Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Christmas Day. Time spent relaxing with family and friends, making some turns on the ski mountain and cooking feasts fit for kings.

Unless, of course, you were one of many Steamboat Springs residents who spent the holiday working.

A tourism-driven economy such as Steamboat's depends on winter travelers to occupy its hotel rooms, eat at its restaurants, shop at its stores and ski on its mountain.

And on Christmas, loyal employees are called on to keep Steamboat businesses operating.

For some, working on Christmas has become a tradition in itself.

"I work every Christmas," Kim Murrah said as she stood behind the counter at the Go-Fer convenience store, where a consistent flow of customers purchased gasoline, milk, batteries and Powerball tickets.

"Normally, nobody else wants to work," Murrah said. "There's another girl who wants to work a couple of hours, so we'll share the shift."

The busiest place in town may have been the Safeway, where assistant manager Eric Young said eager customers were banging on the door at 8 a.m.

The Steamboat Safeway was one of only five open grocery stores in the state, according to Young.

"Isn't it great?" he said.

"Being a resort town, people can't shop before they fly in," he said.

Nobody called in sick, but Young knew working Christmas Day wasn't too popular among employees.

"Nobody here wants to be working," he said.

Poor health never takes a day off and the staff at Yampa Valley Medical Center was prepared as usual.

A group of nurses, aides and cooks spent the early part of the day preparing a Christmas dinner for the 46 full-time residents of the Doak Walker Care Center.

"We try to be their family when they don't have a family," DWCC director Carol Schaffer said. "It's a 24-7 job, for sure. People in the medical field are used to working holidays and different shifts. It kind of comes with the territory."

Jean Ballard, a certified nurses aide and activity aide at the center, said helping the residents offers a present in itself.

"We love giving joy to the residents," Ballard said. "They love it when we have an event like this. After each one, they always talk about how much they enjoyed it."

Bonnie Gallagher, a food assistant at the hospital, volunteered to work Christmas Day because she figured a colleague with young children should spend the day with family.

"How can she not be there to see her kids unwrap their presents?" Gallagher asked. "So I told her to take the day off."

It was in the spirit of skiing and snowboarding that Ski Haus was open on the holiday.

"We're usually open on Christmas," rental technician and salesman Bill Paul said. "Since I've moved here, you pretty much don't get Christmas off when you're working in the service industry."

"This is the big time of the year, so you're open," Paul said. "If you're not open, then people are going somewhere else."

At the Nordic Lodge Motel downtown, front desk employee Kasia Banas relished the laid back atmosphere of Christmas Day.

"It's a nice, slow day to work," Banas said. "It's relaxing, and somebody's got to do it."

For the lucky Steamboat residents and visitors who enjoyed a peaceful holiday, there were police officers, firefighters, store clerks, snowplow operators and numerous other workers making the day safer and more enjoyable.