Some of the biggest tourist attractions around Colorado Springs are social media famous — and not as just stars of one-time viral videos. 

They live at the top of YouTube’s charts.

Alongside individual influencers and quirky channels such as the Best Ever Food Review Show and Strictly Dumpling, the rather straight-laced sounding Pikes Peak Region Attractions channel was rated fourth in the U.S. in mid-May as a YouTube travel channel for its overall number of subscribers, with more than 10 million. The data site Social Blade updates the listings daily.   

For Pikes Peak Region Attractions, an association of 29 tourist destinations such as Cave of the Winds and the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, the road to the top started during summer 2023.

PK McPherson, the executive director, said previously the association had hired social media influencers to visit some of the attractions.

But that year she decided, “Let’s be the influencers.”

So the association’s small team set out to ride the viral waves as both the stars and producers of the videos, which highlight the destinations and Colorado humor, including Bigfoot, the unofficial mascot of Pikes Peak.

“I am the one in the Bigfoot costume 75% of the time,” McPherson said. 

This Mother’s Day, Bigfoot and her baby visited Garden of the Gods, in a heartwarming scene. The baby Bigfoot was McPherson’s youngest son who has featured in numerous videos in his young life.

It’s one of 600 videos on the channel that feature first-person experiences, such as one showing the thrill of spelunking in Cave of the Winds, and longer, more serious takes. Some of the longer pieces answer travel questions, such as the best ways to organize your time while visiting Colorado Springs or the best time of year to visit. As every local knows, there is no bad time.

“We try to be really authentic and organic,” McPherson said. 

They will even post some missteps, including a video of their $6,000 camera accidentally getting knocked off The Broadmoor Manitou & Pikes Peak Cog Railway train by a railing. The moment that will make you cringe in sympathy for the association’s camera also features a stunning view of Pikes Peak and captured about 28,000 views. The camera was also fine, much to the staff’s relief, McPherson said. 

Growth in subscribers has been exponential. The association had about 1,200 subscribers before the work started in earnest about three years ago. The channel was founded in 2015, but it hadn’t been a major focus.

The goal for 2023 was to hit 3,000 subscribers by the end of the year and the staff reached that in June, McPherson said. When the staff increased the goal to 6,000, they hit that in July. The staff wanted to set a goal of 9,000 for the end of the year, but McPherson wanted to aim higher and set it at 12,000 by Sept. 1.

“That’s when I gave them the directive to stop looking at what other people are doing — follow your instincts. ‘You guys are funny and a little weird, let it shine,'” she recalled saying.

By Sept. 1, they had hit 147,000 subscribers. In January 2024, the channel hit 1 million subscribers and by April 2026, it had reached 10 million.

It’s an approach that helps a relatively small marketing budget go further, and unlike content on other large social media sites, such as Facebook or Instagram that does not get attention if it’s dated, viewers will find YouTube videos from several years back. 

The staff also carefully plans out their content posting every day and works to equitably feature each of their members, all attractions that vary greatly in size, McPherson said.  It’s a model that helps support the smaller attractions in the association

“The big guys know we are using them to help promote the little guys,” she said. 

The association is a unique model that predates VisitCOS, focused on promoting all of Colorado Springs, and was born out of the Highway Beautification Act, which banned billboards along the interstates except in specific instances. After the ban, a crisis for the local tourist destinations, the attractions worked together on promotions, such as brochure distribution, McPherson said.

Now the focus on YouTube, a modern-day billboard, helps extend their reach much further.

It’s work that builds on what the attractions are able to do alone.

At Pikes Peak, the city of Colorado Springs employs a single person for all its marketing needs, so the association staff is a critical extension of what that one employee can do alone, said Sarah Braun, interim manager of Pikes Peak — America’s Mountain.

“Their ability to really focus and drive engagement and interactions is incredible,” Braun said.