza with pepperoni, sausage, green pepper, black olives and onion, a menu item the restaurant renamed P.O.T.U.S. pie after his visit. Obama also signed his name on the graffiti-covered walls. His John Hancock is right next to the signature of Guy Fieri, who visited the Boulder restaurant for an episode of 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.'
Aerial photo above Boulder, Colorado.
Today, Boulder is an idyllic college town and the University of Colorado is central to the city's identity. Beautiful buildings on CU's campus are built with red sandstone that was quarried in nearby Lyons. Hall of Famer Deion Sanders is the head coach of the CU Buffs football team, which draws energetic crowds for Saturday football games. CU also hosts the Conference on World Affairs, a spring event that's like the Olympics for the mind that brings in thought leaders from around the world for panel discussions open to the public.
But Boulder could have been much different had things gone in the opposite direction in the late 1870s. Citizens in Boulder lobbied the state legislature for a university, and they were competing with Cañon City for the flagship school. The consolation prize for the losing bidder would have been a new Colorado State Prison. I learned this just recently during a visit to the Museum of Boulder where an interactive display imagines what the city would look like had key decisions tipped another way. On the screen, it showed CU's earthy red tile roofs that define the aerial portrait of Boulder juxtaposed with would-be barbed-wire fences and concrete buildings scattered among the foothills should the city have elected to be home to a prison.
Today, Cañon City in Southern Colorado is home to the Colorado State Penitentiary and other jails, as well as the Museum of Colorado Prisons.
Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder is one of Colorado's six Michelin-starred restaurants.
The Michelin Guide came to Colorado in 2023 and the state now has a half-dozen Michelin one-star restaurants, including Frasca in Boulder, a fine dining concept focused on cuisine of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy.
Boulder is also home to Basta, a contemporary Italian-American restaurant that received a Bib Gourmand status, an honor given to restaurants with great food at moderate price points.
Michelin-recommended restaurants in Boulder include: Stella's Cucina, Bramble & Hare, Blackbelly Market, Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, Oak at Fourteenth, Zoe Ma Ma and Santo. Blackbelly Market and Bramble & Hare also received green stars, which recognizes restaurants that are leaders in sustainability.
Pro tip: You can enjoy fine dining Mexican in Denver at the city's newest Michelin-starred restaurant Alma Fonda Fina, which is award-winning Chef Johnny Curiel's solo restaurant debut and an ode to his home country of Mexico. But Curiel also has a fantastic restaurant in Boulder that's easier to snag a reservation at: Cozobi Fonda Fina, which is rooted in Mexico's centuries-old corn nixtamalization traditions and wood-fire cooking techniques.
circa 1979: American comedian and actor Robin Williams, wearing a woman's bathrobe, furry hat, and sunglasses, being hugged by American actor Pam Dawber, in a still from the television series, 'Mork and Mindy'. (Photo by)
The Queen Anne exterior of the 'Mork and Mindy' house is located in Boulder, a few blocks off the Pearl Street Mall, and is now a private residence. The television show, which ran from 1978 to 1982, featured Robin Williams as Mork, an extraterrestrial who arrived in Boulder from a planet called Ork. Many references to Boulder are made in the show's 90 episodes. Mindy—Mork's wife—for instance was a student at the University of Colorado. Boulder's Chautauqua Meadow is also featured in the show.
Mercury astronaut M. Scott Carpenter in his space suit at Cape Canaveral before his trip into space. In the background is a radar antenna tower.
Scott Carpenter, who was one of NASA's first seven astronauts known as 'the Mercury Seven,' was born in Boulder on May 1, 1925. Carpenter, who was the second American to orbit the Earth, earned his bachelor of science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Colorado. Visitors will spot references to Carpenter throughout town, like the Scott Carpenter Park that has a rocket ship play structure and the pool named after the late astronaut.
Boulder, Colorado, USA-October 23, 2023: Hotel Boulderado on 13th Street in historic downtown Boulder, Colorado.
Hotel Boulderado opened its doors with a Gala Ball on New Year's Eve in 1908. The historic hotel, which is a City of Boulder landmark and a member of the Historic Hotels in America, named itself Boulderado, a portmanteau of Boulder and Colorado, so that no one ever forgot where they stayed.
Boulder, Colorado, USA - October 18, 2015: A street performer juggles balls to an audience on Pearl Street.
A fun way to spend a summer evening in Boulder is by strolling the Pearl Street Mall and enjoying the street performers. These performers on the outdoor mall put on acts that range from juggling fire on a unicycle to magic tricks and playing musical instruments. Bring some cash; they're all working for tips.
Ezekial Rast, a junior at the University of Colorado puts toppings on his sandwich at the Alferd Packer Grill in the University Memorial Center on the CU Boulder Campus on Wednesday March 17, 2010.(Photo by Paul Aiken/Digital First Media/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images)
The Alferd Packer Restaurant and Grill bears the name of an infamous cannibal who came to Breckenridge looking to strike it rich during the gold rush and accused of cannibalism during the winter of 1873-1874 after an ill-fated expedition. Students named the dining spot after the cannibal (with a slightly different spelling from Alfred Packer) back in 1968 with the quip 'have a friend for lunch.' The name has stuck ever since.
Caption: Cover photo: A worker watches boxes of tea go by on conveyor belts at Celestial Seasonings' production floor. Marty Caivano/Daily Camera(Photo by Marty Caivano/Digital First Media/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images)
Well-known tea maker Celestial Seasonings is located in Boulder—you'll find it off of Sleepytime Drive. The company got its start in 1969 when Mo Siegel, one of its founders, handpicked wild herbs in the Rocky Mountains and used his foraged finds to make the first tea. Visitors today can go on a $6 tour of the tea factory.
The Boulder Flatirons pictured in the winter.
If Boulder had an official postcard, it'd likely be of its famed Flatirons that jut out into the blue skies. There are five Flatirons that run on a slope of Green Mountain and they're collectively referred to as 'The Flatirons.' They got their name from a pioneer woman who said they rocks look like flat, metal irons used to iron clothes, according to the city's tourism officials. The third Flatiron is particularly striking: At 1,400 feet, it's a few hundred feet higher than the Empire State Building. Trails starting at the Chautauqua Trailhead get you up close to the Flatirons.