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[click "Play" to hear Andrew Karow]

Dad and Morgan at beach Put the words "green" and "bank" in the same sentence and the conclusion is obvious: we are talking about money, right? In this case, half right. Headed by regional president Andrew Karow, Telluride's Alpine Bank is one of 37 branch locations on the Western Slope, whose primary business is managing its collective total of $2 billion in assets. However, the bottom line at Alpine is not just the bottom line: it is about accomplishing its goals in as environmentally friendly way as possible.

Alpine Bank, which is employee-owned, was one of the first businesses in the country to declare a goal of becoming a paperless environment, and they are well on their way. In 2005, the institution took the next big step, creating a Green Team. As the initiative evolved, Alpine did what banks do: It found a way to measure the success of its good idea. Alpine's Environmental Management System (EMS) is now earning recognition statewide for environmental leadership.

21 June, 2009 /
[click "Play" button to hear Susan's conversation with Jerry Douglas]

Tn_NEADobro player Jerry Douglas is definitely Telluride's B.M.O.C.  this weekend. He is in town celebrating his silver anniversary at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival: 25 years at the 36th annual gathering of the tribe of legendary artists on a first name basis with the crowd: Sam, Bela, Edgar, Bryan, Peter, Emmylou, Tim – and Jerry.

You might say Jerry is the alpha and omega of this year's Telluride Bluegrass: he and Tim (O'Brien for the uninitiated) kick off the fun and games with a special duet set Thursday morning. Jerry joins the group who have come to define the Festival (as above) to close the curtain on Sunday night. In between, he should be everywhere you want to be...


18 June, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Chris' interview]
Chris Szymberski One of the early signs of summer in the Telluride region is the truckloads of fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, meats, fish, and crafts and more to market every Friday.

The Telluride Farmers' Market opened last weekend, June 12.  Now in its seventh year, the Market on South Oak Street features about 40 vendors coming from a 100-mile radius with their wares. They will be manning their booths through October.

Chris Szymberski manages the Telluride Farmers' Market – and he comes by his Carhartts naturally.

18 June, 2009 /

TimO,Bela1995 They are an odd couple, the flame haired Irishman and the soft spoken guy from Ohio, but they are also two of the top musicians in the world. When the curtain goes up on the 36th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival Thursday afternoon, the opening act is dobro titan Jerry Douglas and Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter Tim O'Brien. Who could ask for anything more...

Jerry is celebrating #25. Tim sends a salute:

Tim on Jerry:

"Jerry Douglas is a well traveled, universal bridge between traditional bluegrass and every other kind of music. He seems like my brother who just happened to reinvent the Dobro. The two of us have worked together closely at various times over the years, but our intersections have been infrequent in the past decade, so Thursday's Bluegrass show will be a wonderful reunion. We've each grown some while apart, so it'll be fresh and instructive. I'm hoping the tempos will be a little slower. He's like Sam Bush in that the only way to keep up with him is to start out earlier than him.

17 June, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Kris Holstrom on the greening of Bluegrass]

100_0002 Once upon a time, Telluride Bluegrass meant dumpsters belching the remains of the day that had been marinated in one too many beers drunk from one too many plastic cups. Do you recall the debris littering Town Park, including plastic everything, from water bottles to utensils? Do you remember when the Festival changed its tune?

About 10 years ago, Kris Holstrom saw the festival waste as a resource for compost for her organic farm. The now director of The New Community Coalition began gathering food scraps behind the scenes from the vendors.

 "Initially, I was taking home maybe two pickup truckloads of food scraps from the event."

17 June, 2009 /
BelaJD The fraternity meeting known as Telluride Bluegrass opens this weekend, June 18 – June 21, and a favorite son returns to town to join his friends.

Bela Fleck is named after the Hungarian composer Bela Bartok, also a passionate ethnomusicologist known for mixing sounds – in Bartok’s case, Hungarian and other folk sounds with the music of his contemporaries – to create distinctive music.

16 June, 2009 /

[Click the Play button to hear interview with IT Business Consultant, Richard Sink] The tightly knit, yet widespread community of people and businesses associated with Telluride are uniquely poised to take full advantage of the powerful capabilities of social media such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and...

15 June, 2009 /

Telluride eco-entrepreneur/Telluride Outside fly fishing guide David Allen leads The Challenge,  a competition among 31 mountain towns in the Western United States to encourage the use of reusable shopping bags. The Challenge began on March 1st 2009 and will run until September 1st 2009....

14 June, 2009 /

Hey, Telluride! Sign up your young scientists for these classes presented as a collaboration between the Ah Haa School and Pinhead Institute. The classes start July 3d, and space is limited, so make your reservations early.The classes are mixed science and art, and are for...

13 June, 2009 /