In its third year, Steel City Music Showcase (SCMS) continues to solidify its place as a staple of Pueblo music and city events. The festival has served as a platform for local Colorado musicians to showcase their art, bringing artists from Denver, Colorado Springs, and beyond to the downtown streets of Pueblo.

2026 has brought new changes to the annual event, with those responsible for the festival taking note of community and artist feedback over the past 3 years.

“We’ve been excited about our community stage,” Tyler Shown said, board president and creative director of SCMS, “We really wanted to get more of the Pueblo scene involved, the younger crowd especially.”

This stage, brand new to the festival, featured a hip-hop dance clash from Mad Fresh Productions, the Southern Colorado Fashion Show, ages 9-15 youth and teacher bands, and many more acts that represented local Pueblo talent. “It’s been a huge hit thus far at the festival, and I hope we repeat it for years to come,” Shown said.

SCMS continues to bring the Pueblo community closer to the local talent in other ways as well. Shown said, “It involves improving our functionality as a festival overall… Involving more of the creative community… and controlling crowds to fill stages as much as possible. In past years, we had trouble making sure there were people to watch all the bands, that has really been a focus the past couple years.”

In addition to the community stage, 2026 saw SCMS introduce a “vendor city” where local businesses and organizations gathered for the festival. CSU Pueblo was featured as one of the vendors at SCMS. The university had the opportunity to partner with the festival and give students access for free on Friday night and half off on Saturday night. 

“I think it’s so awesome that we get to partner with the community,” Brianna Sammons said, the student affair marketing specialist at CSU Pueblo. 

Student Involvement

CSU Pueblo’s involvement with SCMS runs deeper than ever this year. Many Media & Entertainment students and staff were involved in covering, running, and developing the event. Students in Brock Kilgore’s, CSU Pueblo professor and SCMS board member, concerts, festivals and events class were involved in the production in various ways on both nights. Ruby Sweeney-Spitzeck, one of these students and an artist liaison at the event, said, “I fill up the cooler, I show artists to the backstage area, and [I help] if artists need help with equipment and stage stuff.” 

AJ Gunn, a videographer with The TODAY, had the opportunity to capture drone footage for the event at multiple stages throughout the night. “This is a very cool opportunity for me…My career path is to get into concerts for drone [footage] and this is like my first concert drone job,” Gunn said.

These collaborative roles between SCMS and the CSU Pueblo community have been monumental in not only keeping the show running and ready to expand each year, but also in allowing students to gain experience that can be used in resumes and portfolios. This is especially beneficial for students like Gunn, who are running their own media businesses while in school. 

CSU Pueblo’s film professor was also participating in the event; Shahrzad “Sherry” Dadgar, noted how significant of an opportunity collaborating with the showcase is to student experience. “They’re getting a chance to have an experience in the real world, which actually helps their resilience, being ready to fix, and troubleshooting the problems they were not expecting in an isolated classroom.” 

The hands-on experience has been one that has been open to students for the previous three years of the festival, with more opportunities to continue collaboration within the event for future students as well.

“It’s become a pipeline of current students observing students who have worked [the event] before, and learning the skills, then coming back and getting paid next time around,” Kilgore explained. Several alumni of the Media & Entertainment program who had previously worked the festival returned the following years as hired employees or even as attendees.

“I feel like people are more aware and more excited about it. It seems like people were really excited to come back, I was excited,” Holly Ward, a 2025 graduate of the Media & Entertainment program noted. Ward previously acted as the lead editor of The Today and attended the event as a reporter years prior.

The Today has also continued to function as a platform for students to learn how to cover large scale events such as SCMS, placing student reporters in dynamic environments that allow them to connect with the community, including those visiting from outside of Pueblo.

A Platform for Community

Changes to the festival and its third year as an ongoing Pueblo event, had attendees, showrunners, and artists excited about its growing presence in the city’s community. 

A festival attendee said, “I love that it brings everybody out in Pueblo. I think that’s so fun.” Others shared this sentiment and more. One attendee explained that they live in castle rock and come down to Pueblo specifically for SCMS when it comes around. 

Shown explained that SCMS is an opportunity to showcase the city’s music and talent in a light it rarely receives. “I think we do have a really big music scene, but they don’t often have the platforms to perform… If you want a music weekend, this is the weekend to come to Pueblo,” Shown said. 

Jose Chavez, a first time attendee of the festival echoed this. “I feel like Pueblo is a hidden treasure, it’s pretty unique,” he said. 

Steve Mitchell, an attendee from the city, returning to the festival for his second year, said, “I love music festivals, it’s great to have it downtown… Pueblo is a diverse community and I like to see everybody out.”

Not only did the attendees and event runners benefit from the growth of the festival, but so did the stars of the show, the artists. Two Colorado Springs based artists shared their experience with the Pueblo music festival in contrast to others they have performed at. 

“I love the stage. I love the setup. I love the vibe. I think it’s a really great environment for artists to thrive in….I love that it’s growing here and people are feeling comfortable to come out of their comfort space. So I think this is a great opportunity,” Kalonie Kruse mentioned, an artist performing at SCMS. 

Estephanyart, a returning artist to the festival, observed changes between her two years as a performer. She expressed being impressed by the turnout and crowds that the festival generated. “I got to explore my setup a lot more on the stage. I think I was limited a little bit more last time. I honestly hadn’t seen Neon Alley before. I thought that was really cool,” she said. 

SCMS’ continued growth and development has established the showcase as a notable event to attendees, artists and the Pueblo community as a whole. It has emerged as a unique opportunity to showcase talent from all over Colorado and attracts people both in and out of the city. Establishing SCMS as a diverse event with appeal outside of Pueblo, has been one of Shown’s goals since its inception.