Around Telluride

Poster The Sheridan Arts Foundation's Young People's Theater in Telluride, under the direction of Jen Julia, presents its third full-length musical, performed by a cast of 27 young locals, grades 3 – 5. Performances are April 30 – May 2, 6 p.m. ( one hour with intermission).

Hansel & Gretel is a fairy tale of German origins, made famous by the Brothers Grimm. The story follows a young brother and sister, who discover a Gingerbread house filled with candy in the forest, the home of a child-eating wicked old witch. The Grimm version differs from the original in one fundamental plot twist: there was no evil stepmother. It was the children's own mother who convinced the father to abandon his offspring in the woods, a not unknown practice during crisis such as famine, war, plague, pestilence of the late Middle Ages. The change was to smooth feathers in a society not able to conceive of a mother forsaking her own babes.

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2009 Mountainfilm
Clint Viebrock photo

The 32nd annual Mountainfilm in Telluride Festival is scheduled this year May 28 – 31. The event will feature a rich mix of special guest presenters drawn from a wide spectrum of experience and expertise: adventurers, artists, activists and an ambassador.

“Mountainfilm is about so many things:  climbing, mountaineering, world cultures, the environment, art, extreme sports,  social justice and foreign policy,” said Festival director David Holbrooke. “One of the things that makes Mountainfilm so unique and exciting is that we attract interesting people from all of those worlds. And the chemistry between them, and with our audiences, is just amazing. Despite the range of their fields and backgrounds, they all seem to complement and inspire one another. Our films are great. But our guests are what really set us apart.”

The list of this year’s special guests includes:

The Colorado Governor's Energy Office (GEO) launched a new rebate program on April 20, offering rebates for appliances, energy efficiency improvements, and renewable energy projects.  For information on this program, go to:

Through the Recharge Colorado campaign, the Governor's Energy Office, utilities, cities and counties across the state are partnering to offer money-saving rebates and programs to enable Coloradans to participate in the New Energy Economy. Rebates can be reserved through the Recharge Colorado website beginning April 19 and will be available until the money runs out.


IMG_459 Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts presents several special workshops throughout 2010 featuring regionally and nationally renowned artists, part of the school's popular Visiting Artist Program.

Ah Haa's Visiting Artist program offers one- to five-day workshops for aspiring and seasoned artists alike.  With one workshop nearly every month of the year, students get to hone their skills in watercolors, pastel and oil painting, mixed media, pottery, photography and writing.

DSCN2115 “People from all over the country come to Telluride to study with our Visiting Artists,” explained Rachel Loomis-Lee, Ah Haa’s program manager/executive director.  “What a privilege to get to  work with these master artists right in our own backyard. The Visiting Artist Program is one of the crown jewels of the Ah Haa School’s extensive offerings. Many of these workshops will fill quickly, so be sure to register soon.”

Telluride TV announces the appointment of a new interim Executive Director, Susan Lilly, a National Emmy Award-winning former CNN producer. Lilly has more than 20 years of experience producing, writing, and supervising breaking news and feature programming for CNN, NBC, and PBS.

“Susan’s extensive television experience and her involvement with Telluride TV over the past year makes her the ideal leader for our station," said board president Barb Newby.

by Tracy Shaffer

What a wonderful morning! One of those where it’s a bit overcast and you’re wishing you’d never scheduled one of those outside meetings, especially on a Friday. You'd be oh so content to work from home.
The light looked silvery in my golden room as I roused myself, vowing to keep my commitment. I’d set up coffee and an interview with Brooke Young, Autism Specialist with the Colorado Department of Education to discuss autism: not something I would normally bounce out of bed for, but April is National Autism Month and Brooke is headed for the Telluride region to mentor a Model Autism Team. I write for Telluride Inside... and Out. You get the picture.

I headed downtown to one of 15 Starbucks in a five block radius, ordered my Joe, asking if any of the many blondes in line was Brooke. Feeling luckily out of luck, I sat down to write and enjoy my overpriced java, secretly hoping I was at the wrong Starbucks as I guiltily scrolled through my Blackberry to find her number. One minute later in walked Brooke, apologetic for having gone to the wrong Starbucks, along with Gina Quintana, Significant Support Needs Specialist, also with the CDE.

[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Brooke Young]

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Brooke Young

The Telluride region's Autism Behavioral and Consultation Team (ABCT) received one of two model autism teams in the state just before Christmas.

The local team is headed by occupational therapist and yoga instructor Annie Ripper Clark. April is National Autism Month and in honor of the occasion, Clark's mentor at the State level, Brooke D. Young, Autism Specialist/Senior Consultant, Colorado Department of Education in Denver, pays a visit to the district – Telluride, Ouray, Ridgway, Norwood and the West End – the week of April 19.

Among the activities planned for Young's visit are a parent chat, and an assessment of basic language and learning skills (revised) training.

Here at Telluride Inside... and Out, one of our primary goals is to show off the twin jewels of Telluride and Mountain Village at their sparkling finest. If you ever ask anyone outside the region about Telluride, though, you're probably used to hearing "Tellu-what?" as often as you hear, "I totally love Telluride!" - with a smattering of, "Telluride - they ski there, right? Somewhere in Colorado?" thrown in for good measure. 

Knowing that striking the right balance between being a "best-kept secret" and bringing in tourists who occasionally fall so much in love with the place that they just have to live here (at least part of the year) is part of what keeps Telluride thriving, I love when I run across outside coverage of my favorite microcosm (in the fullest sense of the term). 

Two different people shared clippings about Telluride with me recently - one from Sunset Magazine, and one from New York Times featuring a review of Capella, one of TIO's most recent sponsors to come on board. That got me curious - who else has become enamored of Telluride lately? 


[click "Play", Kevin Swain explains the new ordinance and the reasons for it.]
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Telluride's sister city, the Mountain Village is amending its business license ordinance to close lodging tax loopholes. Why all the fuss and bother? Dodgers – and we don't mean the baseball team. Nonpayment of sales taxes and business license fees creates an unfair advantage for property owners avoiding payment. Their malfeasance also affects the town’s ability to operate and support marketing efforts that benefit all Mountain Village taxpayers and business owners.

IMGP1105 2 Another great thing about being in Telluride: even the mundane can be a mini-adventure. Perhaps the errand is in town and could as easily be accomplished on a bike. In a month there will a number of choices about which route to take: quickly on the bike path, almost as quickly on the dirt track along the San Miguel, or a real adventure (and a fair amount more time) up Mill Creek Road and down the Waterline. See what I mean?