Two things at the Royal Gorge Bridge & Park end on the same day this month. Every general-admission season pass expires on Oct. 31, 2026, and so does the contract of the company that has run the park for more than 60 years. On Nov. 1, CMBH Partners, LLC takes over under a lease the Cañon City Council approved unanimously in June.
For anyone who walks the bridge on a free afternoon or brings visiting family out to the rim, the change in operators matters less than what the new lease puts in writing. Local discounts at the bridge used to depend on whatever promotion the operator decided to run that year. Starting next month they're contract terms. They're also narrower than the old promotions in one key way, and the lease leaves their timing for the operator to set.
Two Expirations, One Date
The outgoing operator is Royal Gorge Company of Colorado. Its contract ran through Oct. 31, 2026. The Cañon City Daily Record describes the incoming operator as Dallas-based. City Administrator Ryan Stevens said that in 2023 the council chose to put the operation out to competitive bid, "because it had been over 60 years with the same operator." A consultant came on in 2024, a request for proposals followed in 2025, and negotiations continued into 2026.
The park keeps running through the handoff. Its hours page lists winter general admission from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, with rides, dining and shops opening at 10 a.m. The park says it operates year-round, weather permitting. The difference after Oct. 31 is that anyone holding a season pass today will be paying at the gate again.
What Used to Be a Sale Is Now a Clause
Local deals at the bridge have a long history, and all of it consisted of promotions. In 2015 the Daily Record reported half-price day and season passes for Fremont County residents during May. In 2022 the paper covered an April half-price season pass sale for anyone with a valid Colorado address. The park's pass page still advertises that April sale as an annual event. In 2025, "Fremont Fridays" gave Fremont County residents a free child ticket with each adult ticket on select Fridays from February through May, purchased in person with proof of residency.
All of these were the operator's choice to offer. The new lease adds a section called the Local Access Program, and the operator agrees to it. Here is the season ticket language:
"Operator agrees that in each calendar year of the term of this Agreement and any extension thereof it will issue to all bona fide residents of the City subject to reasonable annual limits, verification requirements, and sales periods established by Operator: a) non-transferable adult season tickets for an amount not in excess of fifty percent (50%) of the regular adult season ticket price..."
The full Local Access Program contains three commitments:
| Lease commitment | Who it covers | What's excluded or left to the operator |
|---|---|---|
| Adult season ticket at no more than 50% of the regular adult price | Bona fide Cañon City residents | Annual limits, verification, sales periods; non-transferable |
| Family season ticket for two adults and two children at no more than 50% of the regular family price | Bona fide Cañon City residents | Same conditions as above |
| Two free community days per year, one in each half of the year | The community | Separately ticketed attractions, special events, food, merchandise and premium experiences, unless the operator opts in |
Each resident season ticket runs for one year from the day it's issued, and it covers entry to the park and the bridge whenever both are open to the public. The Daily Record's summary of the contract also lists school and educational group pricing and support for certain local events.
The Fine Print Draws a Tighter Circle
The lease language says "residents of the City." Past promotions reached all of Fremont County, and the April sale reached the whole state. The guaranteed half-price ticket in the new lease is tied to Cañon City residency. Neighbors in Florence, Penrose or elsewhere in the county may still be offered deals, but the lease doesn't require them. Whether the April statewide sale continues will be up to the new operator.
The discount floats with the price. The lease leaves admission and attraction pricing to the operator. The resident ticket is pegged to 50% of whatever the regular season ticket costs "at the time in effect." That means the lease guarantees the ratio, not a dollar amount.
The free days have their own limits. Community days are supposed to be set at the same time as the operator's special events calendar and "conspicuously promoted." They cover general admission, and anything sold or ticketed separately falls outside them.
Why the City Wrote Locals Into the Contract
The bridge belongs to Cañon City, and the operator pays rent as a share of revenue: 25% of admissions and 10% of food, beverage and merchandise sales, both unchanged from the previous contract. The new lease adds a 10% share of special events. The city currently receives about $2.5 million a year from the arrangement.
Stevens connected that revenue directly to residents' property tax bills. He described the city's portion of the levy as a small mill rate and said, "If we didn't have that revenue, the mill rate for citizens of Cañon City would be around 21 mills – about seven times what it is today." When the Daily Record checked the state's searchable map, it found similarly sized Colorado cities such as Fruita, Steamboat Springs and Sterling with city levies at least three times higher.
So city residents have more riding on the bridge than a cheap pass, and the Local Access Program puts part of that relationship on paper. "This is not just an owner-operator agreement," Brent Hargrave said on behalf of CMBH. "It is a partnership between us and our employees, and the city of Cañon City."
What's Still Open This Winter
The lease leaves the dates and mechanics to the operator. Here's where these items stood on the pages we checked:
- New season pass sales after Oct. 31. The park's pass page lists the expiration date and the April sale, with nothing about renewals or extensions.
- How residents will verify. The lease leaves verification rules and sales periods for the operator to set.
- The first free community days. One will fall in each half of the year. The operator designates the dates along with its special events calendar and reports them to the city.
- Bridge of Lights 2026. The park's own event page still shows last year's schedule. The state tourism site Colorado.com lists weekend nights from Nov. 27 through Dec. 27, 2026, and marks them "subject to change."
- The Skycoaster. The Royal Rush Skycoaster is temporarily closed for upgrades, according to the park's ride page.
Other holiday plans in town are already set. The city's free Pumpkins in the Plaza runs at Macon Plaza, 5th and Macon, on Oct. 30 from 10:30 a.m. to noon. The Royal Gorge Chamber Alliance's Christmas Parade of Lights comes down Main Street on Saturday, Dec. 5, and the city's economic development calendar lists it from 5 to 9 p.m.
What the Lease Schedules for Later
Over a longer horizon, the contract gets more specific. CMBH must spend $3 million on capital improvements in the first 10 years, with $1 million of that due by March 1, 2029. The lease also calls for at least two new major attractions between Nov. 1, 2036, and Oct. 31, 2051, and the city will contribute through a sinking fund that rises from $600,000 to $1 million.
The park is in reasonable shape for the handoff. The city paid Alfred Benesch & Company for an infrastructure assessment, and it projected that the 1929 suspension bridge, valued at $10 million, wouldn't need replacing until 2093. The gondola, also valued at $10 million, is projected for 2056. The roads inside the park are the open question. Hargrave told the city they show "substantial existing deterioration in several areas" and asked for documentation before the transition. Under the lease, those roads become the operator's responsibility.
The lease runs at least 25 years, and the extensions could carry it to 2071. For that whole stretch, a Cañon City address carries a written guarantee of a half-price bridge pass.
At The All Star Team, we follow Cañon City news like this because it affects daily life here and shows up on property tax bills. If you'd like to know how the bridge revenue and the city's levy show up in your home's numbers, ask us for your free home valuation and local market plan. We're happy to talk it through in English or Spanish.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
