Get TIO in your Inbox!

Around Telluride

[click "Play" to hear Senior Mahoney's conversation withSusan]

"We Skied It" premier at Sheridan Opera House, December 17, 6:00 PM & 8:00 PM

Poster final In the 1970s, Telluride was just finding its ski legs, a baby ski resort beginning to pulse thanks very much to a chap from Beverly Hills called Joe Zoline. At the time, half of Main Street was still boarded up and lots of folks were beating a path out of town muttering darkly because Idarado had just closed for business. The historic Sheridan Opera House, now nearly restored to its full Victorian splendor, was a wreck, a camping ground for derelicts with broken glass and upturned mattresses everywhere. But what of life before Zoline, See Forever, Spiral Stairs, and Milk Run helped put Telluride on the map?


About a year and a half ago, longtime local Larry Hopkins re-discovered gold in Telluride – celluloid gold – in the form of Senior Mahoney's 16MM home movies. Hopkins did not pass Go. He headed straight for the Telluride Historical Museum with his new-found treasure, where museum director Lauren Bloemsma and her team picked up the gauntlet.
14 December, 2009 /
[click "Play" to listen to Susan talking with Bertrand Marchal]

Bertrand Longtime Telluride locals referred to them as  les deux Bertrands, the two Bertrands: Bertrand Lepel-Cointet, now deceased, worked the front of the house. Bertrand Marchal was the chef. Together, the two owners turned La Marmotte Restaurant into a local institution.

Bertrand Marchal spent his youth studying under some of the best chefs in France, at Michelin-rated restaurants such as Le Crocodile in Strasbourg and Boyer in Reims. Today, he operates his own catering company, Bertrand's Catering.
09 December, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Beth Roberts and Sasha Cuciniello]

DSCN1381 In the early 1870s, miners first came to the Telluride region in search of silver and gold,  but the settlement wasn't called "Telluride." It was named Columbia. But Columbia's post office application was turned down on the grounds a town in California with the same name beat the settlers to the punch. The U.S. Postmaster General resolved the problem in 1880: we got our post office, but it came with a new name:"Telluride."

"Telluride"might have been derived from "tellurium," an element often associated with gold seams. Was the moniker just a crass marketing ploy to lure prospectors to the region? Some subscribe to the idea "Telluride" was code among outlaws. Was the name simple contraction of the phrase "to hell you ride," because way back when Telluride was wild and wooly.

08 December, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Dr. Scott Ortman]

Ja_Scott On Tuesday, December 8, 6 - 8 p.m., the lecture series, Telluride Unearthed, continues at the Telluride Historical Museum. The speaker is Dr. Scott Ortman on the subject of "Archaeology, Oral Tradition, and the Mesa Verde Migration." Ortman is currently Director of Research and Education at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center.

Ortman picks up where his Crow Canyon colleague, Dr. Mark Varian, left off on December 1. Varian's overview,  "Life is Movement: Pueblo Indians of the Mesa Verde Region," began about 2,000 B.C. Ortman focuses on two of the longest-running debates in North American archaeology: the famous abandonment of the Mesa Verde region in the 13th century, and the relationship between ancient Mesa Verde peoples and the present-day Pueblo peoples of New Mexico.

06 December, 2009 /

The devil is definitely in the details. Monday, December 7, 6 p.m., The Telluride Advocacy Coalition in collaboration with The Wilkinson Public LIbrary presents an epic documentary by filmmaker James Kleinert: "Horses of Disappointment Valley." Join Kleinert to explore the plight of America’s wild...

06 December, 2009 /


Everything old is new again. Turns out the Telluride Artisans Guild (TAG) is right in step with the times. According to The New York Times, (Home section, 11/26): "The human touch rules this year."  TAG, under the auspices of the Telluride Council for the Arts and Humanities, hosts its annual holiday bazaar featuring homegrown work by popular regional artists. Over 30 booths are set up for irritainment-free shopping in the Telluride High School cafeteria. The event takes place Friday, December 4, 5 –8 p.m., Saturday, December 5, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., and Sunday, December 6,11 a.m. – 3 p.m.

The TAG bazaar, now close to 40 years old, offers one of the best places around to find gifts more from the heart than from the wallet. Clint's iMovie offers a sneak peak at the wide variety of items for sale.

The following is a list of participating artists and craftspeople.

03 December, 2009 /


[click "Play" to hear Sally Davis speak about her Ah Haa class]

Art_heart Telluride is no different. As contact sports go, there is nothing quite like the four weeks before Christmas. The games begin tomorrow night, December 2, Noel Nite, when stores in town officially open for the winter season. Not looking forward to the crowds (or the debt)? You can say "no" to consumerism and "yes" to creative and original presents from your imagination and heart. A 2005 study by the Center for a New American Dream showed that almost 80 percent of Americans wished the holidays were "less materialistic." And that was then, this is now. For meaningful alternatives to ready, aim, shop, sign up for classes at the Ah Haa School for the Arts.


02 December, 2009 /

[click "Play" to hear Dr. Webster talk about pre-European Southwestern textiles] Telluride Unearthed, a lectures series at the Telluride Historical Museum, continues on Thursday, December 3, with guest speaker Dr. Laurie Webster. The subject: "The Telluride Blanket in Context: An Overview of...

02 December, 2009 /

2__#$!@%!#__unknown The Telluride AIDS Benefit starts selling tickets for its Gala Fashion Show Noel Night, tomorrow, December 2, 232 West Colorado Avenue, (TREC Offices), 5 – 8 p.m., just one day after World AIDS Day and 26 years after the the "virus" was announced in France.  Swine Flu may be the cause celebre du jour, but sadly, HIV/AIDS is still with us, even if the plague is no longer grabbing headlines. (The most recent AIDS-related headlines were around a new vaccine that proved to be a bust.)

World AIDS Day, which opened for business in December 1988, is about raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice, and improving education, which is more or less the mission of the Telluride AIDS Benefit, which specifically states their goal is "to fight HIV/AIDS by heightening global and local awareness, as well as generating financial support for educational programs and client care, particularly in Western Colorado."

01 December, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Amy Boebel]

PB293770 The holiday season in Telluride comes with all the traditional trimmings: chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose, folks around town dressed up like Eskimos, twinkling lights, eggnog, office parties, ho-ho-hoing. At the center of all the action is the Christmas tree, which takes over our living rooms like good old Uncle Joe and Aunt Sadie, likewise decorated.


Several years ago, some Long Islander had the bright idea to sell faux upside-down trees, which made a real wrinkle in the holiday's novelty sweepstakes that year. The idea: a person could put more presents under an upside down tree. Topsy-turvey trees take up less room, and more of your prized ornaments would be at eye level. That one, however, went out with Beanie Babies and Pet Rocks. But the idea of pre-decorated trees still has legs.
01 December, 2009 /