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[click "Play" to hear Rachel Loomis-Lee about the school and the New Year's event]

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Bruce Gomez pastel

Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts has a lot to celebrate. In March 2007, after 17 years in cramped quarters in an old brothel in Popcorn Alley known as the Silver Bell, the school moved into a century-old train depot. Since then, the local institution has been able to realize its promise of becoming an upper case Community Center, while continuing to serve as a community arts center. There is, however, a price tag attached to an enhanced venue and now it is time to pay the piper.

The goal: begin the New Year by retiring the school's current debt of $750,000 and securing the Depot as the school's permanent home; at the same time, raising money for critical line items under general operations such as scholarships, materials, and teacher salaries. (And no. Tuition alone does not cover overhead costs necessary to run the school.)

Mike Hess (r) and friend In October, the Telluride region's Peaks Resort & Spa was honored with two not insignificant awards: Parents Magazine Top 10 Best Winter Resorts and SpaFinder Top Spa. Locals, however, met the news with the usual ho-hum. When...

Towns across America get tricked out for the holidays. The thing that makes Telluride so very special is what goes on behind the lights and tinsel. Case in point: tonight.  Tonight Jeb Berrier, Buff Hooper and Ashley Boling performed "The Complete Works of...

[click "Play" to hear Clint's interview with John Micetic, Telluride Regional Airport board Chairman]

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Neil Armstrong

Thursday night, December 17, was a busy night in Telluride. The snowboard World Cup is in town and the Peaks Resort hosted a big party for guests and locals; the Telluride Historical Museum showed the recently completed "We Skied It", featuring Senior Mahoney; artist Susan Sales had a wonderful opening at the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art.

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John Micetic

Meanwhile, a large audience heard astronaut Neil Armstrong speak about the changes at the Telluride Airport; John Horn, talking about the corporate thinking that went into the original planning; Board Chairman (and former Telluride mayor) John Micetic telling how it all got done. But it was vice chairman Ed Roufa who brought down the house, presenting John with a plaque which documented the new name for the airport: Telluride Regional Airport at Micetic Field

IMG_2921 Last year, in 2008, Telluride's The New Community Coalition applied for and received a grant from the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment for $145,000 for two pieces of equipment to further our Zero Waste goals and promote recycling in the region. One request was for a baler (a compacter for recyclable materials), the other was for an in-vessel composting system. After much research and some logistical delays, Eureka! the composter is now operating with a little help from a technician from Green Mountain Technologies.

Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts knows that it's not just you: kids also experience bah! humbug! moments over the holidays.  One antidote to too much tinsel may well be Ah Haa's Holiday Break Art Camps 5+, Monday – Wednesday, December 21 –...

[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.
[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.