The 2026 lineup for the Listening at the Legion concert series features 23 singers, songwriters, and musical groups, providing an intimate listening room experience open to the Estes Valley community.

Tickets for the series are on sale through February for $300, a 25 percent savings over purchasing them individually. Season ticket holders receive preferred seating at the front of the concert hall, when available.

In addition to annual ticket sales, the legion is also seeking community sponsors who can underwrite the concerts and provide ongoing support for the facility.

Renovation, revitalization, renewal

A few years ago, the leadership at the local American Legion Post #119 knew they needed to fish or cut bait. They either needed to go all-in on an overhaul of the facility and figure out a new revenue stream, or they faced closure like many legion halls across the country due to an aging population of veterans, the fact that many younger vets are choosing not to become members, and financial strains caused by pandemic shutdowns in 2020 that were difficult to rebound from.

John Minier, who was the commander, rallied the membership and cast a vision for a revitalized legion post that would serve veterans by inviting the community to become involved.

Local architect Thomas Beck took the shop-worn facility and provided a modern interior resign, the bar and front room were rebranded as a brightly lit, family-friendly restaurant renamed the Duncan Tavern, and the frumpy dance hall was transformed into an intimate concert hall with new lighting a state-of-the-art sound system.

In the movie “Field of Dreams,” a voice spoke to farmer Kevin Costner’s character Ray Kinsella — “if you build it, (they) will come” — leading him to build a baseball field where ghosts of baseball legends appear.

Minier may not have heard a mysterious voice, but he followed his intuition both with the renovations and in establishing Listening at the Legion. Today, the Legion Post in Estes Park has become a community center offering food, music, and event space for private parties and public meetings.

This past weekend, Aspen and Evergreen hosted a holiday arts and crafts market featuring a curated selection of work by local artisans, including jewelry, pottery, prints, and other handmade crafts.

Photo cutline: Singer-songwriter Jeremy Facknitz, who performed on Oct. 25 at the Legion, played a song on the guitar built by Mark Rashid, which was raffled off in Nov. 22 as a fundraiser.
Singer-songwriter Jeremy Facknitz, who performed on Oct. 25 at the Legion, played a song on the guitar built by Mark Rashid, which was raffled off on Nov. 22 as a fundraiser.

The Listening at the Legion line-up

Performers for the 2026 music series include some returning entertainers and some voices new to the legion’s stage.

Estes Park local Mark Rashid, who often plays with Brad Fitch and is also a member of the Blue Sky Mountain Band, will kick off the year with his first solo concert at the legion. The Estes Valley Voice sat down with Rashid last month for an interview about the guitar he built, which was raffled off by the legion for a fundraiser, and learned that still waters run deep in the singer-songwriter, filmmaker, author, martial arts sensei, and horse whisperer.

The Denver-based electric string quartet Spinphony will return to the stage for the third time. Spinphony breaks down barriers between classical, rock, and pop music, mixing and mashing catchy melodies for an over-the-top concert.

The Tranquil Valley Radio Show, featuring a host of local entertainers and skits in the style of Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion,” debuted last month to a sold-out show and many requests for the event to return in the new year. The show will take the legion stage in November.

The remainder of the 2026 roster features a diverse mix of regional and nationally recognized country, western, pop, bluegrass, and folk performers. A sampling of the upcoming performances includes:

  • Lyons, Colorado-residing singer and songwriter Alexa Wildish, who will take the stage for a Sunday afternoon performance in mid-January.
  • With a mandolin, guitar, bass, banjo, and a fiddle, the five-member Colorado bluegrass band Grass It Up, which puts a twang in songs like the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night,” covers classic Americana and indiegrass tunes, and performs their own material.
  • Jay Nash and Garrison Starr, singer-songwriters known for their collaborative folk and Americana music. Starr is a Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter/producer. 
  • The genre-bending, Texas-based Blue Fiddles, which fuses the country fiddle with classic rock and musical storytelling for what promises to be a high-octane concert in October.
Mark Rashid1/8/26 18:306:30 PM
Alexa Wildish1/18/26 14:002:00 PM
Grass it Up2/7/26 18:306:30 PM
Connor Garvey2/28/26 18:306:30 PM
Peter Bradley Adams3/22/26 14:002:00 PM
Jay Nash & Garrison Starr4/2/26 18:306:30 PM
Abby Posner4/23/26 18:306:30 PM
Daniel Boling5/7/26 18:306:30 PM
Spinphony5/17/26 14:002:00 PM
James Kirby6/4/26 18:306:30 PM
Martin Gilmore Trio6/14/26 14:002:00 PM
Surrender Hill6/25/26 18:306:30 PM
John John Brown7/18/26 18:306:30 PM
South Austin Moonlighters7/30/26 18:306:30 PM
Tipps & Obermiller8/13/26 18:306:30 PM
Brad Fitch and Friends8/27/26 18:306:30 PM
Flyin’ A’s9/3/26 18:306:30 PM
Jon Shain9/24/26 18:306:30 PM
The Blue Fiddles10/10/26 18:306:30 PM
Kim Richey10/24/26 18:306:30 PM
Tranquil Valley Radio Show11/7/26 18:306:30 PM
Grace Morrison11/14/26 18:306:30 PM
A Tale of Two Holiday Show12/3/26 18:306:30 PM

2 replies on “Listening at the Legion announces its 2026 concert series”

  1. We certainly appreciate your kind words about Listening at the Legion. And while this is a program developed and launched by Cindy and I, the blossoming and revitalization of Post 119 is a huge team effort with many others playing a far more impactful role than I. Mary Banken, Terry Rizzuti, Dan and Tami Scace, Cynthia Krumme, Thomas Beck, Leslie Glover, and a myriad of others, are the driving force behind our emergence as a true center for our committee. And we could not do it without amazing volunteers like Brad Buggs, Bill Smith, and Ken Arnold. And finally, our dedicated staff, led by Hannah Legg, truly make The Tavern at the Legion and Post 119 all that we are today.

    John and Cindy Minier

    1. John, indeed, the entire team at the American Legion – Mary Banken, Terry Rizzuti, Dan and Tami Scace, Cynthia Krumme, Thomas Beck, Leslie Glover, and a myriad of others — is to be thanked and acknowledged for their vision and efforts.

      Patti Brown, Editor
      Estes Valley Voice

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