Red Rocks Offers More COVID Vaccines, Incentives To Concertgoers
MORRISON, Colo. (CBS4) – Red Rocks Amphitheatre expects to more than double its capacity in the next week, increasing it from 2,800 to 6,300, a spokesperson tells CBS4. After that, the hope is for the iconic concert venue to be back at full capacity, about 9,500 people, by mid-June.
In the meantime, Red Rocks is doing its part to get as many people vaccinated as possible. Saturday was the second night the venue, Denver Department of Public Health and Environment and Safeway teamed up to offer the Johnson and Johnson single shot vaccine.
The program is called "a shot, a pop, a shirt, and a show." On Thursday, about 25 people got their vaccine before Thursday's Diplo concert. Fewer did so on Saturday.
"You just walk up, no reservation is necessary," said Brian Kitts, a spokesperson for Red Rocks. "You just roll up your sleeve and get a free t-shirt and a voucher for the concession stand for making the effort."
The program is set up to vaccinate about 100 people per night at no cost. Kitts said the goal is for the experience to be easy and convenient for people who are still unprotected from COVID-19.
"This is one of those things where you take the vaccine to where you think young audiences are going to be and that's who we're trying to get to," said Kitts.
Brandon Neil was one of more than a dozen people to get a shot before Saturday night's Osees show. Neil said he recently began looking at appointments but hadn't scheduled anything yet.
"When I saw the sign I said, 'OK that makes it super convenient for me,' and figured I would just get it done," Neil said.
Many others passed on the opportunity to receive the Johnson and Johnson vaccine at Red Rocks, including Nick Spratt. He tells CBS4 he has antibodies still and will continue to wait.
"That's great for everybody, for the whole cause, but me personally, I'm good for now," Spratt said.
According to Kitts, the plan is to continue the program and keep tweaking it so more young people can get vaccinated.
"I think one of the things that we found is that there are still a lot of questions," he said. "It's a little bit of a learning experience for us as well, but we hope that as we go through this summer, we can answer those questions and get people more comfortable with doing this."
Red Rocks will make announcements each Monday about which shows you can get a vaccine. Neil said he'll tell his friends about the memorable experience.
"I'll be like, 'I got my COVID shot there. That was a sick show.'"
