Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — After a year of tweaking, tuning and testing, the local owner of Ghost Ranch Saloon said the bar has found the right mix of music to draw crowds — and it wasn’t the blend she originally had expected.

Amy Garris, who co-owns the bar with Jean Sagouspe, said it took some time to figure out what acts and what type of music draw a Steamboat Springs crowd, but as the bar and restaurant’s one-year anniversary approaches, she said they have settled into a groove.

“Well, I think that one of the biggest challenges we’ve had just from the conception is trying to figure out what kind of music people want to go see in Steamboat, and we had had a lot of comments prior to opening about how people were really looking for, for instance, country music,” she said.

So when the Ghost Ranch opened, it offered country music. But the crowds didn’t follow.

“It did not seem like that’s the crowd that goes out to the late shows,” Garris said.

But a year of tweaking has revealed that Steamboat crowds appreciate live hip-hop.

“Some of our biggest nights over the summer and winter have been hip-hop,” Garris said, mentioning a show by Swollen Members that she said was one of the biggest nights for the Ghost Ranch in its first year.

There also are variations in popular acts from season to season, she said, with bluegrass proving more popular in the summer than in the winter. Older crowds tend to come out more Friday and Saturday nights, she said, and all of the variations play into when acts are booked.

To commemorate the anniversary of the saloon’s opening, Ghost Ranch will have a party from 5 p.m. to close Saturday with happy-hour drink specials and half-price burgers all night. The evening’s live music kicks off with local favorites Jon Gibbs and Randy Kelley, followed by Jesse Christiansen and the Midnight Ride band, and culminating with headliner Blue Sun, a Boulder-based band that performs music ranging from “rock and Motown to funky blues and R&B.”

There will be no cover charge during Saturday’s festivities.

— To reach Zach Fridell, call 871-4208 or e-mail zfridell@steamboatpilot.com