#MountainTownGoodNews – Dispatch 2
We have been asking for #MountainTownGoodNews from our friends and local communities over the past weeks to share with our readers in hopes of brightening our spirits. Now that we are in 33 days under stay at home orders we are happy to report so many of the GOOD things coming out of our retreat.
Dillon
Our friend Bumpy in Dillon says, “Here are some Good things from Covid (in no particular order) Going for more bicycle rides. The plows and nice weather has helped to clear the bike paths of snow (that was last week). Going for family walks and seeing our neighbors out doing the same. Eating better. Making smoothies and salads. Taking my vitamins. My house has never been cleaner. Life slowing down has allowed me to resurrect an old hobby. I am getting to spend more time with our 3 year old, our daughter is with my wife or Denise 24/7. There is time to work on my house and finish projects I never had time to complete. When I do have to go somewhere, I’m more likely to walk because I have the time. Our dogs love that we are always home, and are getting more walks than normal. Staying healthy.
FRIDAY TO GO JAMS have started up with Dillon’s local restaurants, each Friday night, between April 10 and May 29th, a different Dillon restaurant will host a to-go jam session. Order your to-go meal, then head home and watch the concert live @ 7pm. This week will feature the Arapahoe Cafe!
https://www.summitdaily.com/togojams/
Loveland Ski Area
is partnering up with Mark Morris of Rapidgrass Festival in Georgetown will be holding an Online Après Concert streaming an hour of songs to keep spirits high. Join them on Wednesday, April 22 for EARTH DAY APRÈS with Loveland Ski Area.
Avon
Last week, The Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa and Maya at The Westin Riverfront Avon Vail Valley in Avon wanted to give something back to the incredible Eagle County teachers & First Responders who are all working so hard right now. They posted on the Maya Facebook page asking people to nominate a local teacher/1st responder who deserves a full to-go Easter dinner for up to 6 people – including Honey Baked Ham, potato gratin, spring vegetables and lemon pound cake. People nominated Vail Valley nurses, doctors, firefighters, police officers, teachers, a principal, school tech support, the manager of City Market in Eagle and the entire Vail Search & Rescue staff. Maya shared delicious Easter dinners with our 21 Vail Valley Everyday Hero honorees. How nice is that?!
Salida
Pure Greens, Elevation Beer, Pursell Manufacturing and Wood’s High Mountain Distillery in Chafee County came together to make hand sanitizer for Chaffee County. It’s a long story but the basic version is this: When it was clear that there were significant shortages of hand sanitizer in Chaffee County (along with everywhere else in the US) these four local companies all had the same idea to try and help. Sterling Stoudenmire from Pure Greens put out a call to Elevation Beer Co and to Wood’s High Mountain Distillery to see what they we’re doing. At the same time, Pursell Manufacturing put in a call to Wood’s to see if they had any ethanol for sale. Through these conversations, we learned all four companies had something unique to offer. By working together, the four companies were able to quickly produce thousands of 8 oz bottles of hand sanitizer for distribution to EMS, care facilities, and Heart of the Rockies Medical Center, as well as for individual purchase. Contributions were: Pure Greens: Isopropyl alcohol and label productionPursell Manufacturing: Glycerin, 8oz bottles, bottle filling Elevation Beer Co: Hydrogen peroxide and beer to distill into grain spirits Wood’s High Mountain Distillery: Grain spirits, sanitizer production, and FDA licensing. None of them had the materials to produce hand sanitizer on our own, but together we were able to supply this much-needed product to our Mountain Town brothers and sisters.
Eagle
The 2020 Bonfire Block Party in Eagle has been rescheduled for the last weekend in August. Bonfire Brewing and Optimum Events are working hard to ensure the original band lineup, the festival’s most ambitious yet, and most importantly the health and safety of all staff and participants are at the forefront of this decision. Colorado’s annual Outside Fest that takes place in tandem with Block Party is also postponed to these dates.
Telluride
Telluride Fire Festival Founder spent time celebrating what would have been the close of the Telluride Ski Resort and are moving forward with their plans to host another fantastic event in December.
SBG Productions announced its lineup for the Blue’s and Brews Festival in mid-September! A glimmer of light for all of us who love a fantastic Festival!
Mountain Lodge Telluride has introduced Monday Mountain Meditations with Christa King of Fitlandia® Feeling overwhelmed and want to make the very best out of your time at home? Here is a way to get you in the mindset of decluttering your thoughts, your space, and your energy. This will be part 1 of a two-part series to help you make the very best out of these challenging times. On 4/27 we’ll help you craft an action plan to help you grow into your next level of potential – but first, we must clear your mind! Monday, April 20th, 12 PM MT for 30-minutes, Q & A session included. Register just one-time to access the entire series. https://zoom.us/meeting/register/u50lfuCqqDouRuvyQmRWTfHmBJB9dqwPCA
Pagosa Springs
VOORMI in Pagosa Springs donated neck gators to the local hospital for their workers, especially folks manning outdoor checkpoints as they’ve struggled getting proper PPE. They have also donated enough of their proprietary fabrics to make roughly 25,000 masks, all to be sewn locally by forces of home sewers in both Pagosa Springs and Bozeman, Montana.
Chaffee County
The Chaffee County Visitors Bureau, Salida Chamber Of Commerce, Salida Business Alliance, and Buena Vista Chamber Of Commerce partnered to create an online auction and storefront for businesses in Chaffee County to sell gift cards, products and services amidst the challenges of COVID-19. The online auction went live just 3 days after conception, ran for 10 days and generated $116,514.88. 100% of all sales went directly back to each business. From start to finish, money was in the hands of the businesses within 15 days. https://www.colorfulcolorado.com/auction The Now This IS LOVE Auction raised $116,514.88
Breckenridge
– Breckenridge Associates Real Estate purchased and delivered food care packages from Ridge Street Kitchen to St. Anthony Summit Medical Center for all the nurses tations. www.breckenridgeassociates.com.
– Town of Breckenridge (ToB) approved $1.5 million in COVID-19 local relief grants. $1M is being dispersed for small business rent relief through the Town of Breckenridge and an additional $500k is designated to FIRC to assist individuals living or working in Breckenridge affected by COVID-19. www.townofbreckenridge.com
– Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz donates $2.5 million to support employees and mountain communities. This money will support community-wide relief efforts and help meet the urgent needs of residents across mountain communities in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Summit County will receive $200k, being evenly split between the Summit Foundation and the Family and Intercultural Resource Center (FIRC). www.vailresorts.com
– Mom’s Baking Company and Steller LTD have turned off the ovens and started sewing masks for the community in the Coffee Shop. More masks coming over the weekend. https://www.facebook.com/momsbakingco/
– Windy City Pizza donated a delicious dinner as a thank you for the staff at City Market who are remaining open at their own risk to serve our community right now. www.windycitypizzabreck.com
– Breckenridge Distillery has joined their community of distillers and made their own hand sanitizer and offered to locals for free. Since the World Health Organization (WHO) says that cleaning your hands with an alcohol-based rub can help to kill viruses on your hands, many of the distilleries say they hope to continue producing their bootleg sanitizers until the virus has been properly contained. oh AND! Join the Breck Distillery Virtual Happy Hour Zoom Meet up : Every Thursday in April @ 7PM: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/610885649 Breck Distillery’s Liquid Chef Billie Keithley is offering a fun cocktail workshop to teach you how to make several types of cocktails, offer her insight on the art of crafting cocktails and give you tips on how to be a successful bartender at home.
– Shortly after a county-wide shut down of the Summit County School District and all public facing retail and restaurants, Breckenridge Brewery’s remarkable staff gave away 150 school lunches to those kids that currently out of school.
– Breckenridge Ski Resort donated 2,000 pounds of fresh produce to the Family Intercultural Resource Center (FIRC) for a community drive/walk-thru food pantry.
– Bloom, a local Breck florist, brought stands of free flowers to a local bank and restaurant offering to-go on Breckenridge’s historic Main Street. With flowers being a natural and healthful moderator of moods, Bloom aimed at getting as many bouquets in isolated homes to help stimulate joy during an uncertain time.
Durango
is keeping people’s spirits up on their social media channels with the #DurangoDreaming campaign. We are obviously not promoting travel and visitation to Durango at this time, but are working to inspire people virtually with scenic photography, drone and video footage sans people and that has had a great response. Their campaign, #SaveTourism, taps a national movement encouraging visitors to postpone, rather than cancel, travel plans.
A few Durango organizations have teamed up to bring you a virtual store full of uniquely Durango items! Claim your goods today before they’re sold out! https://www.downtowndurango.org/supportlocal
Durango’s MakerLab, Ron Rod III and Terry Spriggs showcase the first prototype PAPR unit developed in 3 days by the MakerLab Covid-19 Response Team. PAPR = Positive Air Pressure Respirator. This PAPR is one of the first developed for the global DYI maker movement. MakerLab maestro, Ryan Finnigan, and the team have assembled an amazing response to the COVID crisis in a matter of days, tapping into the global maker movement to give and take ideas and designs. Importantly, this PAPR model has been certified by the Durango Fire & Rescue for effectiveness. Why the fire department? Firemen and firewomen’s lives depend on these type devices in gnarly smoke and chemical fires every day.
Summit County
Building Hope Summit County Hope Builders friends and neighbors pitch in to find a lost dog. Frisco resident Deepan Dutta was about to give up hope of ever finding his 11-year-old Shiba Inu, Bubbles, who disappeared on March 28. Hundreds of friends, as well as caring strangers, responded to Dutta’s plea for help on Facebook. Messages were shared on local Facebook pages, and individuals spontaneously took up the search, scouring the Ten Mile Creek area where Bubbles was last seen. 11 days later, a small group of backcountry skiers found Bubbles on the Frisco-Copper trail, injured and half her normal weight, but still very much alive and ready to come home. This is real #HopeBuildersCO #mentalhealth #mentalhealthmatters #selfcare #MountainTownGoodNews https://buildinghopesummit.org/
Aspen and Snowmass
Aspen Skiing Company Event Operations Team took over the Basalt Food Drive and is now running it.
Basalt School Site—Food Drive (for all residents, regardless of age or citizenship status) *Middle school, 51 School St, Basalt, CO 81621 – Every Thursday through the month of April from 12 p.m.-2 p.m.
Two of our employees are running point on Aspen and Carbondale Senior food delivery.
Another handful of Aspen Skiing Company employees are volunteering with Pitkin County to assist with the abundance of emergency financial relief requests.
When Aspen Skiing Company shut down on Saturday, March 14 they offered two additional weeks of scheduled pay to all impacted seasonal employees. We are also not collecting rent from seasonal employees who are living in Aspen Skiing Company employee housing for the month of April.
Employee Meals: All Aspen Skiing Company restaurants gave employees/those in need 3,000 lbs of on mountain dining pre-made meals and pre-packaged food Friday, March 20th
The Little Nell team distributed 2,400 Toilet Paper rolls, 500 branded hand sanitizers, and 250+ pounds of wagyu steaks to their staff/employees.
Aspen Skiing Company is donating 1k to Foodbank of the Rockies and 5k to Aspen Family Connections.
The Snowmass Ski Patrol team collected what was remaining after tear down and sent medical supplies to Aspen Valley Hospital:
Nine N-95 masks, a bunch of surgical masks, and a box of kids masks.
They also offered an abundance of gloves and will donate those should the hospital need them.
1,000 diapers for families in need were ordered for by Aspen Skiing Company head of purchasing along with our ski school team also worked together to send snacks to nonprofits and schools serving kids breakfast and lunch.
Palisade
Palisade Sunrise Rotary members volunteered at the Palisade food bank for the first drive-up food distribution. Great turnout, long lines, but a lot of folks in need were served. Taking care of one another.
Grand Junction
A Virtual Canned Food Drive is taking place where any amount helps their food banks to purchase food for the expanding needs in their counties.
Visit Grand Junction is encouraging everyone to “Roam from Home.” Tune in to their social channels for a moment of zen and escape, while they share with you the beauty of Grand Junction. Twitter @VisitGJ, Instagram @VisitGrandJunction, Pinterest Visit Grand Junction, TikTok @VisitGrandJunction
Glenwood Springs
Axel Contreras, Program Director of KQSE La Nueva Mix has been keeping the Latina community informed on COVID-19 and information to keep our Spanish speaking communities informed.
The Glenwood Springs Tourism Bureau launched their “Reschedule Campaign” in Anticipation of Welcoming Visitors Back visitors. For those who previously scheduled vacations to visit Glenwood Springs,
the hot springs and adventure resort town is encouraging visitors to reschedule, rather than cancel, their planned travel. The new campaign encourages guests to share their updated travel plans on social media and offers participants the chance to win passes to Glenwood Springs attractions.
Steamboat Springs
The Main Street Steamboat organization is inviting children of all ages to celebrate their local community as part of the ‘We Are Main Street’ campaign by drawing (for ages 0-11) or writing a short essay (for ages 12-18) about what their downtown means to them! https://www.mainstreet.org/getinvolved/wearemainstreet
Moots Bicycle Company is still making bikes! moots.com
Steamboat Whiskey Company has been producing hand sanitizer. They have run out of bottles to bottle our hand sanitizer. Due to the pandemic, they are having trouble sourcing more (need to be 2-4 oz and a pump top)@revive.hemp just gave us all they had to give. If anyone can help them source 2 oz pump top bottles please give a call! 970-846-3534
Frisco
The Town of Frisco announced Run the Rockies Road Half Marathon & 10k was scheduled for Saturday, June 6 and will be postponed to August or September; Frisco Town Clean-Up Day was originally scheduled for Saturday, May 16. Town Clean-Up Day will now be a week-long event from Saturday, May 9 through Sunday, May 17. Rock the Dock, the opening celebration at the Frisco Bay Marina scheduled for June 6, will be canceled for 2020, and the 13th annual Timberline Cruiser Regatta will be moved to Saturday, September 12, 2020. The Mountain Goat Kids Trail Running Series has four races scheduled on June 16 & 30. The Town has decided to continue with these June races and move them to August if needed due to health and safety considerations. The Colorado BBQ Challenge, which was scheduled for June 19 & 20, will be postponed to Friday, September 25 and Saturday, September 26. Concerts in the Park start on June 25 and stretch into August with nine concerts, and the Town has decided to proceed as planned with this schedule and remain flexible if conditions and restrictions make it advisable to postpone concerts later into the summer. Social distancing measures will be encouraged through signage and event layout with Main Street in front of the park available to concert-goers. The Concert in the Park Series also benefits local non-profits, and more of the concerts will be programmed with local bands to support the local creative community.
Colorado Mountain Towns
The Northwest Colorado Council of Governments (NWCCOG) in conjunction with partner communities announces the completion of Critical Broadband Infrastructure through Project THOR, a 400-mile fiber transport network. Project THOR establishes carrier-class connectivity between 14 rural, mountain communities across Northwest Colorado to the NWCCOG Point of Presence in Denver. Partner communities include Clear Creek County at Georgetown; Summit County at Silverthorne, Frisco and Breckenridge; Town of Vail at Vail; Town of Eagle at Eagle; City of
Glenwood Springs at Glenwood Springs; City of Aspen at Aspen; Rio Blanco County at Meeker; Yampa Valley Electric Association at Craig and Hayden; Northwest Colorado Broadband, a non-profit in Steamboat Springs; as well as Middle Park Health at Kremmling and Granby.
Colorado Mountain College announced they are waiving tuition as a way to help buoy the local economy. CMC is passing along $1.6 million in federal stimulus dollars to waive tuition, fees and books for summer semester for qualifying students. For Full Details: ColoradoMtn.edu/CMCResponds #CMCResponds
We know this is hard right now. We’re all in this together and will overcome. Keep on Doing Good and staying at home. Things really are looking up. Thanks for your support of Mountain Town Magaizne! We love y’all!
Send us your GOOD News!!!! [email protected]
by Holly Battista-Resignolo, Mountain Town Magazine
Feature Photo: Brendan Durrum Photography
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