Historic Copper Bar Ranch near Edwards is the Vail Valley’s newest wedding and event venue
Hosting Copper Bar Ranch events will be complex
The Vail Valley has a new wedding and events venue.
The Eagle County Board of Commissioners recently approved a detailed application for the seasonal use of the Copper Bar Ranch, up Squaw Creek, for weddings and other events.
The ranch has been owned by Vail’s Donovan family since 1982. Kerry Donovan, who led the application process, said the ranch was first created under the Homestead Act of the 1800s.
Donovan told the commissioners that keeping the 400-acre ranch in family hands requires diversifying away from just the proceeds from the Highland cattle at the ranch. Donovan said adding a “small number” of events — up to 16 per year between May 1 and Oct. 1 — is a way to keep the property as open space and a working ranch “for decades to come.”
Those events come with a complex set of rules to get people, vendors and supplies into and out of the property. Event attendees and employees will get into and out of the ranch via shuttle buses, with parking at either Edwards Elementary School or the St. Clare of Assisi school at the intersection of U.S. Highway 6 and Squaw Creek Road. Supplies for events include more than food, chairs and tents. Even water and wastewater will be trucked in and out of the site. Electricity will come from generators.
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A Copper Bar event will be over by midnight, and no smoking or open flames will be allowed. A maximum of 200 people will be allowed to attend events.
Planner Tom Braun told the commissioners the idea for the property is as a host site for “destination” weddings, with most guests coming into the valley and staying in local lodges. Shuttles can take many of those guests directly from their hotels to the event site.
The proposal — which was first approved in June of 2023 by the Eagle County Planning Commission — requested several variances from county land use regulations.
“I’m sure you thought this was going to be pretty simple,” Commissioner Jeanne McQueeney said to Donovan. “It turns out to be rather complicated.”
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As commissioners discussed approving the plan, Commissioner Kathy Chandler-Henry complimented Donovan on “finding a way to keep ag property in production” and remaining stewards of both the ranch and the Western heritage of the property’s history.
While many destination weddings are booked months, or sometimes years, in advance, time could be running short for any events at the Copper Bar this year. In a text message following the meeting, Donovan wrote that she’s hopeful for a late summer or fall event.
“It’s a beautiful place when the leaves change,” she wrote.
