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Remembering a Telluride Matriarch

By Julia Caulfield

Wendy Brooks was a matriarch of Telluride. She was a world traveler, a lover of all people, fierce, a north star, a doer.

“My mother created everywhere she went,” says Dylan Brooks, one of Wendy’s sons. “My mother was first and foremost an advocate for children and working people who are raising children. To her, all the people of the world were one community and they should all be brought together to make art and to love each other and to do something interesting. Don’t be boring.”

Wendy Brooks passed away on March 26th at her home in Troncones, Mexico surrounded by family. She was 84 years old.

Brooks moved to Telluride in 1976. Leaving her three sons, Demian, Darius, and Dylan with their grandmother in New Jersey.

“My mom set off to look for the next place we were going to live. She drove across much of Colorado and hadn’t found her place and was heading towards New Mexico. She was driving past Placerville and a barefoot kid of ten, hitchhiked, flagged her down and asked if she would take him to town,” Dylan remembers. “She didn’t know what that meant, but thought sure, I’ll give this kid a ride. She drove into Telluride, fell in love with the quirkiness of the town and the beauty of it at once. She sent for the three of us and we moved out at the end of August 1976.”

That fall, Dylan remembers they had nowhere to live so they parked their VW van in the Telluride campground. The boys registered in school with the address “site #7, Telluride campground”.

Brooks had a can do spirit, a hard worker until the end. Salli Russell, a friend of Brooks, remembers the beginning of their friendship.

“Telluride was a very matriarchal society. If you wanted something done it was usually a woman that was going to start making that happen,” Russell says. “I was in awe of Wendy and what she had already accomplished when she moved here with three young boys.”

Brooks helped create Telluride’s Medical Center, the freestyle ski team, the Telluride Science Research Center. But, to many, she was most known for creating the Telluride Academy, starting “basically in her backyard” according to Russell.

“A place for children to play and yet, have some kind of freedom to be who they were, and to empower them to be who they wanted to be and who they could be,” says Russell.

Brooks’ belief in and passion for those children, was endless. Elaine Demas is a friend of Brooks and former director of Telluride Academy. She remembers when she started the role, asking Brooks to help make sure she knew how to do everything right.

“And she did it without hesitation. Right back in there. Every day with me. Helping me navigate hundreds of families,” remembers Demas. “She had a remarkable memory. She had every family and child in her head. Never had to looking anything up. If I had a question she could answer it at the drop of a hat. She was so generous with her time and her knowledge.”

Brooks’ legacy of adventure, gumption and joy is what current Telluride Academy executive director Jason Merritt says he hopes to continue.

“As the current stewards of Telluride Academy, I think it renews and reignites our commitment to doing the very best we can to continue to realize her vision and to do so with total humility and earnestness,” says Merritt.

While Brooks touched the lives of thousands of children, at the center of that world were her grandchildren, including Julian Brooks.

“My grandmother, Wendy Brooks, she wasn’t mine. She was everyone’s grandma,” says Julian Brooks. “The amount of people I knew personally that have reached out, is such a small sliver of the 84 years that she impacted lives. It’s incredible that a woman can do that much. Seeing her now, at rest, at peace, knowing that she left a world that was lucky to have her, it’s a beautiful thing.”

There will be a memorial service for Wendy Brooks in Telluride later this summer.

The Telluride Academy is setting up a scholarship in memory of Brooks to support children in the program.

Anyone can honor and celebrate Brooks everyday by living a life of love, creativity, adventure.

Telluride Celebrates Hockey State Champions

By Julia Caulfield

“We are a ski town with a hockey problem,” proclaims Telluride Mayor Teddy Errico from the steps of the San Miguel County Courthouse.

It’s a classic spring day, with skies moving from bluebird to overcast in the blink of an eye, and the Telluride community showed up to celebrate its two hockey state champions with a parade down Main Street.

Telluride High School Students, who play on the Durango Demons Hockey Team and make up half its players, became 4A State Champions after winning 4-2 over Summit, the Lizard Head U12 PeeWee defeated Vail 4-3 in double overtime.

Telluridians young and old line the streets, cheering, as players parade through town, followed by a bright green Zamboni.

Grayson Fertig, Executive Director and coach of the Lizard Head Hockey program, says he couldn’t be more proud. “This is what a wild success looks like for recreation approach to community hockey,” he says.

Fertig is excited to see hockey become part of Telluride’s culture.

“Hockey’s happening in Telluride because people are figuring out what a fun game it is. You can’t even imagine, high fives all around,” he explains looking around the parade crowd. “These kids thrive when they’re working together and that’s hockey.”

Fertig is joined in that sentiment by Jereb Carter, a proud hockey dad.

“It bonds the community even stronger. It’s all about community strength and I think it’s going to encourage a lot of younger kids to come up in the program. These kids are going to have a lifelong bond out of this,” Carter says. “Even if they don’t play starting tomorrow, from here on out they had this moment. Look at all the younger kids in the parade following around their state champions, they’re all smiling, their parents are smiling. Everyone is happy.”

Following the parade, from the steps of the San Miguel County Courthouse, flanked by the Championship teams, Mayor Errico says it’s a good day for hockey, but a great day for Telluride Hockey.

“For a town of our size to compete with some of the big boys is something we can all be very proud of,” he says.

Hockey coach Jesse DiFiori highlights the win isn’t just felt by the teams themselves, but the community as a whole.

“Today’s victory is not just a win for the team. It’s a win for every single one of us. It symbolizes what we can achieve when we come together, united by a common goal and a shared passion,” DiFiori says from the steps. “It’s a reminder that no dream is too big, and no challenge is unsurmountable when we stand as one.”

With spirits high, Mayor Errico speaks into existence what many on Main Street are feeling.

“What I’d like to see, and what I think everyone here would like to see is, someday soon, Telluride competing under its own flag, under the Telluride High School,” Errico exudes.

The season might be over, but by all accounts it’s just the beginning for Telluride hockey.

Telluride Stands with Palestine

By Julia Caulfield

It’s a blustery Saturday morning, with wind whipping down the box canyon.

Roughly thirty Telluridians, young and older, stand outside the Courthouse, chanting, sharing stories, showing support for the people of Palestine.

“We have to connect to our humanity because this is a human rights issue,” says Tabassum Siddiqui, one of the organizers of the march. “They are being starved. They are being terrorized. This is the act and function of Zionism. This is the act and function of white settler colonialism. This is white supremacy. This is racial capitalism. If you think this has something to do with Judaism, it absolutely doesn’t.”

Telluride joined in on an International Day of Solidarity, with millions of people protesting across the world, to support Palestinians and those in Gaza.

Lauren Norton, another of the organizers, says it’s important for Telluride to look beyond its mountains.

“We sometimes feel like we’re separated from the rest of world in our box canyon. We can get closed in and look inward a lot, which is great,” she says. “But there are moments when we need to stand up and say we’re part of this bigger system, the world in general, we’re all connected. And we need to be part of this as much as anyone else.”

While the march focuses on the bombardment in Palestine, Siddiqui, and many members who gather, draw connection to other parts of the world.

“Haiti is under occupation from this kind of system. Every possible country you can think of,” says Siddiqui. In the Congo, in Sudan, in Yemen, in Iraq, everywhere.”

“My grandfather escaped Germany and the genocide there. My grandmother left a dictatorship in Chile, backed by the United States and U.S. imperialism,” one protestor emphasizes. “Change can happen. People fight for it all the time. It is the most disenfranchised people who fight for it always, and the most privilaged people who ignore it, always. This is in our bones. It’s in our blood. And if you don’t feel that, you have lost your soul. Indigenous folks talk about soul loss. You have lost your soul. Necesitamos cambiar el mundo,” she says "es posible. Yo sé, porque vive en mi sangre. En mi sangre, la guerra.”

Across the march, protesters highlight the importance of connection and shared humanity with those in Gaza.

“There’s times that I feel like I’m removed from a lot of what’s going on, even though we’re seeing it on the internet all the time. Even just small acts of protest and making our voices heard,” says protestor Ian McMullen. “Standing up for people that are across the world, that we don’t even know feels like a deeper human connection.”

It’s a small march, but that doesn’t dishearten those gathered. For Siddiqui it’s a starting point.

“We’re here because we want to build a different world for ourselves. We don’t want a world of suffering. We don’t want a world of oppression,” Siddiqui says. “That’s not the world I want to live in. That’s not the world I want for our young people.”

Protestors march down Main Street with signs saying “Fund Communities, Not Genocide”, “I stand with Palestine”. Organizers don’t have another event planned yet, but they say more are to come.

Author Aggie Unda-Tames Talks "Mariana"

By Julia Caulfield

It’s spooky season, but things can also get hot and spicy. With local author Aggie Unda-Tames’ new romance novel, “Mariana”, part of the Latin Lovers book series. KOTO’s Julia Caulfield spoke with Unda-Tames about the new book.

Aggie Unda-Tames’ new book “Mariana” is available on Amazon, and at her website aggieunda.com.

KOTO Gets KOOKy

By Julia Caulfield

A view of Ouray from the KOOK tower site

On a mountainside overlooking Ouray, the wind rustles through aspen leaves.

“We’re about 9,200 feet in elevation above Ouray, Colorado on the Western Slope,” says Dustin Fisher, caretaker at Gold Mountain Ranch. For as far as the eye can see “pretty much nothing but the San Juan Mountain range” Fisher adds.

Perched on the mountain is a home, old mining ruins, a zipline tour, and also, a new radio tower. KOTO Radio is expanding its signal to reach Ouray and Ridgway. This radio tower will make that happen.

“KOTO purchased the tower last January,” Fisher explains, “We picked up in February, hauled it up the mountain. We had to wait for the snow to melt off. We had about two or three feet of snow at the time. Once the snow melted off, we got a concrete contractor in here to come and install the concrete.”

Once the cement was cured, local climbers came in to assemble the actual tower.

“The only thing we have to actually do is to install the actual equipment for the radio station,” Fisher concludes.

The KOOK tower goes up on Gold Mountain Ranch in Ouray, Colorado

Expanding its signal to Ridgway has been a goal for the radio station for years, says KOTO Executive Director Cara Pallone.

“But the FCC doesn’t really open filing periods very often,” Pallone says, “When one came about in 2021, Ben was like ‘we should do this’. So we did. We took that opportunity to apply for a construction permit from the FCC, and we were granted that approval in December 2021.”

Per the FCC – that’s the Federal Communications Commission, KOTO has three years to build the tower and have the signal go live. Pallone says the radio station is in phase two of that development. A lot has been done, but there’s still a way to go.

“We’re taking it piece by piece and trying to stick to a timeline that will get us on the air in 2024,” Pallone says.

Still, she says the tower going up is an exciting milestone.

“Just getting the tower up there was such a big process,” she remembers. “There wasn’t a delivery truck big enough to get it to the location, let alone up the mountain. There’s just been so much coordination done, and so to see it go up over the last couple week has just been a huge moment for KOTO.”

With the new location, and new tower, KOTO will also add new call letters. Staff decided on KOOK Ridgway. KOTO did a survey to determine the best location to place the tower and gauge where the frequency will go. Station Manager Ben Kerr says he’s excited to see just how far the signal will travel.

“You can’t really tell exactly where it’s going to go. There’s always some surprises,” Kerr says. “It’ll be interesting to see. It’ll be really exciting to put the signal up, turn it on, and then you just drive around and say ‘where’s it going. Where can we get it’. And then you’ll hear from people in strange locations ‘I’m getting it really good over here’”.

According to Pew Research Center, over the past two decades there has been a major decline in the number of news outlets serving local audiences. Pallone says the expansion to Ridgway with KOOK will allow KOTO to keep the region from becoming a news desert.

“We want to build a foundation that would prevent that from ever happening in our region. Journalism is extremely important right now. We’re independent journalism and to maintain that and make sure that everyone is getting the information and education and that they need is a top priority of ours,” Pallone adds, “we’re also the only source of local news in both English and Spanish. Being inclusive of all of our communities and making sure we’re serving everyone equally is very important.”

Kerr shares the sentiment. KOTO remains fiercely independent for the community it serves.

“It’s pure. There’s nothing really like it. You don’t have to put up with a bunch of advertising and hype and disingenuous politics and thought,” Kerr says “It’s organic. It’s real. It’s coming from the people for the people. It’s grassroots. It’s about people.”

KOTO plans to be on the air in Ouray and Ridgway in 2024. So, for the time being, this is KOTO Telluride 91.7, but soon, you’ll be in tune with KOOK 90.3 Ridgway.

A view towards Ridgway from the KOOK tower location

Amazing Grace

By Julia Caulfield

For the past two months, KOTO’s newsroom has been bustling. Grace Richards joined the KOTO news team in May as a summer intern but now a new school year beckons and she’s heading out on the next adventure. KOTO’s Julia Caulfield sat down with Richards to hear how the summer has gone, and what’s coming up next.

Adam Frisch Stumps in Telluride

By Julia Caulfield

The general elections are still over a year away, but candidates are already pounding the pavement looking to drum up support. Democrat candidate for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District Adam Frisch was in Telluride recently to meet with voters. KOTO’s Julia Caulfield was there and brings this report.

Stoked to Shred at Telluride Skate Camp

By Grace Richards

Photo Grace Richards

Telluride Skate Camp teaches lessons in confidence, grit, and courage. KOTO’s Grace Richards dropped into Town Park to see a skate session in action.

It’s 9 a.m. on a Friday, and the Telluride skate park is a beautiful kind of chaos. Everywhere you look, kids careen over the dips and curves of the rolling grey sea of cement, caught in an ephemeral rush of momentum and balance.

They wear outrageously colorful knee pads and wrist guards, cheetah-print leggings…there’s even a fuscia unicorn-horn helmet in the distance.

Close your eyes and you can hear the squeak of their trucks underfoot, “Hey Ya” by Outkast on distant speakers, and coaches encouraging kids to be brave, to try again when they fall down.

This is Telluride Skate Camp, a 16-years running program for people of all ages to learn the physics-defying art of skateboarding.

Coach and owner of The Drop Board Shop Craig Wasserman stands in the middle of the fray, guiding a wobbly-kneed child into her center of gravity on the board. Every so often he calls out words of motivation to someone.

“Keep doing that! Repetition’s what’s getting that in your muscles,” he calls.

Wasserman, a retired art teacher, has been running the program since 2007.

Skateboarding has long been a male-dominated sport, but Craig says he sees that changing. During the school year, he hosts an all-girls skate day once a week.

“If you look out here… there are more girls than boys at this skatepark,” Wasserman notes “It reflects this global shift where you see more girls shredding…”

There is no shortage of little girls shredding the dips and hills of the skatepark.

Photo Grace Richards

Two boys crash into each other in a tangle of arms and legs. It takes them only a second before they dust off and run after their boards, which have shot in opposite directions.

Falls happen. Injuries happen. It’s part of the sport, and it takes toughness to stick it out.

A young girl in a purple helmet named Shelby says she’s been skating for eight years. She’s taken her share of tumbles.

No doubt about it, skateboarding is hard. It takes coordination, consistent practice, and a willingness to fall (a lot). Across this rolling swath of concrete, something invaluable is being cultivated. Kids are learning how to push themselves, to surmount self-doubt.

Wasserman says that skating cultivates the soft skills he remembers trying to teach to kids in the classroom.

“We teach them respect and confidence…to walk tall outside the skatepark too,” he notes.

For children, fear often feels bigger than they are. Proverbial monsters under the bed can feel almost tangible.

 Skating gives these small children the confidence, scrappiness, and self-esteem to hit that steep drop, shift their weight into a kickturn, or shred the bowl.

“Foreign language, math class… dancing in front of people,” Wasserman muses, “whatever it is, you learn to face your fear…”

Photo Grace Richards

Telluride Celebrates Class of 2023

By Julia Caulfield

The school year is coming to a close. As the Class of 2023 prepares to receive their diplomas and head out into the world, Telluride took the time to celebrate them with the annual Graduation Parade down Main Street.

In decked out cars, bikes, , and fire engines to start, graduating students – in full cap and gown - drove down Colorado Ave, waiving to supportive onlookers though intermittent rain showers.

Those onlookers shared their well wishes for the students, as they leave the safe nest of home and head into adulthood. KOTO’s Julia Caulfield was there and has this report.

Telluride High School’s graduation will take place on Friday, June 2nd at 3 p.m. at the Palm Theatre.

Norwood Unites Against Proposed Solar Farm

By Julia Caulfield

A proposed solar farm just southwest of Norwood is drawing criticism from the community. This week, residents showed up for a meeting to express their disapproval. KOTO’s Julia Caulfield was there and brings this report.

The Lone Cone Library in Norwood is packed. More than 200 members of the community are meeting for a presentation on a proposed solar farm just outside of town.

The solar farm, called Wright’s Mesa Solar Project, is 100 megawatts built on roughly 600 acres over 4 parcels of land on Lone Cone Road. OneEnergy Renewables, the company proposing the project, was in Norwood to host the meeting.

“All this information has been public for ten days,” says Nathan Stottler, Associate Director for Project Development at OneEnergy Renewables, “We put out a little bit to get people interested, to get everyone to the meeting. We’re hoping to be as transparent as possible.

But, the welcome was less than warm.

“You’ve given us ten days, but how many days have you been working on it?” One man asks from the crowd.

Stottler replies, “Please hold your comments to the end. You can chew me out in about 30 minutes.”

Stottler says while he understands not everyone will agree, solar is an ideal renewable energy source in Colorado.

“Solar is a really great Colorado product, as everybody here knows, we get a ton of sunshine in Colorado, a really great solar resource, and one of the reasons OneEnergy chooses to work here,” Stottler says. “Colorado is also interested in reaching 100% renewable energy by the end of 2040 and this solar farm would certainly contribute to that.”

Stottler goes on to say, “Solar is also seen as a very compatible use with many rural areas, although I understand some folks here are going to disagree with me. It’s a nonpermanent use. At the end of the lifetime it’s going to be removed and the land is going to be very easily restored to the previous use.”

According to Stottler, OneEnergy is looking for a temporary permit for the solar farm, lasting 30 to 40 years.

When it comes to the Western Slope, Stottler says Tri-State Generation and Transmission has shown an interest in having renewable energy in the area, and there’s also the land. OneEnergy is working with one state owned parcel, and several privately owned parcels to build the solar farm.

“We’ve gotten some great suggestions from some folks on where we can stick our solar farm,” Stottler says, to laughs from the audience, “A lot of y’all suggested further west in San Miguel County, it’s open, no body lives out there. I agree. I would rather put it out there. We looked at that before we ever looked at Wright’s Mesa. We looked in Dolores County. We looked in Montezuma County and the wide open spaces out there. So much of that land out there is Gunnison Sage Grouse habitat which makes it unbuildable. As an endangered species, that land is untouchable for us.”

The land also allows OneEnergy to join in with an already existing transmission line. “There are many transmission lines in the country,” Stottler notes, “very few on the West Slope, and those that are there, a lot of them, the energy capacity that moves along those lines are already spoken for.”

When it comes to local benefits to the community, Stottler points to nearly $8 million in property taxes to the county over the life of the project, influx of dollars while the project is being built, and lease money for the property going to Colorado schools.

But during public comment, lasting over an hour, residents of Norwood were not sold.

“OneEnergy has not handled a project of this size. We are not the place for you to learn how to do your business,” says one man.

“This community has been screwed more than once by the Eastern Slope. We don’t see that $9 million for our schools. We don’t see any of that stuff,” another woman says, “You can talk to us all you want about these big tax benefits. They don’t benefit us. Telluride will get the property taxes, and the Eastern Slope is going to get the school taxes. We won’t see it.”

One woman shares “The Town doesn’t have capacity to meet the needs. I don’t know what your traffic control plan is going to be coming up Norwood Hill. Where are you going to put your people? How are you going to get them here? And how are you not going to ecologically and economically devastate this community for large industrial benefit. It doesn’t benefit us. It benefits your pocketbook.”

Another man jokes, “I’m a citizen. I’m a father. Husband. Business owner. But really I’m the only person in here you need to worry about, because I just found out I identify as a Sage Grouse.”

“While solar farms undeniably contribute to mitigating climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it is crucial to consider the negative impacts as well. Finding a balance between renewable energy generation and minimizing economic and public disturbance should be your priority,” says one man. “This project is pushed and desired by people on the east side of our county. But they do not want this project on the east side. They cannot even stand the possibility of affordable housing in the Telluride area. We are not their dumping ground.”

Finally, one member of the audience says the issue is not an ideological one. “If that was slated to be a coal mine, and they were going to strip mine that, all the same people would be in the same room opposed to it. It is not ideological. The issue that I see here is that you came into a community and came in here without our input.”

OneEnergy plans to submit its proposal to San Miguel County in the next several weeks. The project needs approval from the San Miguel Planning and Zoning Commission and the San Miguel Board of County Commissioners to move forward.

OneEnergy hopes to construct the solar project in the next 3 to 4 years.

Puzzle Wars

By Julia Caulfield

May 4th marks National Star Wars Day, and this year, he local library in Telluride, Colorado celebrated with some community competition. KOTO’s Julia Caulfield was there and brings this report.

It’s May the 4th and Star Wars is the theme of the first ever Wilkinson Public Library puzzle competition.

“Without further ado, I think you guys are here to puzzle. Does anyone have an idea what the puzzle is going to be?” Jill Wilson, Public Services Manager at the library, asks.

The crowd responds “Star Wars”. It’s National Star Wars Day.

“May the 4th be with you,” Wilson says, “Alright you guys ready to puzzle? On your mark, get set, May the 4th be with you.”

The program room of the library erupts into a flurry of activity. Teams featuring puzzlers 7 to 70 jump into action, flipping over pieces, sorting by color, searching for edges.

“It’s teams of two, ten teams of two. They all have the exact same puzzle. We tried to pick a puzzle people could complete within two hours, so I chose 300 pieces because I think that’s doable. The team who finishes the puzzle quickest gets a gift card to Kazahana, and all the glory.”

Kaylie and Lilly Reed, a mother daughter duo, are working from the outside in.

“Well we’re basically doing the outside first, and then we’re going to do the inside.”

Lizzy Edwards and Annie Foxen are leaning into the competition.

“We’re feeling really competitive. I feel like we’re going a good job of separating the edge pieces and turning all pieces over simultaneously. That is our strategy at the moment,” Says Edwards, “We’re also running buddies so we’ve also practiced being in competitive situations together, of a different variety, but I think the athletic translates to intellectually.”

Slowly – and for some, not so slowly – a picture emerges. Luke Skywalker stands in the middle of the picture shooting blaster, flanked by Han Solo, Princess Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO stand in the corner. Darth Vader menaces in the background with his red light saber.

As the clock hits 50 minutes – almost exactly to the second…

“We have a winner!” Willson exclaims to cheers and groans.

Abby Conroy and Damon Nilsson win the puzzle competition (photo Julia Caulfield)

Abby Conroy and Damon Nilsson are the winning team.

“Honestly I’m shaking. Damon is shaking. Damon honestly did 90% of the puzzle, I’m not going to lie,” says Conroy, “I’m just glad everyone had fun, honestly.”

The puzzle may be from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, but the fun of the puzzle competition is very much here and now.

Buzz from the Spanish Spelling Bee

By Julia Caulfield

The Palm Theatre is bustling with students, teachers, and parents. Spanish and English floats through the air.

Everyone is gathered for one specific reason. It’s the Intermediate School Spanish Spelling Bee.

The Spanish Spelling Bee functions the same way as the English Spelling Bee – which took place several weeks before. Students come up to a microphone, hear the word to spell, say the word, spell the word, and say the word. They can also ask for things like using the word in a sentence, or asking for a definition.

This year, teachers Vicente Artes Usero and Ursula Cristol read the words out. Artes Usero and Cristol each read all the words. Artes Usero notes he’s from Spain, Cristol is from Peru, so while they speak the same language, it’s a different pronunciation.

And with that, the Bee begins. Twelve students sit in a line on the stage waiting to spell.

The first word is “vaso” or “glass”.

In the first round, one student is eliminated, 3 more in the second round, 1 in the 3rd, 4 in the 4th. Finally, 5th grader Keaton Koenig, and 7th grader Emma Dominguez de la Torre remain.

Koenig and Dominguez de la Torre volley back and forth for rounds, each spelling their words correctly, both missing.

Finnally Dominguez de la Torre spells “frigorífico” or “fridge” correctly before getting to the championship word, “constelación” or “constellation”.

The stars lined up for Emma Dominguez de la Torre, 2023 Spanish Spelling Bee champion.

Roving Rabbis Light Up Mountain Village

By Julia Caulfield

Reuven Tanny lights the menorah in Mountain Village (Julia Caulfield/KOTO)

Across the globe Jews are lighting menorahs and celebrating with their families. But in Mountain Village, Colorado a group of “Roving Rabbis” are doing things a little differently. KOTO’s Julia Caulfield has more.

The sun is setting on the shortest day of the year in Mountain Village.

Blasting over loudspeakers is a pop dance beat, but it’s not a song you’re likely to hear on a Top 40 countdown.

It’s the 4th night of Hanukkah and a group of rabbinical students from New York City – the Roving Rabbis – are in town for a menorah lighting.

Over 100 members of the community and visitors brave the cold temperatures to celebrate and partake in the lighting. Rabbi Mendy Hirsch speaks to the gathered crowd.

“Tonight we join millions of Jews around the world who are making the fourth night of the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah,” Rabbi Hirsch shares with the crowd, “Families all across the globe are gathering together to kindle these incredible flames.”

The Rabbis are on a whistle-stop tour of Utah, Colorado, and Texas lighting menorahs and celebrating Hanukkah.

“Each one of us has the spark of God within us. We all have our menorah, we all have our light, and the goal that we came here tonight for, is to ignite that light, to make sure that light is revealed, to make sure we have that light, and that light stays with us,” Hirsch says, “We know that when we have a candle in a dark room, if you light even one candle, the entire room gets lit up. The same is with our soul, with our Godliness. When we add in light, and we awaken our Neshama – our inner soul, the light of God inside of us, that lights up our surrounding, that helps us through our challenges. That is how we celebrate Hanukkah.”

After a few words from Mountain Village Mayor, local resident Reuven Tanny gets up to light the first four candles of the Menorah, as Rabbi Shmuly Wudowsky leads the blessings.

The lighting complete, dance music returns, the rabbis serve latkes and donuts, someone’s dressed up as a dradle and is dancing.

For Tanny, the lighting is a beautiful expression of community and the joy of the season.

“It makes me love Telluride even more, to just see the holiday spirit. I know a lot of people don’t really know much about Hanukkah, and it’s great for everybody to get together and celebrate,” Tanny says.

The celebration continues as the sky lights up in a brilliant sunset…but soon, the Roving Rabbis will leave Mountain Village…heading to Crested Butte, then Texas, spreading the light and love of Hanukkah with more small communities across the West.

Holidays at the Telluride Post Office

By Julia Caulfield

Inside the Telluride Post Office (Julia Caulfield/KOTO)

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the United State Postal Service will deliver more than 13 billion pieces of mail, with post offices in the far reaches of the county bringing holiday cheer to their communities. KOTO’s Julia Caulfield has this scene from the bustling post office in Telluride, Colorado.

The front of the Telluride Post Office is buzzing, but ordered.

A line of people waits to mail letters and packages, waiting to pick up their parcels in time for the holidays. Behind the scenes, the back of the post office is a maze of organized chaos.

“The last two years, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we had over 55,000 packages,” says Telluride Postmaster Roger DeLaney, “and we’re on track to be really close to that this year.”

It’s a Monday morning in the middle of the holiday season. According to DeLaney the post office gets around 1,500 pieces of mail per day.

“We organize the chaos the best we can, but there’s so much mail, and I have a hard time recruiting people. We’re running two people short, so everyone is making up for those two people,” DeLaney says.

The mail arrives at 8 o’clock in the morning. The parcels come in huge metal containers. At the same time, letters and magazines arrive in cage and are taken to another staff member to sort and deliver to PO Boxes.

“It’s a continuous process because at some time today, DHL will drop off another 150 parcels, FedEx will drop off anywhere between 100 and 700 parcels, and UPS will drop off, probably, another 700 parcels,” DeLaney notes, “So it continues throughout the day.”

Several employees pull a steady stream of parcels out of the containers, scanning them in sorting them to either go to a PO Box, or head out for delivery to Lawson, Aldasoro and Mountain Village.

On one side of the room are rows and rows of shelves with packages. That’s where they sit when they’re too big for a box, individuals get a yellow slip in their PO Box to let them know they have a package waiting for them.

“It’s broken down by the last two digits. Not only do we have the normal two digits,” DeLaney explains, “we also have an F shelf for the taller stuff, D, C, B, and A shelf, so the yellow slips are the code so we can find stuff. During Christmas, we’ll also do a G shelf, and an H shelf.”

DeLaney says that’s why the post office is so insistent on having those yellow slips.

“So we know where to look. Cause right now there’s probably thousands of packages back here,” he says, “and there’s eighteen different sections they can be in. Hopefully we can get to a point this week where I can have a clerk at the Dutch door just doing yellow slips, because we want everyone to get their Christmas.”

DeLaney’s been working at the post office in Telluride for about four years, but he’s been with the postal service for decades.

“A lot of people like me, that are veterans, end up at the post office. A lot of the structure is the same as the military. There are a lot of veterans that are employed by the USPS, it’s one of the largest individual employers of veterans. That’s probably what drew me here. It wasn’t necessarily for the money,” DeLaney chuckles, “I think it was just a natural continuation for me.”

But it’s the people, his team, that DeLaney says keeps him in the job. He likes engaging with the community, the kids who come in.

“Especially now, with the white beard, they’re not taking a chance because I might be Santa Clause,” DeLaney notes, “If they come in with a yellow slip, I’ll bring them back and they’ll help me find their packages…Sometimes their parents want to come back to, and we’ll go for a tour. People will say ‘oh, it’s a miracle I got my package,’ and yeah, it kind of looked like it might be.”

In post offices across the country, the real life elves of the U.S. Postal Service are working as fast as they can to bring the holiday season to everyone…you may just need to be a little patient.

Telluride Honors Día de los Muertos with Community Ofrenda

By Julia Caulfield

Across the world, from October 28th to November 3rd, communities celebrated Día de los Muertos – a time to honor and remember those who we’ve lost. This year, the Wilkinson Public Library, has – once again – created an ofrenda, an altar part of the celebrations. Claudia García Curzió works at the library. She spoke with KOTO’s Julia Caulfield to share her memories of Día de los Muertos and the importance of the ofrenda.

"Built on Bones" Changes the Narrative on Shakespeare's Witches

By Julia Caulfield

L-R: Lizzy Ross, Emily Scott Robinson, and Alisa Amador (Joshua Britt)

Emily Scott Robinson is a rising star in the Americana music scene. She calls the San Juan Mountains in Southwest Colorado home. Signed to John Prine’s Oh Boy Records, Robinson is out with a new album, Built on Bones. The album shares songs created for Telluride Theatre’s 2021 Shakespeare in the Park production of Macbeth.

Robinson sat down with KOTO’s Julia Caulfield to talk about the new album and changing the narrative on Shakespeare’s Witches.

Remembering Hilaree Nelson

By Julia Caulfield

Photo Chris Figenshau

When you think of giants in the world of mountaineering and adventure, one name inevitably rises to the top. Hilaree Nelson was the best of her time.

“We love Hilaree for her energy and her motivation. It was always equal to men in the mountains and incredibly strong in that sense,says Conrad Anker, a friend of Nelson and fellow mountaineer.

Together Nelson and Anker climbed Denali, and Everest, and took an expedition to Antarctica. But Anker notes it wasn’t Nelson’s ability to climb or ski the most impressive peaks that sticks out.

“As a professional, she was always an advocate for women, and when she elevated women, she elevated everyone,” he recalls.

Nelson passed away on September 26th after getting caught in an avalanche on Mt. Manaslu in Nepal. She was 49 years old.

Nelson grew up in Seattle, Washington where she spent her winters skiing Stevens Pass in the Cascades. After graduating from college she went to Chamonix, France for a winter, which turned into five years, and Nelson began her journey a world renowned ski mountaineer.

In a career that spanned decades, Nelson became the first decent on dozens of mountains, on more than 40 expeditions in 16 different countries. She was the first person to complete a ski decent of Lhotse, the first woman to link Everest and Lhotse in a 24-hour push. She completed a double summit of Denali, and was the first person to ski decent Paupsura Peak. She was named National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, and a North Face Athlete – captain of the North Face Team.

But even with all her accomplishments, speak to those who knew Nelson it’s her heart that leaves the greatest impact.

Anker remembers their expedition on Denali.

“She was with a group of younger skiers and snowboarders and she was great. She was like the den mother. She was there making sure we were fed, and making sure the youngsters were doing their bit and tidying up,” Anker says, “It was a cross between a wonderful parent and an expedition leader.”

Suzan Beraza got to know Nelson through her work with Mountainfilm. She remembers being a little intimidated to start.

“I’ve always looked up to Hilaree and admired her, and thought she was the coolest woman ever. Then getting to know her, it was just this other side of her. She wasn’t intimidating at all. Because of all her accomplishments, I thought ‘wow, she’s just kind of, an untouchable woman’. But she was just the opposite,” Beraza remembers, “She was caring and giving, and generous with her time. And just had the most beautiful easy laugh, and just a hell of a fun person.”

Beraza adds that while the world knew Nelson as a trailblazer in mountaineering, she was so much more than that.

“She just was an incredible community member for Telluride. Incredibly generous with her time, being an amazing mother, and incredible partner,” Beraza says, “She was just a warm, loving, kind person, and her being a mountaineer was just a small part of who she really was.”

Still, it’s hard to understate Nelson’s importance in the world of mountaineering. Especially for women. Here’s Anker then Beraza.

“Hilaree’s legacy will rest upon empowering women to pursue big mountain dreams. Whether it’s working as a ski guide with a helicopter outfit, or being a team captain at the North Face, or climbing Everest and Lhotse in a day,” Anker says, “Her ability and motivation has touched many people and specifically really encouraged women to pursue their dreams, you know they had the skills and ability to go do it.”

Beraza says, “she was a complete role model for women and showing that you can have these accomplishments and achieve your goals and still be a mother. Often women are held at a different standard for that then men – where men can go off and do all these things and have children, women are kind of judged to say ‘oh no, you can’t do that. You’re a woman’. She really broke that wide open, and showed that it is important for women to have dreams and to follow those dreams.

Nelson is survived by her two children Grayden, and Quinn. And her love, Jim.