July 2017

Rocky Mountain Columbines (Aquilegia caerulea) were blooming in profusion on the Flat Tops a couple of weeks back, but luckily nobody seemed to be picking ’em. As the state flower, they’re protected with a possible fine for pulling one up by the roots or taking more than 25 stems from public land. It’s a good thing, too, as there was once quite a craze for them akin to the Dutch tulip mania in the 1600s.

Well, if that quote grabs you, explore more through The Aspen Center for Environmental Study’s annual mushroom event, kicking off Wednesday evening, July 26, with a free presentation of “Colorado Mushrooms: A World of Wonder at Your Feet,” 7-8:30 p.m. at Hallam Lake in Aspen. Dr. Andrew Wilson, Assistant Curator of the Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi at the Denver Botanic Gardens, will take you on “an imaginary hike through aspen groves, along waterways, on high passes and in the subalpine regions of spruce/fir while examining the animals, plants, and mushrooms we might find there,” promises ACES

Carbondale’s board of trustees want to help alleviate a shortage of infant and young-child daycare options in the valley, and they told a group of pre-school personnel, parents and other advocates at a meeting on July 18 that the town will do what it can. But, as Trustee Ben Bohmfalk said during a report about the meeting on KDNK-FM on the following day, “The town doesn’t have a big pot of money” that it can devote to boosting the availability of childcare in Carbondale or elsewhere in the valley.

Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District’s board of directors expects to ask constituents for authorization for some kind of tax increase in the upcoming November election, but they do not yet know exactly how much they need or want. But the directors recognize they need to figure it out pretty quickly, as the deadline is approaching to submit ballot language to the three counties in the district’s jurisdictions — Garfield, Pitkin and Gunnison.

If the audience breaks into applause at the sight of the next Thunder River Theatre Company set, Sean Jeffries may or may not be pleased. His various roles as facilities manager, technical director and sound and lighting designer are the kind of things spectators aren’t really supposed to notice consciously, but recognition is always nice.

July 21, 1977: Valley Journal Editor Pat Noel addressed a growing sense that Carbondale was becoming Aspenized by pointing out that the influx of upvalley folks was nothing new. “In the end, I suspect everything will have changed quite a bit from what it used to be, but if ‘what it used to be’ had any real merit, the vestiges of it will certainly remain,” he wrote. “Carbondale is, after all, more than a name — it’s a state of mind.”

Carbondale and Garfield County have for years talked about exploring ways to put a trail alongside Snowmass Drive, the one-time bypass for coal trucks hauling loads from mines near Redstone to the coal loading facility on Catherine Store Road east of town. Following a joint meeting between town trustees and the county’s Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) in June, the two entities may be moving closer to actually getting a project underway.

Si usted cree que el Departamento de Tránsito es la peor forma de burocracia, preguntale a Jesus Ortiz sobre su travesía de 17 años para recibir ciudadanía.
-Ha sido difícil, -te diría -. No es solo mandar una aplicación. Es un proceso muy largo.
Ortiz, 46, ha formado parte del equipo para Obras Publicas en Carbondale desde 2012 y logró ser oficialmente ciudadano de los Estados Unidos en abril, un logro que el atribuya a su patrocinador, gerente anterior de Pour House Skip Bell.