A Retrospect: Looking Back At Summertime
By Kara Tatone
How sweet and short it was. Rolling out of winter repose the San Juan Mountains sped through summer from first wildflowers to the first snow. And the town of Telluride is no different. Rarely a summer weekend goes unnoticed nor the main street banner-less, while the town continues to prove Telluride’s ski season is no longer its busiest time of year.
Telluride Bluegrass Festival director Craig Ferguson brought back the old favorites and a few musical shockers to the Town Park stage for its 32nd year. Over four bluebird June days, approximately 40,000 fest-goers passed through the gates to hear a bluegrass lineup as diverse as they come. Alison Krauss and Union Station, Sam Bush, Bela Fleck and Jean-Luc Ponty, Yonder Mountain String Band and Peter Rowan joined the untraditional, Wilco, Jewel and Bobby McFerrin. More than a few intermingled moments on stage brought genres together.
Po’ Boys, Crawfish and New Orleans funk set in a Mountain Village hot parking lot venue—sounds unusual but it became the recipe for Telluride’s newest summer festival, the Cajun Festival. The mid-July event set on the top level of a Mountain Village parking deck began as most Telluride festivals: hundreds of locals gathered together for a day of music. New Orleans bass player George Porter headlined and Cajun fare flared for what festival organizer Teddy Errico says will be back again, but likely a different location.
The Ah Haa School set its annual auction stage on North Willow mid-August and when the bidding began the highest bids the auction ever summoned were on the table. The live auction brought in nearly $100,000 in winning bids—the two weightiest, the Mini Cooper Art Car purchased for $40,000 and General H. Norman Schwarzkopf’s mixed media, war and peace collage selling for $17,000. All proceeds of the Ah Haa’s annual auction, one of the school’s primary fundraisers, help pay for operating expenses like salaries, supplies and scholarships for classes geared toward a nearly 100 percent local resident student base.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s ravished Gulf Coast, relief efforts in the tens of thousands swelled across the United States, and Telluride too joined in. Collection jars were strewn through town, collection boxes for food and clothes at grocery stores, and local restaurateurs closed their doors one September evening to serve the town a feast and live music under a tented Oak Street gondola plaza. The evening goal was set at about $2,000 but the few hundred attendees contributed $27,000 through donations and a silent auction to go directly to the Red Cross.
Late July KOTO brought singer-songwriter Jackson Browne to the stage for its 9th annual Doo-Dah concert in the park. Despite early afternoon buckets of pouring rain, approximately 3,000 Browne fans and KOTO faithfuls came out to support community radio. KOTO’s past Doo-Dah’s have brought musical greats to the stage like Bob Dylan, Widespread Panic and The String Cheese Incident. KOTO celebrates 30 years this fall.
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Crazy Does It: Lunar Cup Full Of Lunatics
By Reilly Capps
 One of the world’s weirdest ski races happens every July high above Telluride in Savage Basin, on a spot of snow that hasn’t yet melted; raced by people in Elvis and Wonder Woman costumes who can’t handle the fact that the ski season ends in April.
This year, the eight-mile drive up Tomboy Road claimed the lives of at least two vehicles. Their metal corpses abandoned on the side of the road in a macabre puddle of their own oil. Skiers woke up early for the 10 a.m. start time. Or, in the case of local DJ Ryan Smith and a few dozen others, they never went to bed.
Up at 13,000 feet, Smith spun vinyl at a raging party the night before for those who camped under the stars in the fantastically clean air of the San Juan Mountains. Smith lugged up turntables and speakers and somebody brought $700 worth of fireworks. Jens Rehahn called it, “The highest party I’ve ever been to.” Smith DJ’d the race, too, pumping Bee Gees and A Tribe Called Quest up the course. A number of snowriders climbed to the top of the ridge above the gates, to drop off a 10-foot cornice and prove their mental instability.
 “I don’t want to cartwheel off and kill a bunch of people,” said Steve Foster. He managed not to kill anyone. Jeep tours going up over Imogene Pass paused and watched the race, which probably looked less weird from a distance than it did up close. “It’s getting a little sloppy up there,” organizer Herb Manning said late in the day. “I’m talking about the snow and the riders.” The various open bars probably had something to do with it.
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More News Flashes
By Elizabeth Covington
New Grocery Store to Open in Mountain Village
Residents of Mountain Village need look no farther than the former parking lot of the Gondola’s Station Parking for organic arugula and sliced deli meats. Mountain Village Market, a 14,000-square-foot full-service grocery store, may open as early as July 2006. The new store promises to sell organic as well as conventional items at prices competitive with those only found in Montrose stores. In addition to typical grocery store items, such as milk, peanut butter and paper towels, the store will also have a deli, meat counter, bakery, coffee bar and a liquor store.
A Family Adventure Center?
Mountain Village residents passed a $14 million bond issue to build the Mountain Village Family Adventure Sports Facility. As proposed the facility will be chocked full of things to do. Plans include a full slate of aquatics activities, including a pool, slides, flowrider, current channels and resistance lap lanes. In addition the center will have a climbing wall and a fitness center, and for the less active bowling lanes and extensive video games. A snack bar and lounge with fireplace will also be part of the project.
Telluride Roundabout Swirls 2,000 Vehicles Per Hour
At press time the roundabout at the intersection of Colorado Avenue and Mahoney Drive was on schedule to be completed. The $1.8 million project, which included not only the traffic-processing roundabout, but also a rebuilding of a quarter mile of the Hwy. 145 spur west of town, a new bus stop on the south side of Colorado Ave., a raised cross walk connecting the new bus stop with an existing one on the north side, and a crosswalk across Colorado Avenue west of the roundabout (whew!), was designed to accommodate safely and smoothly what is now an average of 10,000 vehicles a day. A roundabout was chosen over a stoplight, says Telluride Public Works Director Stan Berryman because it consumes less ground space, is safer, reduces air pollution and offers a more attractive entry than a stoplight. The town’s new roundabout can process 2,000 vehicles an hour, certainly enough, Berryman projects, for any foreseeable increase in traffic counts.
Telluride Reaches Out to Katrina Refugees
Telluride residents have long had a solid reputation for giving back. This was no less true this fall when area residents were called on to lend a hand to New Orleans refugees who escaped the wrath of Hurricane Katrina and landed in southwestern Colorado. At last count when TellurideStyle went to press, the area had raised nearly $400,000. In addition, local residents helped place displaced New Orleansians in new jobs and in housing, as well as fostering hundreds of pets that were left behind in the city. To raise money, Telluride Cares, an impromptu organization organized by Stu Fraser, raised $45,000 through a Friday evening street dance. All of the money was donated to organizations directly involved in the relief effort. An earlier party at Chair 8, thrown by Kelly Grace and Greg Carberry, raised $27,000. September’s Blues and Brews Festival raised $25,000; festivarians gave $15,000 throughout the weekend and festival organizers Steve and Lynn Gumble donated $10,000 to various relief organizations. Oktoberfest in Mountain Village raised $7,453 and a charity film and silent auction at the Sheridan Opera House pulled in $6,012. Area residents also donated much needed food and water. BIOTA, bottler of spring water, donated 235,000 bottles of water, which were worth more than $230,000. Individuals gave food and clothing, as well as volunteered hours. Among others, Dr. Sharon Grundy packed up and traveled to the Gulf Coast to donate her medical expertise and San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters and four deputies spent 10 days in New Orleans helping out.
The Fate of the Valley Floor?
As of press time, court-ordered negotiations between the town of Telluride and San Miguel Valley Corporation, the owner of the 800-plus acres of the Valley Floor that are in contention, were underway. At the same time the condemnation proceedings continued apace with both sides preparing for a Jan. 6, 2006 valuation hearing in the event no negotiated settlement could be reached. In the spring of 2004 the town of Telluride, directed by a town-wide referendum, initiated a condemnation proceeding to preserve the land as open space.“We are trying to negotiate the best possible deal for the town,” said Telluride Mayor John Pryor in October.
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The Crawler
Headlines From 2005
(April - September)
APRIL
Scott Kennett's Blizzard Crash . Miners Girls Volleyball Remain Undefeated In League Play . Sandtruck Flips On Lawson Hill . New Plants Discovered In San Miguel County's West End
MAY
Paragon Bike Team Brings Home Podium Finishes . Autopsy Confirms Cocaine Factor In March Death
JUNE
Public Library Gets New Director . Six New Summer Trails Slotted For Building On Ski Area . Uranium Demand Spurs West End Mining . Hastings Mesa Fire Believed To Be Arson . Counterfeit Wristbands Mar Bluegrass Festival
JULY
2004/2005 Record Breaking Year For Telski . Telluride Academy Turns 25 . Real Estate Sales On Pace To Set Another Record . Westfall Appointed County Commissioner . Lumiere Condominium Project Introduced
AUGUST
Mountain School Moves Into Lawson Hill . Ski Club Hires New Head Alpine Coach . Clark's Expansion Clears First Hurdle . John Micetic Name Citizen Of The Year . Telluride Students Score High In CSAP Testing
SEPTEMBER
Southwestern Colorado Mobilizes To Support Katrina Victims . Single Engine Plane Crash Lands On Last Dollar Road . Norwood Celebrates 100 Years During Pioneer Days . Houston Firm Seeks To Purchase And Develop Rico
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