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: 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: 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: 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 2010: Katie & D.J. Bessey
In the six years they have owned Hahn’s Peak Café, the Bessey family has doubled in size. Katie and D.J. Bessey run the cozy North Routt County restaurant with the help of their 3 1/2-year-old son, Sal, a beguiling, big-eyed charmer. Their daughter, Ramona, was born in April.
Locals 2010: Cheryl Hardy-Moore
Cheryl Hardy-Moore said that when she came to Steamboat Springs in 1982, she thought it was just a ho-hum cow town. The Silver Spring, Md., native sang at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and raised a little mischief with world-famous photographer Annie Leibovitz when they were middle schoolers.
Locals 2010: David Nagel
Lee Nagel is proud to claim Steamboat Springs resident David Nagel as family. “We love him; we get to keep him,” said Lee, who is married to David’s brother Steve in Plano, Texas.
Locals 2010: David Taylor
David Taylor always has been fascinated by fabrics, but it took a chance friendship to turn that obsession with material into a lucrative career and international fame.
Locals 2010: George Hine
George Hine noted on a sunny morning in late May that during the past couple of years, he’s started getting minor “sinus stuff.” That can be a tough thing for a city arborist. “Maybe it’s time to retire,” George joked, while checking on blooming Schubert chokecherry trees on Howelsen Parkway.
Locals 2010: Steve & Denise Hitchcock
Steve Hitchcock’s career has been a whirlwind tour of jobs with some of the most respected outdoor apparel companies in the world. But Denise Hitchcock has a better job title. The self-proclaimed “domestic coordinator and engineer” and her husband have spent the better part of the past 12 years carving out successful business niches in Steamboat Springs.
Locals 2010: Janine Pierce
The several rooms that make up Brand Spanking Used along Colorado Highway 131 in Oak Creek are packed. Janine, the creator and owner of Brand Spanking Used, has lived in the Yampa Valley for 12 years and operated the store in the heart of Oak Creek for nine years.
Locals 2010: Irlan Neas
Former Steamboat Springs mayor Irlan Neas knows a thing or two about street construction. In the late 1960s, he pushed through Steamboat’s first penny sales tax so the city could afford to pave a few streets besides Lincoln Avenue. At the time, all of Ski Town USA’s streets — save the main drag — were dirt and gravel.
Locals 2010: Matt Watwood
Read a book or play an instrument? Help herd goats or shoot some hoops? Matt Watwood, fresh off his graduation from Soroco High School, said the best part of the end of high school has been not having anything to do.
Locals 2010: Kayleigh Esswein
Rising Steamboat Springs High School senior Kayleigh Esswein was taken aback when asked the last time she was bored. Sitting at her house in early June, on the eve of traveling to Mexico to teach English and learn more Spanish, the 17-year-old brunette’s expression turned from carefree smile to one of deep thought.
Locals 2010: Jim and Judy Kendall
Jim and Judy Kendall have seen Routt County’s population grow and shift, change and expand. From their home near Stagecoach Reservoir — they’re not quite in South Routt and not quite in Steamboat Springs, “just Routt County,” Judy says — the Kendalls have seen their little corner of the world grow.
