News

June 16, 1977: Following the “no-snow winter of 1976-1977,” Roaring Fork Valley firefighters, government officials and residents were concerned about the upcoming wildfire season. The final winter and spring tally put moisture accumulation at less than 40 percent of normal. Altogether for the past week, members of the Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District had been called out virtually every day, and sometimes more than once a day.

If one were to Google “Carbondale Salon” in years to come, one might learn the inaugural Carbondale Salon at the Launchpad took place from 6 to 8 p.m. on June 17, and featured: Zack Ritchie (drummer); soloist Carolyn Yates and the cast of “Vacuum Carbondale CO” (dance); Sarah Graf (cellist); Stefano Da Fre (filmmaker/actor); and Harry Babar (comedian).
“I am excited to welcome this diverse group of performers opening the first-ever Salon at the Launchpad,” said Carbondale Salon curator Alya Howe. “I find the artists through having seen or hear them perform, through recommendation, and via YouTube/MP3 samples of their work. Then I consider the flow and balancing of a program,” she told The Sopris Sun.

Maybe it was a typical cool summer Wednesday morning at the Third Street Center on June 14. A little before 8 a.m., name tags, coffee and snacks awaited the more than two dozen community leaders who would soon file through the front doors and into the Calaway Room for the new Communities that Care “key leaders” orientation meeting. Due to the Communities that Care meeting, tai chi with Lyn Byars/John Norton was bumped down the hall to the Round Room, while in the Down the Rabbit Hole room that abuts the Round Room, SoL Theatre kids were smiling, laughing, jumping around and dancing to “Happy.” Thirty feet away from the SoL Theatre dance party, back in the Round Room, Norton started his tai chi session “ … We’re finding a still place in the middle of chaos … Isn’t that what tai chi is all about?”

Dru Handy was born in Anchorage, Alaska, in 1960. His family moved to the Front Range when he was 5 years old after the Good Friday earthquake. He grew up in Niwot, Colorado (near Boulder) and rolled in to the Roaring Fork Valley in the fall of 1978 to attend Colorado Mountain College. From there he worked three winters at Aspen Highlands, and also in the local firewood industry, the now defunct Buffalo Valley and T-Joe’s Mexican restaurants.

June 9, 1977: Accused serial killer Ted Bundy was on the run in Pitkin County after leaping from an Aspen court room. Road blocks were in place up and down the valley as a manhunt continued in the backcountry. In the process, they happened to catch a Carbondale man with 200 pounds of marijuana in his car.

Redstone rocks this summer with a new ukulele group, new faces in the Redstone Tones, and some imported acts in the Magical Moments series. The free music action kicks off at 6 p.m. at the Redstone Art Gallery Summer Jazz series on Tuesday, June 13, and continues with Magic Moments at Redstone Park through Saturday, Sept. 2. Both series share at least one thing in common: quality sounds rippling through the cool air with the nearby Crystal River providing a gentle backdrop.

The second annual Summerfest drew thousands of people to Crown Mountain Park on June 2 and 3 with everything from free live music to kids activities to a tasty taco competition (Roaring Fork Club took people’s choice for the second year running).

Carbondale has been growing at a considerable rate in recent years, both in terms of residential population and commercial activity.
Where not too long ago there were unkempt open lots and vacant fields, there now are businesses, parking lots and all the other facilities that come with new businesses in a highway-oriented town that happens to possess a lively historic commercial core, with the promise of more business growth around the corner.

Good communities, Roaring Fork High School Co-Valedictorian Tavia Teitler observed, are the best form of magic, and while each of the school’s record-breaking 82 graduates have something to be proud of, and the whole is even greater than the sum of its parts.
After all, this was the class that spearheaded a solar array and the seal of biliteracy, put together lip-sync battles and dance-offs, and decided to waffle in instead of walk out. They boast a 100 percent graduation rate, and 84 percent are college bound.

Between 20 and 30 people came out on June 7 to check out a new development proposal by local builder Briston Peterson and his partners, who hope to create a mixed-use residential and commercial project in between the planned new City Market store and West Main Street. “I haven’t heard one negative comment (about the plan),” said Peterson at the meeting.