Leftoween to bring unique, sustainable art and festivities to Longmont

Oct. 17—Kids and adults can spend this weekend immersing themselves in the Halloween spirit at Longmont's inaugural "Leftoween."

Held at Left Hand Brewing's beer garden, 1245 Boston Ave., the event will feature handmade immersive art scenes, live music and vendor booths from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Leftoween marks the first event for new Boulder County production company Colorado Immersive Events.

"We have something for everybody to enjoy," said Mary Mead, owner of Colorado Immersive Events. "Who doesn't love Halloween?"

The spooky sculptures filling the garden this weekend include a skeleton pirate ship, life-sized witches' houses, a forest of ghosts and an "aliens in space" exhibit. There will also be plenty of Halloween-themed props and backdrops for photo opportunities.

The installations were created by lead builder Evan Capobianco and Longmont production builder Ron Hall. They were designed and painted by Mead, who is currently based in Allenspark. The artwork is entirely made from repurposed materials, which Mead said is part of an effort to be sustainable and mitigate waste.

"Everything that we have has been used before for something else, and it's pretty amazing what we've created," Mead said.

Mead, who has over 15 years of experience in music management, formed Colorado Immersive Events in August as a way to combat the overworking and mistreatment of employees in the entertainment industry.

"It slowly became something that kind of took the joy away from why I got into the business," Mead said. "I wanted to do something that brought kindness back into the industry, because the whole point of this is to create joy."

Leftoween will feature 13 vendors from along the Front Range, a few of which will form the "witches' healing corner" to offer Reiki, tarot and oracle card readings. There will be a costume contest at 3 p.m. both days, as well as Halloween candy and games for kids throughout the event.

Also coming to the garden is a "graffiti wall" for guests to cover with unique paint designs. Mead said the collaborative art project might be being donated somewhere in Longmont after Leftoween concludes.

"My whole grassroots movement was to really support the locals of Colorado," Mead said. "We have such an amazing local artist and music scene."

Tickets for Leftoween are $20 per person and are free for kids 12 and under. Jake Spencer, event planner with Left Hand Brewing, said that while the ticket sales go to Colorado Immersive Events, Left Hand mainly benefits from exposing more community members to the beer garden.

Spencer said he had wanted to put on some kind of Halloween festival at Left Hand this year and was able to bring that vision to life by collaborating with Mead.

"It's cool to work with somebody else who's coming in with all kinds of new ideas and cool direction," Spencer said. "...We're just excited to kind of do something different."

More information about Leftoween can be found at coloradoimmersive.com or at lefthandbrewing.com/event/leftoween.