With Easter a day behind us, it is time to come alive with spring in the Springs. It would be difficult to find a community more fun than Colorado Springs during the spring and summer, and this year may be the best to come.

Nature blessed Colorado Springs with a beautiful pine-laden mountain backdrop and bluffs throughout the city. The city’s more than 300 days of sunshine each year, combined with its natural beauty and mild, dry, mostly bugless days and nights make it a perfect location in which to celebrate culture, music, beauty and life.

The city hosts two major new downtown concert and event centers, with recent additions of the 8,000-seat outdoor coliseum, Weidner Field, and the new indoor Ed Robson arena at Colorado College with a capacity of nearly 3,500. And let’s not forget the 42,000-seat outdoor Falcon Stadium and the 9,000-capacity indoor field house at the United States Air Force Academy.

Add to that the 7,000-plus capacity Broadmoor World Arena, just south of downtown. Additionally, this year may see the opening of the $40-million, 8,000-capacity Sunset Amphitheater in north Colorado Springs in the booming Polaris Point retail center.

Sunset Amphitheater owner and investor JW Roth, a fifth-generation Colorado native, promises his coliseum will serve as “the most luxurious amphitheater ever built.” If so Sunset and Morrison-based Red Rocks will give Colorado the two most coveted and experiential amphitheaters in the world.

Complementing all-the-above mega venues, Colorado Springs hosts the 1,000-capacity concert venue Boot Barn Hall at Polaris Point, Stargazer’s Theater east of downtown, The Black Sheep Theater on downtown’s north side, the earthy Stone Creek Crossing at Middle Creek, downtown’s Acacia Park bandshell, The Gold Room with 350-seat capacity downtown, the 2,000-seat Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts downtown, the $70-million state-of-the-art Ent Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs and a variety of venues at the world-class Broadmoor resort.

All of this adds to an abundance of micro venues and park stages, including the modern band shell in Monument’s downtown Limbach Park, that host music and cultural events throughout the year.

The mind-boggling wealth of entertainment venues in a city of nearly 500,000 residents facilitates mega stars like Cody Johnson, Chicago and Gladys Knight. Our city’s venues host dozens of up-and-coming artists each year, such Sponge Cake, Diskount Vodka, Sonic Vomit and multiple other shows by local and national talent.

In short order, count on Colorado Springs becoming the most popular hub for concerts and artistic events in the country. Count on our city becoming a destination for tourists looking to spend vacation time wallowing in daily and nightly concerts and shows.

Look forward to multiple prime artists performing at the same time. Yes, it means choice anxiety – a great problem relative to boredom. It also adds up to an environment of celebration and energy.

Colorado Springs consistently ranks #1 in best-of surveys, including the U.S. News & World Report ranking of the most desirable cities in the country. We can think of no better place than Olympic City USA to take on a secondary image as Concert City USA. Support the venues and performers throughout the year. Mostly, have a blast while doing so.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board