Stories
Fourth of July weekend events in Routt County
Here is a complete list of events happening in Routt County this Fourth of July weekend, including the Steamboat Springs Pro Rodeo Series and Art on the Mountain, which go until Monday. Also find nighttime festivities here.
The Record for June 30
12:27 a.m. Steamboat Springs Police Department officers were called to help a person in the 600 block of Yampa Street.
Steamboat Briefs: Recycling is available at Howelsen on a daily basis
The “Green Machine” mobile recycling unit will be available at Howelsen Hill every day throughout summer.
Vibrant colors, summery themes define new exhibit in Steamboat
Local photographer Lynne Garell was sitting at Ciao Gelato about a year ago when a bowl of plastic gelato spoons caught her eye. In those simple pieces of brightly colored plastic, she saw a way to indulge in her passion for macro photography, engaging the neon colors and the translucent tones in a swirl of color.
A banner day for Snowmass sales
The financial struggles of Snowmass Village have been well chronicled during the last few years, but Thursday saw the sale of a hotel, lodge, conference center and single-family home for a combined $58 million.
Pitkin County top-10 in life expectancy study
Aspen really does have it better, in case you had any lingering doubts. Pitkin County boasts a top-10 life expectancy — 84.2 years for women, 80 for men — out of more than 2,000 counties across the nation, according to a University of Washington study.
Cyclists make Steamboat stop on ride for cause
Eli Armstrong didn’t have to go far to find meaning in his Journey of Hope. Armstrong’s 5-year-old cousin recently lost sight in one of his eyes when cancer took hold of his retina. “I went out when he had surgery,” Armstrong said. “He’s one of my biggest inspirations.”
Tom Ross: Family history uncovers surprises
Retired high school librarian Jayne Hill captivated a small but privileged audience at the Tread of Pioneers Museum on Friday with the story of her great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents Grietje Reyniers and Anthony Jansen Van Salee Harleem. She was the first prostitute in Manhattan, and he was a pirate.
Feds: Dispensaries are prosecution targets
Memo states that marijuana shops are in violation of federal law
The Obama administration has taken its strongest stance yet in declaring that medical-marijuana dispensaries are legitimate targets of prosecution. In a memo written this week, Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole wrote that people, “who are in the business of cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana, and those who knowingly facilitate such activities” are in violation of federal law regardless of their state laws.
Norwegian family travels to Oak Creek in search of distant relatives
Halfway across the world from where he began, Roar Koppang’s genealogical research led him to the town of Oak Creek, where on Wednesday he knelt before the grave of a distant relative. The Oslo, Norway, native sighed as he stepped back from the headstone. “Here we are,” he said. “This is history.”
Grant to fund food production study
Community Agriculture Alliance partnered with Craig’s Planet Yampa
A $50,000 grant awarded to the Community Agriculture Alliance will study the feasibility of creating a sustainable food production system that is intended to become the model for similar projects in rural areas across the country.
Andersons of Clark to be honored at ranch rodeo
Gilbert Anderson and his wife, Stephanie, received the Heritage Family Award from the Community Agriculture Alliance at the Mountain Valley Bank Ranch Rodeo on Friday night. The Andersons raise cattle and hay in Clark with their two sons, 12-year-old Will and 10-year-old Tyler.
VNA issues bat-related rabies warning
Local and state health officials are receiving reports of bat colonies roosting in older homes and structures around Colorado, including Routt County, according to the Northwest Colorado Visiting Nurse Association. Recently, a Routt County resident received rabies treatment because of a potential bat bite.
Steamboat's May sales tax collections up nearly 2 percent
The figures represented an increase in collections from $851,388 in May 2010 to $868,003 in May 2011. The numbers could be adjusted when final collections are in.
Fourth of July festivities lined out for holiday weekend in Craig
Johnny Garcia is beginning something new in Craig. This year, the newly elected junior vice commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4265, is throwing a Fourth of July parade. “This is the first year ever — since I‘ve lived here, since 1963 — that a Fourth of July parade is going on here,” Garcia said. “I really don’t have any idea as to why nobody has done this before. I am hoping this catches on and gets bigger.”
At Home: Paying the Price for Too Much Snow
Tom Ross can’t recall a spring like this one
How crazy was spring runoff 2011 in the Boat? A neighbor of mine swears he saw a trout jumping in the flooded parking lot of Steamboat Hotel on the evening of June 4. It was a rare asphalt trout (salmonidae bitumina for you expert anglers).
At Home: Rocky Mountain Youth Corps member shines in Steamboat
Stepping aboard Greyhound bus No. 41 from Steamboat Springs to Fresno, Calif., just a week shy of his 19th birthday, Andrew Fonseca has a lot to think about. Six months earlier, he was a gang member running drugs in Dallas. Now, with a high school diploma and Student of the Year accolades from the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps in hand, he’s heading back to where the wrong fork in the road all started and, hopefully, a new future.
Locals 2011: Joyce Hoekstra
Joyce Hoekstra came over Rabbit Ears Pass in February 1978 into what was a long, snowy winter. She didn’t give a moment’s thought as to whether she’d still be in Steamboat Springs 33 years later — not that day or any other, she says.
Locals 2011: Tim Widmer
Hooked on an unlikely career
An accomplished fly-fishing guide with Steamboat Flyfisher, Tim Widmer’s job still allows him to hit the river often. He teaches fly-fishing courses at CMC and has sold some of his fly patterns to Solitude Fly Co. in California.
Locals 2011: Marianne Sasak
Doggone good times
With quiet flicks of her hand and a watchful gaze, Marianne Sasak works her three border collie dogs around the flock of sheep as if she’s solving a puzzle. The dogs crouch and slink around the field, and the skittish sheep baa and balk, shuffling into the perfect spot.
Locals 2011: Michaela Frias
Off to conquer New England
Michaela Frias looks forward to taking on the dual challenges of pursuing an Ivy League education and the equally competitive world of college ski racing when she packs her ski bags late this summer and travels to Hanover, N.H., to study and ski at Dartmouth College.
Locals 2011: Michael Savory
World traveler ready for next trip
Michael Savory knows a thing or two about packing up and leaving town. His father is in the oil business and worked on projects that would take about two years each, at locations around the world.
Locals 2011: Jon Gagnon
Reaching out to today’s youths
Jon Gagnon, 31, is a youth services pastor in Steamboat Springs, and while he prides himself in being up on pop culture, he’s equally focused on ensuring his connection to youths doesn’t bottom out at Lady Gaga.
Locals 2011: Irene Nelson
Eccentricity in Steamboat
If Irene Nelson, owner of Irene Nelson Interiors, had her way, she’d add her own special touch to town. She does it for a living for people’s homes, and it’s her nature to do the same for the community she loves.
Locals 2011: Corey Piscopo
Of cycling and stage races
Corey Piscopo says his passion for cycling probably began as a kid who liked to fill up on ice cream. Unlike most children, he felt he had to get a workout in and then reward himself with a treat. So he regularly rode his bike to the nearest Dairy Queen five miles from his home in Sanbornton, N.H.
Locals 2011: Michael Stoyanov & Aneliya Plocheva
From Bulgaria with love
Michael Stoyanov and Aneliya Plocheva, both born in communist Yambol, Bulgaria, moved to Steamboat Springs in 2003. They arrived in Routt County with $1,000 between them. They worked any job they could, all in hopes of starting a business, a new life and a family.
Locals 2011: Devin Borvansky
Jumping through all the hoops
Those who know Devin Borvansky aren’t shocked about what he’s been able to accomplish as a volunteer coach who helps run a youth basketball program for fifth- through eighth-graders.
Locals 2011: Von Wilson
Banjo-pickin’, back-crackin’, unicycle-ridin’ Renaissance man
Von Wilson, 47, used to raise work horses growing up in Craig in a third-generation ranching family. He put the pastime on hold for a spell when he moved to Steamboat in 1990 and co-founded coffee hot spot Mocha Molly’s with his wife, Molly.
Locals 2011: Mary Bowman
A front-row seat to the miracle of childbirth
Steamboat Springs obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Mary Bowman provides a calming presence and expert care to more than 100 Yampa Valley women each year as they welcome their newborns into the world.
Locals 2011: Jay Muhme
Family and fire
Jay Muhme, 57, is a lifetime local. He is a 1972 graduate of Steamboat Springs High School. He’s been involved with the Steamboat fire department almost as long, volunteering with his dad, a firefighter, since he was 16.
Locals 2011: Rob Powers
Serving those who serve
Rob Powers organizes and leads several American300 Warrior Tours a year to U.S. military bases, in combat zones and peaceful areas, to improve the resiliency and morale of troops. He brings along Olympians rodeo stars, country musicians, professional athletes and others.
Locals 2011: Jim Knapp
Instrumental in building a band program
When Jim Knapp took over the Steamboat Springs School District band program four years ago, he had 10 students in high school band. This year, he has 65.
Locals 2011: Scott Schlapkohl
Big wheels keep on turning
With its national fundraisers for the Children’s Miracle Network, ACE at the Curve has provided a way for Scott Schlapkohl to pursue his passion for pedaling while making a difference in people’s lives.
Locals 2011: Linda Danter
Rallying for a cause
When Linda Danter was a young girl, she hated the color pink. As a tomboy and sports fanatic, she made her mother cover up the pink in her room by painting her walls blue. Now, as the founder of Steamboat’s Rally for the Cure breast cancer fundraiser, she finds herself with drawers full of pink paraphernalia.
Locals 2011: Harry Martin
From the Tetons to the Yampa Valley
For Harry Martin, co-owner of Steamboat Ski & Bike Kare, it’s the people who make Steamboat Springs such a great place to live. “They’re incredible,” he says. “The whole community is just amazingly friendly and down to earth. It’s a great place to live.”
At Home: CMC entering a new era with the biggest development in town
Only 30 years ago, the community came perilously close to losing its tiny college that is now about to launch a new era with its first four-year degree programs. Dark days in the late 1970s saw CMC predecessors fall into financial difficulty. Professors weren’t paid and the sheriff padlocked the doors.
At Home: Sambi on a roll
Downtown Japanese/Thai restaurant spicing up The Victoria
Ceron Scott, the energetic, 24-year-old head chef at Sambi Cafe in downtown Steamboat Springs, says the idea for the Asian restaurant’s Sambi Roll came from a simple culinary desire. “I wanted to combine spicy with crunchy,” Scott says.
At Home: 7 Steamboat locals canoe the Mississippi River
Last fall, a group of eight twentysomethings paddled four canoes from Minneapolis down the Mississippi River to New Orleans with two goals: Raise money for the Lambui Fund of Haiti and make it back to Steamboat in time for ski season. They succeeded on both counts.
At Home: In search of sage grouse
Bird watchers cherish North Routt mating ritual
Once a huge part of Northwest Colorado’s culture, the sage grouse population has declined in Routt and Moffat counties, but its “hey there, big boy” mating ritual and the allure for birders eager to glimpse its gyrations remain strong.
At Home: Send us your mailbox photos
Nothing says small-town Americana like a mailbox. Have one that’s all gussied up Steamboat-style? Send it into our Mailbox Photo Contest, and we’ll run the winners in the winter issue of At Home in Steamboat Springs.
At Home: Steamboat Springs is becoming a cycling mecca
With more than 575 miles of trails and swaths of smooth, hilly roads, Steamboat is fast evolving into a world-class arena for bicycling. With even more new trails and events in store, this summer is shaping up to put Steamboat on the map for good.
At Home: The skinny on F.M. Light & Sons’ roadside landmarks
Bored on the drive from Kremmling to Steamboat Springs? Try counting signs. F.M. Light & Sons signs, to be exact. In all, there are 99 such signs strewn about the highways of Northwest Colorado and one more at the rodeo grounds for an even 100.
At Home's Eugene Buchanan: A Flood of Locals Entries
Well, we asked for it, and we got it. No, not the largest snowfall and runoff season on record, but an equally proportionate deluge of nominations for this issue of At Home in Steamboat Springs' annual Locals section.
At Home: Triathlon club shines amid sport’s growing popularity
As triathlon participation continues to see unprecedented growth, Old Town Hot Springs started training club coached by Amy Charity, an avid cyclist and triathlete, and Dustin Fulkerson, a former Division I swimmer.
Locals 2011: Heather Martyn
It’s all about the kids
School might be out for summer, as so eloquently put by Alice Cooper, but the Boys & Girls Club of Steamboat Springs is very much in. Steamboat toddlers and teens (as well as their parents) can thank longtime local Heather Martyn for that.
At Home: Stand-up paddleboards becoming rage in Steamboat
There’s something in the water. Originating in Hawaii as a way to work out when waves turned fickle, stand-up paddleboarding has gone mainstream and mainland. And it’s now showing up full force in Steamboat.
At Home: Fairview Fiesta named neighborhood gathering of the season
Mr. Rogers has nothing on the folks in Fairview. The neighborhood at the base of Emerald Mountain gets to know its neighbors at its annual Fairview Fiesta, held on the Sunday before school starts every August.
Mountain biking the Mickelson Trail
Converted South Dakota rail line perfect for riders of all walks
If Rocky Raccoon was a mountain biker, you can bet a satchel of Black Hills gold he would have ridden the George S. Mickelson Trail snaking through the Black Hills of South Dakota. Running 109 miles from Deadwood to Edgemont, the trail follows the historic Deadwood to Burlington Northern rail line, which lasted from 1868 to 1983.
