🎺 A Weekend with Squirrel Nut Zippers at the Stanley Hotel

Estes Park, Colorado – March 2026

🌄 Arriving in Estes Park: Warm Weather, Mountain Views, and a Storied Hotel

We flew into Denver on Friday and made the drive up to Estes Park, where The Stanley Hotel sits nestled against rocky cliffs with sweeping views of Rocky Mountain National Park from the front steps and parking lot. We were there for a special weekend celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the album Hot with the Squirrel Nut Zippers at The Stanley Hotel having a full weekend of shows. It was unseasonably warm for late March — warm enough that our room felt stuffy that first afternoon and evening, since the hotel isn’t air‑conditioned. We hadn’t really packed for heat, and the warm weather ended up affecting the weekend more than expected. I bought a polo shirt in the gift shop to wear Saturday night because the flannel shirts I brought were too hot for the concert hall.

The Stanley property is larger than you expect: the historic main hotel (originally the guest house), the Lodge (built as lodging for single men visiting the Stanleys), the Concert Hall, and another building that now houses a restaurant. There were also other buildings surrounding the hotel that had other lodging for the property.

Much of the outdoor space behind the hotel — normally a courtyard — was torn up for a major expansion project. Several parking areas were also under construction. They are adding a new wing to connect to the hotel and shift the primary entrance to the rear. A few staff members quietly admitted they were apprehensive about these changes. They were concerned they might affect the building’s historic charm, especially the current lobby and its old‑fashioned check‑in desk.

Even without its reputation, the hotel feels like a storybook setting — grand, slightly eerie, and full of corners that seem to hold onto the past. It’s famously the inspiration for Stephen King’s The Shining, written after he stayed there during the quiet end‑of‑season lull. The hotel is rumored to be haunted, and that energy still lingers.

🏨 Inside the Stanley Hotel: History, Ghost Stories, and Hidden Tunnels

After checking in, we joined the Historic Hotel Tour. It was the perfect way to understand the layers of history behind the place. In the lobby sits a beautifully restored Stanley Steamer car — one of the early steam‑powered automobiles built by F.O. Stanley himself. Our guide explained that these cars had a tendency to catch fire, and the official instructions were either to drive faster to blow out the flames or steer into a lake. It’s the kind of detail that makes the hotel’s history feel both impressive and delightfully odd.

The tour continued into the billiards room, where F.O. Stanley liked to challenge his guests. Originally, the room had a wood floor, but the ivory balls would occasionally roll off the table and break, so he had a cork floor installed to soften the impact. The billiards table itself is original to the hotel. Shipped in from Boston — and one of the few surviving fixtures from the hotel’s early days. Because the hotel was only open four months a year and went through multiple bankruptcies and financial struggles before its restoration in the 1980s, many original items were stolen or sold off over the decades. One of the other surviving pieces is the original Otis elevator, still displaying the old manual controls the attendant would have used. Thankfully, we experienced nothing like the elevator scene in the movie adaptation of The Shining.

🪓 A Visit to the Room That Inspired The Shining

From there, we visited the Stephen King room — famous not only for inspiring The Shining but also for a real‑life incident decades before King ever stayed there. A gas leak in the room went unnoticed until a housekeeper entered with a lit candle, triggering an explosion that injured her and blew out part of the wall. She survived and continued working at the hotel for many years. According to the guide, on the morning she died, several people reported seeing her arrive for her shift — only to learn she had passed away in her sleep the night before. Her dedication, they say, carried her spirit back to work one last time.

The tour ended in the tunnels beneath the hotel — narrow passageways originally used by staff to move between buildings without being seen by guests. The walls are rough stone and concrete, the air noticeably cooler. Our guide showed us photos on her phone of reported ghost sightings captured down there over the years, adding a little extra chill to a place already full of stories.

⭐ A Surprise Encounter with Jimbo Mathus

Later, we hung out in the lobby where we had our first unexpected moment of the weekend. Jimbo Mathus — founder and bandleader of the Squirrel Nut Zippers — was chatting with a small group of fans or friends near the front desk. As he turned, he spotted my wife’s Squirrel Nut Zippers shirt from a previous show. His face lit up and he pointed at her with a friendly “Hey.”

She go the shirt the last time we saw the band, in Dallas in December 2023. Where we were seated at a front‑row table for their Christmas Caravan tour. At the end of that show, Jimbo shook our hands and thanked us before leaving the stage. Seeing him recognize the shirt here, in the middle of a hotel lobby felt like a small full‑circle moment. The kind that sets the tone for a whole weekend.

🎶 Squirrel Nut Zippers at the Stanley Hotel: Celebrating 30 Years of Hot

The Squirrel Nut Zippers were in town to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Hot. The album that gave the world “Hell” and “Put a Lid on It”. It was an album my wife and I played constantly early in our marriage.

The shows took place in the Stanley’s historic Concert Hall, a venue F.O. Stanley built for his wife and modeled after a hall in Boston. She famously performed one public concert there and decided that was enough. The room is fairly small — about 2,500 square feet — which meant that no matter where you stood, you were close to the band. The acoustics were surprisingly good, and the sound quality both nights was excellent.

The concert hall was illuminated in red lights, which was different than all the other buildings. I am assuming that was to celebrate Hot and the Squirrel Nut Zippers shows. Before both evening shows, the curtain at the back of the stage served as a screen for Fleischer Studios cartoons. This helped set a perfect vintage mood before the band came out.

🎤 Night One: Hot in Full, Bonus Tracks, and Deep Cuts

Friday night’s show was a full performance of Hot — bonus tracks included — played with the same swagger and joy that made the album so irresistible in the first place. They hit all the favorites: “Hell,” “Put a Lid on It,” “Prince Nez,” and “Got My Own Thing Now.”

The crowd added to the atmosphere. Many people came dressed in Jazz‑era outfits — vintage dresses, suspenders, hats, and all kinds of swing‑era flair. Many people were dancing, and the energy in the room felt like a time warp in the best way.

After finishing the album, the band kept going, playing several more songs from across their catalog, including “Ghost of Stephen Foster,” which they performed both nights. On Friday night, they took a half hour break before doing an after-show party concert. We did not stay for the party, being worn out from the early trip to the airport to fly out.

🍳 Saturday Brunch Performance: Up Close in the Stanley Steakhouse

Saturday morning’s brunch was held in the hotel’s steakhouse. We got in line more than an hour early to make sure we’d get good seats. While we waited, we ended up opening the door for several band members as they arrived — the keyboardist with his hands full of gear, Dr. Sick carrying his violin case and saw, and someone else holding the door for the stand‑up bass player. It was a small, funny sequence that made the morning feel even more intimate.

It paid off — we secured a table on a riser to the left and slightly above where the band was set up to play. A glass partition obscured part of the view, but overall it was a great vantage point. We were only about 10–20 feet from the band.

The brunch was a buffet, and we ate before the band took the stage. Standout items included the eggs Benedict, shrimp and grits, avocado toast with heirloom tomatoes, and the apple sausage.

The brunch set was completely different from the evening shows, with nearly every member taking a turn on lead vocals. It felt fairly spontaneous with each band member calling out the tune they wanted to perform.

🎵 A Loose, Spontaneous Brunch Set

Cella Blue — vivacious, engaging, and impossible not to watch — sang several songs, including a fun, catchy tune called “Sweet Bananas.” I haven’t been able to track down a recording of it, but it was one of the highlights of the morning.

Before the band played, Cella stopped by a table near us to greet some friends. She lifted her foot to show them that the sole of her boot had come completely detached. Surprisingly, one of her friends had electrical tape and wrapped it around the boot to keep everything together. It was a tiny, human moment that made the whole morning feel even more personal.

🎺 Night Two: Same Album, New Energy

Saturday night’s show followed the same structure — Hot in full, then another hour of deeper cuts — but the energy was different. The band leaned into the looseness of a second night, stretching solos, shifting arrangements, and feeding off a crowd that seemed even more dialed‑in after spending the day around the hotel and the brunch.

Dr. Sick, the band’s violinist and multi‑instrumentalist, took lead vocals on “Hell” and ended the song with a full‑tilt head‑banging finale — his hat flying off, long hair whipping around, the whole room roaring. Cella sang “Sweet Bananas” again, and it was just as infectious the second time. At one point, a conga line even formed in the crowd — the kind of spontaneous joy that only happens when a room is fully in sync with the band.

Even though, the first part of the set list was the same, it didn’t feel like a repeat. It felt like a variation.

🛍️ Souvenirs and Keepsakes from the Weekend

Before heading home, we each picked out different Squirrel Nut Zippers t‑shirts and bought a hat for our son. We also bought the event poster. The poster was the only item created specifically for the weekend — there weren’t any event‑themed shirts or other commemorative merch, which was a bit disappointing since a t‑shirt with the poster artwork would’ve been a great keepsake. Still, the poster was a great memento from a memorable trip.

🖼️ Final Thoughts: Music, History, and a Perfect Weekend in Estes Park

Like our recent trip to see the B‑52’s decades after I first saw them. This weekend felt like another chance to revisit a band that’s been part of our soundtrack for years.

Between the music, the setting, the history, and the unexpected little moments, the weekend felt like a perfect blend of nostalgia and discovery. Seeing a band we’ve loved for decades in a place as storied as The Stanley Hotel made the whole experience feel both familiar and new — like revisiting an old favorite album and hearing something fresh in it. Amazingly, it was only the third time in twenty years that my wife and I been away without our children for more than one night!