Culinary Creativity is Celebrated at the 2025 Heritage Fire Tour

The Heidi Guide attends Snowmass's annual event.

August 15, 2025

Heidi Kerr-Schlaefer,

Photo: Heritage Fire Tour

Postcard perfect in the summer and winter, Snowmass is a destination for every season. In the summer, however, during the first weekend in August, the air is filled with the scent of wildflowers and something else—meat cooking over a fire.

The Heritage Fire Tour swings into town permeating Snowmass Village with terrific smells and excitement. Stopping in 13 cities nationwide, the event in Snowmass is one-of-a-kind in Colorado. It’s a celebration of culinary creativity. Competitors are mostly local restaurants and private chefs. It’s an extravaganza of smoked meat and the many dishes that can be prepared using them.

Photo: Heritage Fire Tour

Attendees savor delightful bites from the various tents and vote for their favorite. Each year, a Heritage Hero is crowned at the end of the event. The honor is not taken lightly and this year’s winner at the Heritage Fire Tour in Snowmass was the dessert from Charlee’s Comfort Kitchen from Utah.

And it’s not only inventive dishes, but also curated cocktails like the peach and whiskey combo from Woody’s Distillery and the Espresso Martini from Marble Distilling, both Colorado mountain brands. The event included a DJ, painting with wine, a make-you-own-bouquet booth by Modern Mountain Flowers and more.

Photo: Heritage Fire Tour

The competitors bring their A-game, creating such dishes as Duck, Duck, Goose by Sugarland Farms & Provisions in Aspen. A duck confit with lemon thyme fromage blanc, blueberry gastrique, sliced gooseberries, all on fry bread cooked in duck fat—heavenly. Another favorite duck dish was the Duck Confit Tacos with Salsa Verde from Chef Matt Zubrod, the culinary director at Viceroy Snowmass. The resort’s in-house restaurant, Toro – Snowmass, headed by Chef Edgar Hernandez, made mouthwatering Wagyu Barbacoa Bao Buns.

To find out what’s happening in Snowmass this fall, visit GoSnowmass. The Heritage Fire Tours next stops are Napa Valley, California and then the Willamette Valley in Oregon. The tour will visit Snowmass again next August.