Roanoke Mountain Adventures raised $5100 for Project Outside at the Carilion GO Outside Festival this October. They did it in the most rad way possible: connecting the outdoor community with sweet new gear.
The Rad Idea for Carilion GO Fest 2026
Jeff Todd and his team at Roanoke Mountain Adventures (RMA) came to GO Fest planning this year with the coolest question for our team: how can RMA bring something special to outdoor lovers at the festival that makes a difference for the community? As with the best outdoor community collabs, the answer was super rad: raffling off over $10,000 in new gear from brand partners like Fjallraven, NEMO, and Stio and giving all the proceeds to Project Outside.
Over 5 days, including 3 days on site at GO Fest, they shouted from the rooftops and encouraged GO Festers peruse prime products and ponder: should I take a chance on winning this gear – and know that if I don’t, I still supported my outdoor community? Well, if there’s anything we know about outdoor lovers, it’s that they LOVE new gear and they LOVE supporting outdoor infrastructure and organizations. And that shows in the $5100 raised purely through 176 individual donations of $10-$100. And 50 donors went home with a sweet little gear haul. Not too shabby.
Where Project Outside Comes In
Here’s the best part: What’s Project Outside and how will that money be used? If you’ve never heard us talk about it (unlikely ;)), Project Outside is a fund we started in 2020 to help fill the gap in infrastructure and organizational support for the Roanoke region’s outdoor community. The beauty of Project Outside is that anyone can donate (from individuals to corporations), and then each year we fund grants that help local organizations and land managers with outdoor projects needing funds now.
Some awesome stats about this fund:
– $230,000 in funds have been donated and granted
– 53 projects have been completed
– These organizations have benefitted:
- Alleghany Highlands Trail Alliance
- Alleghany Parks and Rec
- Beyond Boundaries
- Blue Ridge Off-Road Cyclists
- Botetourt County Parks and Rec
- Catawba Sustainability Center
- Franklin County Parks and Rec
- Healing Strides of Virginia
- Humble Hustle Co.
- Roanoke Parks and Rec (PLAY Roanoke)
- Roanoke Mountain Bike Alliance
- Pathfinders for Greenways
- River Rock Climbing
- Roanoke Star Cycling
- Roanoke Mountain Adventures
- Roanoke County Parks and Rec.
- Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club
- Ride CFVA
- TAP (Total Action for Progress)
- The Roanoke Disc Golf Club
- The Wild Way
- Town of Vinton
- Trees Roanoke
- Upper Creek Volunteer Fire Department
To learn more about Project Outside, check out 53 projects completed since 2020: from trail-building support to getting more kids outside to launching adaptive climbing and more.
Thank yous
Thank you to Roanoke Mountain Adventures for seeing the big picture and using your resources to inspire and help build a better community. Additional thanks to the brands who supported RMA’s project: Fjallraven, Danner, NEMO, Stio, Mountain Hardwear, Merrell, Marin, Pingora Keen, Kelty, Darn Tough, Black Diamond, Outdoor Research, Salomon, Paka, Swiftwick socks, Astral, Cotopaxi, Dovetail, Gossamer, Prana, Sunski.