Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Enthusiasm has soared for the first Sisters in Steamboat weekend, organizers said, though they haven't received many checks in the mail.

"The response has been terrific," said Tracy Barnett, manager of Mainstreet Steamboat Springs. "The registration has not been terrific, but I have a bazillion people saying, 'Oh, I'm coming, I just haven't done the paperwork.'"

Barnett came up with the idea after hearing about its success in St. Charles, Ill. Women are encouraged to get together Oct. 16 to 18 in Steamboat Springs for workshops, athletic activities, social time and "retail therapy." Organizers have nearly finalized the schedule.

"The whole thing is just supposed to be a fun kind of tongue-in-cheek weekend," Barnett said. "It's meant to be a chance for people to get together. We just don't plan stuff - this is a way for women to plan time with their friends and family."

Local author Jill Murphy Long, who runs The Writer's Sanctuary B&B, has helped with planning. She's scheduled to give a presentation based on one of her books, "Permission to Play."

Long encourages women to set aside time to have fun and to be creative. As part of the workshop, women will write a letter to themselves about activities they want to return to or try for the first time. Long, who doesn't read the letters, mails them to the women in 30 days.

"Just 'always be curious' is what I'm trying to instill in these women, because as adults we become experts in a few things," she said. "We don't expand our horizons."

Other events include a financial workshop, a journaling workshop, bike tours, a walking historical tour, a fly-fishing clinic and a "wild women in the West" party. Registration is $60 a person, and Barnett said several local hotels are offering packages to coincide with the Sisters event.

Few meals are planned, Barnett said, in the hopes that women will eat at local restaurants.

Organizers have invited their own "sisters." Alice Klauzer, assistant vice president of business development at Alpine Bank, said some of her high school friends from Nebraska plan to attend. Long will bring in at least one participant.

"I just sent an e-mail off to my sixth-grade teacher - she and I have kept in touch forever - and she's coming out," Long said.