By Dawne Belloise

It’s a mix of people, commuters and retired folks, and a little bit redneck,” Mike Spradlin says of Lake Isabella, California, his small hometown near Bakersfield. Living around the largest lake in California, about half the size of Blue Mesa Reservoir, he feels that Gunnison is somewhat reminiscent of his childhood home. “We have the lake, mountains, mountain biking and a small ski resort at 7,000 feet in elevation in the southern Sierra Nevadas,” he describes.

Mike had the opportunity to indulge in a lot of outdoor activities, many involving water sports like swimming, diving off rocks into the lake, jet skiing, fishing on the Kern River with his dad, and catfishing at night on the lake. “With catfishing, you’d have a bell on the rod, nightcrawlers on the hook and you’d sit by the fire and wait for the bell to go off.” 

Still in his single digit years, Mike played baseball and youth football but in high school, he says that he just wasn’t big enough to play football. “So I started playing golf. I played high school golf on a six to eight person travel team.” He was talented enough to receive MVP and two varsity letters. He also worked as a “cart kid” at the golf course through high school, which entailed washing the carts and filling the drink stations. 

As high school progressed, in 1998, Mike decided he needed a different job. “Summers are incredibly hot, between 95 and 115 degrees. At that point, I wanted something on water. River rafting is a big thing there. We have one of the best whitewater rivers in the U.S.,” he says of the Kern and admits he’s somewhat biased. He tried out to be a river guide and laughs, “And gosh darn it if that didn’t stick around on my employment record for 18 years!” He was 17 and a year shy of the required age to guide class four whitewater trips, but he could guide up to class three while training for the even wilder ride. “So, by the time I was 18, the following summer, I was ready to go.”

He already had over 50 trips racked up when he guided his very first class four river trip, “And I flipped my raft that trip,” he laughs. He continued to guide until he entered California State University in Bakersfield, where, as he describes, “I did the seven-year bachelor’s degree plan.” 

During his first year as a river guide, Mike had also picked up whitewater kayaking and he, along with a couple of friends, started his own videography company, filming clients for the five guide companies running the river trips. “The Kern River is notoriously called the Killer Kern,” he tells. “The whitewater is huge. It’ll destroy you. There’s even a tally board with postings of lost lives on the river.” 

With his interests in videography production and photography, Mike graduated with a BA in Communications with a focus on digital imaging and video production. He also built websites. However, the world of technology changes rapidly. “My degree became completely obsolete because of the iphone, because it changed everything about website design. I used to be able to write all the HTML code but as soon as the iPhone came out, the process and technology that also came out was all new.”

He remained in Lake Isabella, river guiding and shooting photography but eventually, he says, “I felt it was time for some great life trips,” and he headed to New Zealand for a couple months to visit friends there, and mostly, to kayak, sometimes taking a helicopter to the top of the river to kayak down. He went to the middle fork of the Salmon River in Idaho for a week, and then floated the Grand Canyon. “It was like a trifecta,” he recalls. 

Special work session July 26 at the Elevation

By Kendra Walker

After hearing public input regarding short-term rentals (STR) and the local housing crisis, the Mt. Crested Butte town council plans to hold a special work session on July 26 at 5 p.m. at the Elevation Hotel to discuss workforce housing and STR regulations, and possibly determine whether to place a moratorium on new STR licenses.  

During a work session on July 6, the council continued their conversation on updating the town’s STR license program. While the town still has many decisions to make regarding regulation and enforcement updates (application process, compliance and enforcement, neighbor complaint process, etc.) the discussion focused heavily on how STRs are affecting the local affordable housing market for local employees. There are currently 557 individual STR units in Mt. Crested Butte, not including hotel units. 

Council member Lauren Koelliker suggested the council consider putting a cap on STR licenses, similar to the town of Crested Butte. “We’re operating in an extreme right now. In one extreme you can ban all STRs, another extreme you can have unlimited STRs. We don’t have caps. We have an unlimited number of STRs available,” she said. 

“I have real concerns about that because of people buying things for investment purposes. That’s part of what our community is,” said mayor Janet Farmer. She also noted that if the council were to consider a cap on STRs, it should be for specific areas of town. “Gold Link isn’t going to long-term rent,” she said. 

“If we’re talking about values and community, our job isn’t to make somebody’s investment property work,” said council member Roman Kolodziej.  

“But it’s also not to crash their investment,” said council member Michael Bacani.

“There’s also people in the middle,” noted council member Nicholas Kempin.

Council member Dwayne Lehnertz felt STRs and workforce housing were two different issues that require different solutions.

“How does limiting STRs help solve that problem?” he asked.

“We don’t know if it does,” said Farmer. 

“To say it doesn’t affect anything is irresponsible,” said Kolodziej. 

“I’m not implying in any way, shape or form that it doesn’t have an effect. I’m questioning how robust a response do you need to throw at it to change it and what change are you trying to accomplish?” asked Lehnertz.

Later on in the discussion, Lehnertz explained his personal experience as a property owner, having bought his property in 2013 in the ballpark of $200,000. “I took advantage of it…I got my foot in the door. I knew full well what I was getting into, I was getting into a resort town, it’s what I chose…If I can do it anybody can do it,” he said, a statement that did not go over well with the public in attendance for the meeting. 

“We also have this emergency and I think we need to take the slower approach and get all our ducks in a row,” said Kempin. “I don’t think we should be making rash decisions like our pants are on fire.”

“I don’t disagree,” said Kolodziej. “I would also caution us for being too slow…everybody sitting at this table has a place to live long-term. Something needs to be done shorter-term.”

Town manager Isa Reeb said the town staff is working on internal items that can help them proactively enforce current STR rules, including updating the technology, a better complaint process and a new town website that will free up staff’s time overall. She suggested that more strict enforcement rules would help, such as communication to residents about how to make complaints about STR noncompliance, and updating the ordinance to put a fine on those in noncompliance. “We cannot spend eight hours of staff time every week just on short-term rental compliance. Fines would help us as a staff.” 

Council members also noted that HOA boards can decide to nix STRs or require a letter of approval, which is done by some HOAs in Mt. Crested Butte. 

A handful of folks from the public attended the meeting, and the discussion carried over into public comment. All appeared in favor of making changes to STRs to help with the housing situation. Several members of the public urged the council to place a moratorium on short-term rental licenses to allow the town time to figure out the best path forward. 

Kat Laughlin, who’s worked at the resort for six years, explained that there’s no way she’d be able to afford to buy a place in Mt. CB. “In the last four years I’ve lived here on the mountain, I’ve lost my house twice to short-term rentals,” she said. “That’s the impact that it’s making.”

Alexander Summerfelt encouraged Mt. Crested Butte to follow the town of Crested Butte’s lead. “Residents of town work up on the mountain and vice versa. Business owners on the mountain live in town and vice versa. The community here is one, driven and sustained by all the same forces. We face the same housing crisis together,” he said. “The town of Crested Butte has sprung into action, declaring a state of emergency. I would like you all to do the same.”

Josh Egedy asked the council to put their personal positions aside or recuse themselves from the discussion based on a conflict of interest. “You need to explore the impact of short-term rentals further. Look at other towns. It isn’t a request to end short-term rentals, it’s simply a challenge to hit the pause button and figure out how to make it work best for your constituents.”

“We’re talking about residents, the people that vote for you,” said Laura Puckett-Daniels. “Not investors in Arkansas and other places. It’s taking long-term rentals off the market…it damages your sense of community…Short-term rentals decrease the quality of life for all of us.” 

“Can we all just say ditto,” chimed in someone from the public, followed by claps and approval. 

Elliott Selzer shared his personal experience of Airbnb-ing one of the rooms of the place he and his wife own and live in. “It’s made it more affordable to live in this place that really doesn’t qualify as affordable housing…as a person looking to invest here or in the future this is not the community I want to buy property in,” he said, noting the restaurants and shops in the area cutting hours and closing altogether. He explained that he decided to get rid of his Airbnb and rent it long-term. “It’s costing me more money, but at least I can make my community a little closer to what it was originally…I’m willing to give mine up for that.”

“Thank you all for being here tonight. This is a very important topic for our community,” said mayor Janet Farmer. “We all hear your pain, your distress, your concerns. We’re listening and we’ll have to see where this goes. This is not a quick easy process to straighten out this mess. We’ll be working on it and will have you in our hearts.”

At the end of the meeting, Kolodziej brought up the topic again and asked the council if they would be open to putting a moratorium on new STR licenses to allow the town time for more research to consider additional regulations.

According to town clerk Tiffany O’Connell, the town received 12 new STR license applications in June and three in July, but she clarified that she does not know which ones were because of a change in ownership. 

“I think we can continue the conversation,” said Bacani. “If that means having another discussion, by all means I would be all for that.” 

Town attorney Kathy Fogo advised the council that if they were to place a moratorium, it would need to last at least six months in order to accomplish the additional info gathering and decision-making needed. 

Koelliker stressed the importance of engaging with the public and gathering more community input on the topic. During their June 15 meeting, the public input came mostly from STR property owners heavily in favor of not placing any moratoriums, caps or changes to STRs. “I don’t think we can conclude that we now know what people think about STRs at this point. We need to have a more robust public hearing on that where the public can actually speak,” she said.

The council agreed to hold a special work session on July 26 at 5 p.m. at the Elevation Hotel to discuss workforce housing and short-term rental regulations. Due to a few council members’ schedules, their regular July 20 town council meeting is cancelled.

Admittedly living in a small town does not come with the same ‘big city’ issues that most of America has to deal with. We like that. We have our problems and our issues and while they sometimes take a backseat to our normal priority of getting out on the trail, river or peak or gathering with friends, they are real to us…

Let me start with a small town newspaper gripe. I have seen participation at almost every local government meeting increase noticeably over the last year because of the technology of things like Zoom. COVID eliminated most in-person meetings and people flocked to the alternative of participating in their local government at their kitchen table while wearing pajamas. That was one benefit of the pandemic — not the pajamas but greater participation of citizens in their local democracy.

So, when I see that the Mt. Crested Butte town council isn’t pulling the trigger to continue using that technology that at its last virtual meeting drew in more people than ever before (almost 100 people) I shake my head. As a small town newspaper guy, I always advocate for more transparency and citizen convenience. I don’t buy the town argument that because a $7,000 camera wasn’t budgeted for, it can’t be done.

Using technology to go online and look at some recent financial reports for the town, I see that at the end of the 2021 ski season Mt. Crested Butte sales tax collections were up $390,000 year-to-date over its budget. March and April revenues set new records over 2019 and 2017 so it wasn’t based on pandemic months. I know that the budget was lean when approved because of the unknowns of COVID but to say a $7,000 camera can’t be purchased because it wasn’t in the budget is weak sauce. The extra $390,000 wasn’t in the budget either — are you not going to take that?

And while the budget argument came primarily from the town manager, it is ultimately a council decision dealing directly with the “policy” of how much participation they want from their citizens and interested community members. So I raise my eyebrow at the council, not the staff. The buck stops with them. That expenditure and timing is a council decision and it is a minor one with big positive impacts on transparency and citizen participation.

The town of Crested Butte is probably considered in overall better financial straights than Mt. CB. It spent well into five figures ($25-$30K) updating its video and audio systems to allow both in-person and virtual participation at its meetings. It is an expense that encourages citizens to take part in their representative government and as I said, as a newspaper guy, that sort of easy expenditure is at the top of the priority list. The Mt. CB council should have no hesitation to pull that trigger soon, given the benefit to its citizens.

On a more emotional level…
For those here for a week, Crested Butte and the surrounding mountains is most likely paradise. While the typical tourist might see a utopia full of fun, beauty and adventure, those of us living here know it is all of that and more. It comes with real life.

Examples of that real life are steady. Like I did a couple of weekends ago, we often attend ‘celebrations of life’ for friends and acquaintances lost too soon. We as a community last week also mourned a beloved teacher who succumbed to cancer and remember her smile and impact on our children. We pray for our kids who know a freedom many others in this country never see as they have a playground that while beautiful, can also be precarious.

The community experienced a scary moment Sunday when a car full of local teenagers rolled several times up one of the local drainages. Every parent here feels a tightness in their chest when hearing the sirens heading up or down the highway. The majority of the time it is a gas leak or a visitor having an altitude issue. But occasionally it is a major response to locals in need of assistance. Too often we hear of friends who met their end in the backcountry or like Sunday, a group of girls who didn’t make the wisest of decisions but overall lucked out in the big picture with no one dying in what could have been a really serious accident.

Yes, this is a beautiful and unique resort community. That too comes with challenges for locals. We debate things like how to house workers near their jobs, if we really should be issuing parking tickets, the location of big houses, as well as managing dandelions and how often trash should be picked up.

Real life happens in this paradise and that is something to remember and appreciate. Real people live here and deal with worries and problems just like anyone. But those who have chosen to stay and make a life in these mountains are not cut from the same cloth as most Americans. They choose to live the adventure many tourists experience for a week. They know it comes with challenges and sacrifice, but the tradeoff is normally worth it.

It’s sometimes a weird place. It’s a place where people throw on costumes and ride bikes in the rain. It’s a place where we all look out for others and celebrate the fortune those that pass had while living here. It’s a place where the stated reason to not buy a camera to bring in more people can tweak my mind and a place where we get lucky when a car full of kids rolls over in the backcountry playground and they all live to tell the story.

Be appreciative for what we have here. It is indeed a place full of fun, beauty and adventure. But wear your seatbelts and appreciate both the big and the little things that come with real life at 9,000 feet.

—Mark Reaman

Grin & Bear It and Summer GT filling up

[ by Than Acuff ]

This may be the most prolific summer of events for Crested Butte Nordic as they ramp up for the 38th Annual Grin & Bear It on July 24 and the 8th Annual Grand Traverse Summer Run and Bike presented by Black Diamond September 4-5 with registrations tracking well ahead of schedule and the events potentially reaching their max.

“I’m feeling confident they’ll fill up,” says CB Nordic events director Andrew Arell.

It all starts with the Grin & Bear It, a classic local event that has gained traction as trail running continues to grow in popularity. The Grin & Bear It is Crested Butte’s oldest trail challenge and has been going on every summer including the COVID-altered virtual event last summer.

Last summer was meant to be the debut of a new course option. Once the Baxter Gulch trail opened, CB Nordic vice president Martin Catmur and Arell kicked around the idea about creating a longer loop course option for the annual event in addition to the classic course from town to Green Lake and back via the Green Lake trail.

“We wanted to give the Grin and Bear It a whole new life after 30-plus years,” says Arell. “Create a little more of a difficult challenge and reinvigorate trail runners, especially local trail runners, to a new competition. It just made obvious sense once the Baxter Gulch trail was created to have an entire loop.”

The new loop starts at the same place as the classic course, but heads up to the bench and out Journey’s End Road before turning onto the highway to the Baxter Gulch trailhead. From there it’s nothing but sweet high alpine trail following the Baxter Gulch trail to Carbon Creek trail and then turning right to eventually hit the Green Lake trail and then descending down that back to the Nordic Center start/finish spot.

But, with COVID still putting the kibosh on large events, CB Nordic opted to do a “virtual” Grin & Bear It last year, including the new course, whereby participants would run either or both courses solo and times were recorded and registered via an app.

While virtual, it was by no means without excitement, as veteran Grin & Bear It racer and classic course record holder Tim Parr won the 25-kilometer loop course in a time of 1:59:16 and then tied with Cam Smith on the 15-kilometer original Green Lake trail course with a new course record time of 1:03:12.

Now that we are all back to relative normal, this year will be the first running of the new course in its intended way, with a packed start line heading into the hills.

“This is the ‘unveiling’ of the new course,” says Arell.

As of press time, the longer loop course is seeing a majority of the sign ups and Arell believes the “classic” course will be equally popular.

“I do expect a strong local contingent in the classic race,” says Arell.

Whether you do the new loop or the classic out and back, all participants will be treated to French Toast and beer at the finish line.

The Grin & Bear It also serves as a nice warm up/challenge for CB Nordic’s September 4-5 event, the Grand Traverse Summer Run and Bike presented by Black Diamond.

Last year CB Nordic pulled off both races with some alterations as participants were arranged in wave starts and, with Pitkin County (where Aspen sits) still prohibiting large events, both the runners and the bikers followed a course, some would argue a more arduous course, all within Gunnison County.

“I think the course put the hurt on the runners,” says Arell. “The bikers said they really liked it.”

This year will be a return to normal, with a slight tweak for runners, for both races. Runners will start bright and early Saturday, September 4 at the base of Crested Butte Mountain Resort, rather than in town as was done in the past, and finish in Aspen. The next day, bikers will line up in Aspen and then finish at the base area of Crested Butte Mountain Resort.

The races will also determine the Triple Crown winners awarding individual men and women with the fastest cumulative times from the ski race back in March and the run and bike races this September.

“So far we’ve got 16 men and 10 women in the race for the Triple Crown,” says Arell.

Even more exciting, at least for CB Nordic, is registration.

“It’s taking shape,” says Arell. “Registration is stronger than ever before. It’s still open but we are nearing capacity. Each year we’ve made progress and these events have mature legs on them now.”

All information and registration for the Grin & Bear It can be found at cbnordic.org. Registration and information regarding the Grand Traverse Summer Run and Bike events can be found at thegrandtraverse.org.

Returning from the Highway 50 road trip last week there was for once some hesitation about what we were returning to in the north valley. Based on the limited check-ins I had online over my two weeks away, it felt like the Aspen Apocalypse was here in full storm. Giant houses being built in wetlands, no employee housing anywhere, crappy condos selling for a million bucks, businesses not opening, swarms of tourists descending on us like locusts. Anger, entitlement, fear and loathing oozed online from our home.
There is not much doubt we are on the high end resort trajectory stereotype but there is still hope. Things always change but I think we still have a shot to do things differently. I commented to Diane as we turned the corner to head by CB South that there are a couple of things that still keep this place from going full Aspen/Telluride.

The first one I noticed is the fact that real working ranches still exist along the highway. The open spaces are not filling with condos but instead are filled with cattle and their recently born babies. The ranches here are not hobby horse properties but rather real working cattle operations and we are blessed to live amongst that industry and should support their ability to stay in business. That means protecting their water, their access to public lands and not supporting Front Range efforts to hobble their ability to do business. Initiative 16 that could end up on the 2022 ballot is one bad example.

The second thing remains the people and the deep relations forged in this end-of-the-road place over years and decades (for me anyway). Yeah, the changes to this place are coming at warp speed but where do you go from this valley where there is common experience that celebrates the common community? It takes time to develop community. For me there are regular social gatherings with friends that still anchor me to the valley. There is the ability to sit on an Elk Avenue deck like I did Monday and see scores of people who I don’t normally hang out with but who are part of the fabric of the town and we can connect on a sunny afternoon over a beer.

I see my kid who is living in town and riding the ski bum life developing those types of new relationships beyond the friend group he grew up with. He is connecting with other young adults here for the Crested Butte experience. They are riding trails, kayaking the rivers, closing the Talk and building their own shared experiences that will tie them to this still special place. Some will remain and others will move on but they are building CB bonds that last.

Those lasting bonds that grow here were evident last weekend at a celebration of life for a longtime local Jeff Pike. A crowd of grey hairs came together to reminisce over not just Jeff but the shared experience of his life and how it was intertwined with that group. There were ski patrol stories and construction stories, family stories and mountain life stories. It was a reminder of what the place used to be and what in some sense still is. It’s not just about the pretty landscapes but about the opportunity to be in the mountain landscape and share that with like-minded friends. There are a lot of pretty places to take a hike or dine in a small town, but it is the people element that makes CB unique.

A similar but younger gathering will take place this weekend as the 2021 Crested Butte Community School senior class will graduate on the soccer field. That ceremony is always a community event that brings together those with school-aged kids and those who have never had a child. It is the marking of a new group of the tribe moving on to the bigger world. Some will go to prestigious universities; others will head to “gap year” adventures. Still others will start a career in the trades which given our situation could make them millionaires before their peers get their masters degrees. No matter the post graduation choice, those that have had the privilege to attend CBCS are blessed. Our community school has once again made the list as one of the best schools in Colorado and the nation. That is a tribute to the entire CBCS staff and the community in general. Our community school is still small enough to make each student feel loved. It is still small enough for the teachers to know the names of every kid walking the hallways. It is still small enough to be able to focus not just on AP courses but extracurricular activities and small town life and opportunity. Congrats to this class and may you keep the bonds you made these last few years.

Oh, and one of my favorite gatherings with deep roots is Monday when veterans with ties to Crested Butte march down Elk Avenue to the cemetery. That starts between 9:15 and 9:30 with a mass at 10 a.m., followed by a lunch and polka party in the afternoon at Queen of All Saints. The old timers that come back this year will have a lot to talk about when they see the ‘new’ Crested Butte and compare what their old houses are selling for.

Of course, some of the warp speed changes are definitely making it more difficult for the new graduates and the ski bum crowd to stay and develop the special long-term bonds. What used to be a drafty and cold $150/month rental is now a fixed-up $3 million dollar home. While there are more people living in Crested Butte now than ever before, the new residents can make bank outside the valley and do not need to work as servers or ski patrollers. The young people wanting a cheap mountain town experience are less and less able to find it here. That is sad and a big step away from the traditional CB culture. Lord knows everyone is aware of the need to keep workers living up here and action is being taken seriously by both the public and private sectors to address the problem.

If anyone has the magic wand solution, I hope they wave it so we can fix it. If there is no magic wand, we can all at least keep chipping away to allow people of all economic means the ability to live in the valley. We’ve done better than most places (see page 10) but there will always be work to do in that realm. Bitching and moaning and striking (dumb) and whining is pretty wasted energy – give us some interesting ideas instead.

So, while I will admit that I get frustrated with the richy-rich changes we all see, the road trip reminded me to take a breath and remember the positive side of the valley. Yeah, we have become more Aspen/Telluride than say Silverton and that is not where I would have chosen to go. But there is still the unique ranching culture, the ability to hop on my bike from the office or front door and be on a relatively secluded and beautiful singletrack within minutes, the opportunity to laugh with acquaintances over a beer on a sunny Elk Ave deck, the treasure of connecting with friends with common experience.

Everyone has their tipping point, but it is rare to find someone who voluntarily left this community who doesn’t soon wonder why they did it. Remember — it is the people that keep it unique and that is why there is so much focus on finding ways to keep the people here. And for that we should not simply point fingers on social media, but rather find real ways to make it happen.

—Mark Reaman

While on the road trip these past couple of weeks, it became increasingly obvious that Crested Butte is not the only place dealing with rapid change. Most of the other nice places are as well and in conversations with people, similar issues are present. Housing prices are skyrocketing, businesses are finding it hard to get employees, and employees cannot afford to live where they work. Of course, there are always the not so nice places where housing is cheap and so are wages. Austin, Nevada anyone?

But I want to keep living in our valley in a real mountain community. I have purposely not checked in on much news while away, but I did see a lengthy Facebook chain about people worried and upset (as usual this time of year) about finding housing.

Before we left, a friend put forth a theory from another friend of his (a lawyer with many decades of experience dealing with Colorado mountain town land issues) that CB and other resort towns like ours have transitioned from an economy that is primarily a “labor market” to one that is primarily a “housing market.” In the old days, the town existed because laborers were needed to work the mines and to serve the miners. And then laborers were needed to serve the tourists. Now, the economy is driven primarily by housing. We still have tourists and businesses, but we have become a housing market first and foremost. What this means is that many people invest in the housing market but, for a number of reasons, have no intention of starting a local business or working in one, because they work elsewhere even if they live here (high-speed Internet), are here part-time or are retired. They are invested in the housing market, but not in the labor market.

That reality, which we cannot change, results in high housing prices, empty homes and lack of workers because those who need to make money to live here can’t make enough money to do so, given the tremendous infusion of capital into the housing market. As a result, the theory goes that the only way to afford a home here is to bring in capital from elsewhere. You just can’t make enough money here to do it. So, my friend postulates that “we may not be able to ‘fix’ this, if by fixing it we mean rebalancing things in such a way that locals who are part of the working human capital of the town and the valley can earn enough to afford to live here, buy a home, raise a family and so on. And the reason we can’t fix it is that our housing is simply too attractive to wealthy people who do not participate directly in our labor market, either as owners or as workers. Of course, the recent arrivals patronize local business, and many give very generously to local causes and participate in the life of the town in all sorts of positive ways, but their jobs and businesses are elsewhere, and that is where their entrepreneurial creativity and wealth-creation are taking place, not here. It’s not their fault in any way—it’s just the way things work now.”

To address the trend, my friend’s idea is not so much to fall back on the “tax the second homeowners” idea, or to continue to emphasize only philanthropic giving, affordable housing and deed restrictions (all useful ideas), but rather also to encourage and inspire those investing in our housing market to also invest directly in our labor market. Many who have second homes here do that in a sense already by generously supporting the non-profits in the valley, so there is a pattern in place. Instead of setting up another charity, however, his idea would be to create a for-profit vehicle whereby those with financial capital can also invest in local human capital. Call it “The Crested Butte Business Investment Fund”—think “CB Shark Tank” or a larger ICELab. Investors would buy into an enterprise to which local businesses would then apply for funding their businesses. The new fund would essentially be a small venture-capital enterprise. Local businesses would pitch a return on investment if the fund supported them with start-up or growth and innovation resources. This would then, in turn, serve the community by creating successful businesses that in turn create good jobs.

A CBBIF wouldn’t make it possible for local owners and employees to purchase the new norm of $4 million single family homes, but it could make it that much more likely they would get into some kind of local housing. The businesses would be that much more likely to be able to hire local workers and thus be able to turn a profit, and the second homeowners or new residents would then get businesses that are open because they have workers. The workers would get a roof over their heads and the opportunity to live in a really good place. And our new full and part-time residents would be able to put their skills and dollars to work in a way that draws on their experience with creating prosperity.

CBBIF. CB Shark Tank. This kind of free market idea might interest the new wave, successful people with capital who want to live or spend time here, providing a meaningful way to support the place they have come to love and integrating them into the community. The local governments can help with land or grants, with support for non-profits and appropriate taxation and deed restrictions, all of which have their place, but having a for-profit community-based investment fund might also help to make the affordability problem a bit more affordable. As my friend asked, “Is it pie in the sky? Perhaps. And if actually successful, such initiatives would inevitably lead to further growth, in a cycle we have been watching in western ski towns for many decades. Still, since this growth is unavoidable, such a program—that I’ve never seen in a town like ours—might foster a more community-based kind of development than we see when the housing market overwhelms everything else.”

Being on the road lends itself to thought and perspective. I am not sure if such an idea would really work but I do know we aren’t the only community dealing with the issue. I also know this community used to rebel against the normal way of doing things and endeavored to try out-of-the-box ideas. This might qualify as such an idea…and I would think the local planners and housing experts could determine pretty quickly if it would work.

Planners from the county and municipalities have been meeting monthly to set a housing direction. There are opportunities with land at both ends of the valley. Housing is top of mind for pretty much every elected official in the valley. I would expect to see more units available sometime in 2022. There is movement.

Anyway, it certainly is something to think about. Which is a perfect thing to do on a road trip…but then it becomes time for tangible action.

—Mark Reaman

You know that unsettled feeling you get sometimes when something out of your control happens and tweaks you for a day? It is Tuesday and that is happening. I know most everyone feels the weight of the 10 people murdered at a Boulder grocery store on Monday, but something might be wrong when life moves on in a sort of normal way, anyway. Yes, there are sad conversations about the tragedy and a vigil was held at a Crested Butte church Tuesday, but it feels like the Atlanta shootings happened a long time ago (it’s been about a week) and this latest incident too will feel like that for many people.

A mass shooting in a grocery store basically up the road sends a collective shiver through the community spine since we know people who have shopped there and may have even been there ourselves. Closer to home, we can no longer be sure that “it can’t happen here” but rather understand that the familiar faces of our neighbors who work the checkout lanes or stock the shelves at our local groceries could have found themselves in that evil situation. If it can happen there, we understand it can happen anywhere. Is that now a weird part of the “new normal?”

The unbelievable is no longer that — unbelievable. No one wants to be in a place where they hear the pop-pop-pop of a gun but no one would be shocked if they were. That is unsettling and should not be the new normal. According to a recent article in the New York Times, in 2018 there were 10 mass shootings where four or more people were killed in a public setting. There were nine the following year. Before the shootings in Atlanta there had been many incidents of gun violence but no such killings since March 2020. The odds show that you won’t likely ever find yourself in such a situation but it feels more likely than it did two weeks ago.

This place — Crested Butte and Gunnison County —is certainly more sheltered than most and I can think of few safer places but we are not isolated from issues. It was just a few years ago that the schools were locked down when officials determined a disgruntled employee could go over the edge. That rightfully panicked parents and gave a dose of the ‘real world’ to our sheltered community.

Other examples include the fact that a young woman was found murdered in the far west end of Gunnison County in the sleepy Arrowhead subdivision earlier this month. While it doesn’t appear yet there was a strong local tie to her or the alleged murderer, the fact is local officers are investigating a killing.

Local law enforcement arrested a man within the last week alleged to have been performing perverted acts on the bus. That can give no comfort to parents that have let young kids have the run of the place thinking the safety net was so much tighter than anywhere else. And it is, but still… It might also give pause to single women who haven’t had to look over their shoulder when walking alone. That is unsettling.
A longtime local called me with the story of what should have been a minor confrontation with what he assumes were tourists last week. The encounter should have ended when he threw out the word “Peace.” But the response from one of the women in the other group was that she had a “piece” in her purse and would use it if he didn’t watch out.

In the bigger, more societal picture, changes are fast and furious. If you have driven Highway 135 lately you know that there are some who can’t get to CB or Gunnison fast enough so they drive 70 mph, pass on sketchy curves and look at their phone maps the whole time. Just ask Sheriff Gallowich about the danger of driving that highway. He is lucky but still sore from a significant car accident near Almont a few weeks ago when a car drifted into his lane. Heck, it feels like the same attitude can be found on Elk Avenue from people who can’t get from the Four-way to the apparent Third and Elk mid-street unloading zone fast enough.

Of course, income inequality and associated tensions are growing as regular workers can no longer afford to buy a house in Crested Butte. Lots are selling for a million bucks and houses for a lot more than that. It is harder for businesses to find good employees since one of the beauties of this place was that people could live by and bike to their jobs. While that likely remains easier here than many other resort communities, it is disappearing and stressing the social network. It means having to work (or commute) longer hours and recreating less in the beautiful place you moved to so you could enjoy the great outdoors. As a former ski bum, that is unsettling. So is the rising rate of mental health problems among locals, the increase in property taxes, the rising tension between Black Lives Matter reps and a pretty liberal town government intent on doing the right thing, and the new normalcy of not always recognizing your neighbor down the street.

I’m feeling unsettled on this Tuesday and don’t like writing about it. Life is not as simple as it once was. That’s reality and given the positive trade-offs we have, we are still fortunate. So, give a smile to those who you may not know well personally but who add something good to your life when you are grocery shopping. Show some grace to people trying to figure out the right thing to do. Yeah, maybe be more aware in our valley as it changes and we see more “real world” creeps passing through, but appreciate that most everyone here is of common heart and good people who will have your back.

It’s all a matter of perspective. Most of it is really good…but Lord knows it is still unsettling…

—Mark Reaman

CB State of Mind bringing “green” awareness to community

[ by Mark Reaman ]

Crested Butte State of Mind wants the community to know it is okay to not be okay. One in five Americans will experience a mental health issue in any given year and it can be even higher in mountain communities, especially resort communities. In fact within Gunnison County, adult behavioral issues are documented to have increased 500-percent in 2020 and spring is always a period of concern in the mental health realm.

“The stigma associated with mental health means people may not recognize what is happening or are too afraid to ask for help,” explained CB State of Mind (CBSOM) executive director Meghan Dougherty. “At CB State of Mind, we are committed to ending this stigma.”
One public effort to raise the awareness will take place starting this Sunday. CB State of Mind is launching its first annual Mental Health Awareness Campaign in collaboration with the general community. From Sunday, March 28 through Sunday, April 4, CBSOM is asking friends and neighbors to join in this effort by placing a green light in your windows for the entire week to help raise awareness about mental health.

“It is time to shine a light for mental health awareness,” said Dougherty. “A green light symbolizes that you care about the mental health of everyone in our Valley, and that you support your neighbors (and yourself!) in their quest for relief, comfort and assistance. The purpose of this campaign is to raise awareness about mental health, but more importantly, to spark conversations and fight the stigma surrounding mental health.”

Resort community concern
It is increasingly obvious that just because mountain resort communities display an image of paradise, the reality can be very different for many people living there. Dougherty explained that mountain and rural communities, ski towns specifically, have significantly higher rates of suicide compared to the national average of 14 people per 100,000. She said locally, it is approximately 30 deaths per 100,000 people — more than twice the national average.

“In the past few years suicide and suicide attempts in and around the Gunnison Valley, and the number of hospital visits due to mental health issues is at an alarming all-time high,” Dougherty said. “Gunnison Valley Hospital (GVH) has seen a 500-percent increase in admissions to the ER for adult behavioral issues in 2020. Not even our Gunnison Valley is immune to the stresses of the world today. Some refer to it as the ‘paradise paradox.’ With the allure of the landscapes and outdoor lifestyles often comes a host of realities including isolation, lack of mental health care, easy access to firearms and financial stressors. The transient nature of resort communities results in people having to regularly rebuild their support systems and are often less aware of the local resources.”

If you have lived in a mountain resort community for any length of time, you know that spring is a delicate time for some people. “Spring presents a time where suicide rates are 20-60 percent higher according to Fotis Papadopoulos, professor of psychiatry at Uppsala University, Sweden,” said Dougherty. “For many locals, people’s jobs are changing or ending due to the off-season thus creating financial stressors. People are leaving town to warmer climates or to lengthen their winter days leading to isolation for those who remain. Moreover, with local restaurant and business closings, feelings of loneliness and sadness can set in.”

Providing free and easy counseling for those who need it
Dougherty said that CB State of Mind is part of a collaborative effort to get ahead of the problem. The primary role that CBSOM plays is making access to counseling sessions easy and free. “Since launching almost one year ago, CBSOM has arranged for more than 700 free sessions to those in most need. These scholarships connect individuals with a local licensed therapist and remove some of the most common barriers including the inability to pay for therapeutic intervention or simply knowing where to start. We are seeing this demand grow with over 300 sessions provided in the first two-and-a-half months of 2021.”

Dougherty emphasized that “you can help shine a light on mental health by one simple gesture of changing your lights to green.”
Green light bulbs are available at the Mountain Colors Paint Store, The Crested Butte Visitors Center, Townie Books and Mountain Tails Pet Boutique in Crested Butte. In Gunnison, they are available at the Gunnison Recreation Center, Gunnison Arts Center, the Western Colorado University LEAD Office and at Toggery Elevated.

Pick up a green light bulb or green ribbon and you can get entered for a chance to win a pair of ROMP skis.

[ By Kendra Walker ]

When COVID-19 first hit Crested Butte a year ago, the 2020 senior class faced a challenging wrap-up to the end of their time at the Crested Butte Community School – online classes, cancelled sports, virtual celebrations that should have been in person. While the end of high school is meant to be a crossroads, none of us, especially our 2020 graduates, ever imagined the difficult decisions that a global pandemic would add to figuring out the next chapter. But this resilient group of kids took it in strides, and has managed to make lemonade out of COVID lemons. Some are crushing it in school amid COVID protocols, some are working, some are helping others in need, and some are traveling and doing what most of us wish we had done after high school. Here’s a snapshot of what some of the 2020 senior class has been up to this past year.

Out of state at UVA
Some graduates continued with their original plans, moving on into higher education. One such student is Livie Nute, who last spring had already committed to attend the University of Virginia (UVA) in the fall.
“Last summer, I went back and forth whether I should apply for a gap year or just go ahead and hope there are some fragments of normalcy,” she says. “Most of my friends took a gap year, so there definitely was a sense of missing out but I felt I was ready for a change.” Livie decided to go ahead with her original plans and is now in her second semester at UVA.

“It’s been great and I definitely don’t regret my decision. But there’s certainly been some adjustments and really recognizing that the pandemic is not over. For first semester I was completely online and most extra curriculars and clubs were operating online as well. The hardest part was meeting peers because so much of it was reaching out over text.”

But Livie says there’s been a positive shift this second semester. “Three out of my five classes are in person, with spaced out seating.” She’s joined an outdoors club on campus, and has gone paddle boarding, rock climbing and skiing with the group. “That’s been super nice to actually have in-person connections again,” she says.

Livie says the university has done a good job of adjusting its operations this year for COVID. She says they’re taking it pretty seriously; everyone is required to get tested once a week, you have to be masked wherever you go and obey social gathering sizes. While protocols are similar to Crested Butte, Livie says Charlottesville is a ghost town compared to Elk Avenue last summer.

Livie lives in a dorm suite with six other students, and says while she is grateful for the interaction, it can be tricky to navigate a shared living space while taking online classes and exams.

Livie hopes to major in global development studies, with a concentration in public health and female reproductive rights. “What drew me to UVA was their global courses offered here. I’d like to learn more about expanding female access to health care on a global level,” she said.

Livie plans to stay in Charlottesville over the summer. “But I definitely miss Crested Butte,” she says. “The hardest adjustment was that a lot of people come from in-state in Virginia. It was hard knowing that I grew up in such an amazing place and people had never even heard of it. I still love Crested Butte and all my friends there.”

Changing it up on island time
For Mya Schaffer, the pandemic instigated a change from her original post-graduation plans.
“Back in the spring I was planning to go to CU Boulder. I was already enrolled, had my housing lined up and all my classes picked out,” she says. But when the school sent out an email announcing that classes would be online, Mya was not interested. “I’m really an in-person learner. So I decided I’d take a year off and get out of the town for a little while and see what else is out there.”

Over the summer, Mya worked at Pita’s in Paradise, and continued the job until the end of the year. At the beginning of January, she moved out to Honolulu, Hawaii with her fellow CBCS friend Emily Chang.

Mya took a job at a Japanese sandwich shop in Honolulu and is also working as a hotline advocate for the Colorado-based human trafficking organization, Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking. “When someone contacts the organization, we have a bunch of resources located all over Colorado to support mental health, shelter, food, etc.,” she explains. “We also take tips, and can report to the police if necessary. We are connecting people to resources, whether they are a community member and looking for information or a survivor looking for resources to get back on their feet.”

Compared to Crested Butte, Mya says Oahu feels a lot more laid-back with COVID because everyone is always hanging outside, but restaurants and businesses are still operating at limited capacities.

And for fun, “I’ve definitely been beaching, hiking around, exploring the island,” she says. She’s learning to surf, and proudly shares that she recently stood up for the first time on the board.

“I really do like the shift toward the beach climate,” says Mya. “I love Crested Butte, it will always be my home. But right now I’m not sure if I’ll go back, or to CU, or maybe I’ll go to the University of Hawaii. I’m just trying to live my best life, I might as well make the most of it and not plan too far ahead.”

Close to home at CU
Another student continuing on with higher education is Rena Elfenbein, who is currently attending the University of Colorado in Boulder (CU) studying molecular, cellular and developmental biology. “I’m on the pre-med track,” she says. “So fingers crossed I’ll end up in med school after graduation. I’m hoping to become a surgeon or a doctor.”

Rena moved to Boulder last August, but not without a close call. She explains she got exposed to COVID at work in Crested Butte about two weeks before headed to school. “It was a big scary thing not knowing whether I would get to move into my dorm,” she says.

Luckily, the coast was clear but Rena says that COVID has certainly changed everything at school. “I have to wear a mask everywhere I go. I can’t get into my dorm without a mask, I can’t get out of my dorm without a mask. I see friends on the street but I don’t recognize them! It’s really changed everything.”

But Rena has managed to find some social outlets at school, having recently joined a sorority on campus. “The sorority rushing process was all online,” she said. “We went on Zoom dates or had Facetime calls with the different sororities.” Rena joined Chi Omega, and has gotten to meet more people and attend social distance events through the Greek system. She has also attended some Shabbat events with a Jewish meet-up group.

“It still has been pretty difficult to meet people,” she says. “I understand why a lot of people didn’t want to come to school this year.”

Most of Rena’s classes are online, but she has one in-person class. She’s interested in joining the ski club next year, “It will be pretty fun to meet other people who like to ski.” Rena also hopes to study abroad at some point in the future when COVID is over. For now, she plans to stay in Boulder over the summer to work and maybe take a summer class.

On the road chasing powder
For former Crested Butte Mountain Sports teammates Kye Matlock, Holden Bradford and Dagan Schwartz, chasing powder has been the number one priority this year.

Dagan’s initial plan last year after graduation was to go to Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, and start working and snowboarding at Mt. Baker. “When COVID hit, school went to 95 percent online. So when I decided to take year off, I started road tripping a week later. I decided to just chase the snow – that’s what this year was going to be all about,” he says.

Last year, Kye had already decided he didn’t want to go to school right away and deferred a year to MSU. “Second semester senior year was online and I hated it so much,” he recalls. After graduation, Kye got a certification to be a wilderness firefighter in Salida and then decided to go to Alaska and fish for three months over the summer. Kye says he used his one paycheck working for his dad in Crested Butte toward purchasing an all-wheel-drive Chevy Astrovan. Kye spent the fall building it out and then met up with Dagan and fellow CBCS grad and teammate Holden Bradford this winter to begin their ultimate ski road trip.

Using storm-chasing apps to see where the most snow would fall, the trio traveled though Washington, hitting Mt. Baker, Crystal Mountain, Snoqualmie, Alpental, then down to Mt. Bachelor in Oregon, and on to California to Squaw Valley, Kirkwood and Alpine Meadows. “We just made our way toward wherever we thought it was going to hit. We got pretty good at it,” they recall. Then they hit up Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Alta outside of Salt Lake City. “Alta was legendary,” they said, recalling having the whole resort to themselves when the roads from Salt Lake had closed for two days.

Being on the road in times of COVID was an interesting experience, they say, but they stuck to their little group. “It depended on the state,” says Dagan. In Washington they wouldn’t let you in the ski base area lodges, only to go in and out to the bathroom. California was looser; lots of people weren’t wearing masks. And in Wyoming you could go in places and sit down.”

“Honestly, COVID makes road tripping a little tricky,” says Kye. “There are a lot of places you can’t camp anymore and we couldn’t go into public restrooms or use rec centers for showers.”

Looking back at this winter season, they agree that every day was better than the last. “I keep thinking, wow that day was the best, but then the next day might have been the best, and then the next day might have been better,” says Dagan. He recalls one late night pulling up to Snowqualmie after driving for 10 hours and realizing there was night skiing. “We immediately got out of the car, still in our street clothes, put our boots on and skied. After driving for 10 hours.”

Kye adds another experience, “We woke up at 6 a.m. in California and drove all the way to Jackson Hole from Tahoe. We got in at 2 a.m., slept a few hours and then woke up and skied all day.” The guys were in Jackson during the Natural Selection Tour competition. “That was super crazy to see those pros,” says Dagan. “Four of my favorite pros walked behind us and I was freaking out.” Meeting up with a former ski coach, they also got the hook-up and skied the venue before it opened up to the public. “We took six laps on a run that hadn’t been open all season,” says Kye. “With jumps built to launch with 4 feet of powder under you.”

The group just wrapped up their last week of travel together, now headed in different directions. Dagan will travel to Salt Lake to prep for his last eligible round of Freeride Junior World Championship in Verbier, Switzerland. “To be able to get over to Europe is why I’m doing it,” said Dagan. “To have an opportunity like this right now is huge.” Dagn says this winter has helped prep him in a lot of ways. “When you’re training with a team it’s definitely more intense and consistent, but at the same time when you’re just skiing what you want to ski you end up pushing yourself a lot.”

Kye is taking the opportunity to ski the Freeride World Qualifier adult competitions for the first time this spring. “I’ll see if I like them with the goal of doing the best I can and get my foot in the door with a ranking.” All of the competitions are within 20 days of each other, including one in Crested Butte on the March 29. “After that I don’t know what I’m doing,” he laughs.

But all in the all, the trio is glad for their time off. It’s really been great, we’re seeing places we wouldn’t have the chance to see if we were in school,” says Dagan. “We’re just flying by the seat of our pants.”

Music Man

[  By Dawne Belloise  ]

It seems as though Matt Lackey was destined to be a musician and luthier, all beginning with a childhood discovery when he was 11 years old and found a forgotten guitar in his grandmother’s attic. His dad had bought the guitar for Matt’s older brother, who then decided he didn’t want to play music.

“Dad taught me how to play a Creedence Clearwater Revival song, only three chords, the only ones Dad knew and the only ones he said I needed to start playing,” he recalls (those chords are G, C and D). Hooked on guitar at that influential age, Matt discovered his love for music. “I didn’t know where it was going to take me but it felt right,” he says of the transforming moment for the then 11-year old. When Matt was 4, the family moved from Danville, Virginia, to Concord, North Carolina when his father took a job as a mechanic and machinist for a race car team. Matt says that his dad’s job was to sit in a room all day and try to make the engines go faster. His mother worked for a bank. As the youngest of three kids, Matt admits he was spoiled, “Oh yes, I’m a mama’s boy,” he smiles.

As a child, he played baseball and basketball but he confesses, “I couldn’t make the teams.” In high school, Matt became more social. “I was just figuring out my grounds and who I was. I showed interest in some sports but high school was a transitional point.” And that’s when his focus changed. “I picked up the electric guitar,” he says, which was a different animal than the acoustic guitar from the attic. With the Internet barely alive and shuffling along in the mid-to-late 1990s, Matt self-learned guitar techniques through online lessons, finding guitar “tabs” for songs but he recalls the pain of the slow download of that era. “It was hideous how long it took to get online and you’d get online just to get kicked off.”

He persevered and found two other neighborhood friends who were also budding musicians. “They were into Nirvana grunge-type music.” Once they learned Matt knew just enough, they formed a band. “What was cool about them was they knew the tricks, the techniques. They played guitar and bass. There was a lot of jamming and they were part of the reason I started losing my grades because all I could think about in class was going over to their house after school and playing. We did school talent shows. We played a coffee shop downtown and that was the height of our career playing together.” Eventually, Matt joined a different band, a popular high school band that was composing their own songs. “We pushed that whole garage band scene because we weren’t of age yet so the only place we could play was in our garage,” he laughs.

Four years after his 2004 graduation, the band, named Offshore, headed off to find music and fame in San Francisco. They had gone through a variety of genres but moved more into reggae. “We had a love for music. I expanded into other musical instruments, mainly bass and drums. San Francisco was amazing. I had the greatest experience. I grew up in a conservative area in the south and San Francisco was a different taste of life. I met a whole different culture of people and I needed that because I had been around that one thing, conservatism, my whole life.”

Matt had moved away from home specifically for music but felt that his bandmates had lost track of their original music dream. A year later, he returned home to North Carolina because they weren’t playing enough and he missed his family. He discovered the mandolin in 2012, “Which led me to bluegrass music. My band buddy found his grandfather’s mandolin in the attic and brought it to band practice one day. I loved it. That was the ticket, it got me hooked on bluegrass. I left to go looking for music and I came to realize that my favorite music, bluegrass, was where I was born,” he says of his cultural heritage.

Matt had learned the trade of cutting and installing granite countertops before he moved to California and that talent allowed him to gain work right away and enabled him to live in the very expensive Bay Area. When he returned to North Carolina, he went back to work at that trade. “Doing granite has always been my ledge to pull myself back up on,” he says. But he was also playing music with other musicians. Seeing how interested he was in the mandolin, Matt’s father gave him one for Christmas in 2012. ”This is where the biggest transition in my life happened. I played that mando and literally wore it out,” he grins. He decided that he needed to invest in a quality instrument, “I felt it was time to buy a really expensive instrument because I just wanted to advance to that level. I wanted to sound cool and look cool. I wanted to look how I felt.”

Matt was committed to spending a few thousand dollars on a good mandolin when a friend suggested that he look into building his own for that price.”Gears started turning from that point on. I started talking to everybody and anybody about what it was going to take to build an instrument. I was enlightened to the point that I thought I could do it based on what everyone was telling me.”

Fortunately, his dad had a woodshop at the house. Matt invested in a really expensive piece of wood for his project, “A quilted maple from Canada. My dad told me I should get cheaper wood to start with so I built the first one out of mahogany. It was pretty awesome. I gave it to my dad. He doesn’t play but he’s a music appreciator.” He then built his second mandolin from the maple, having learned from the first build, “The whole experience of building an instrument has been a progression of understanding. Each instrument gets better than the last.”

That first mandolin generated enough interest that musicians wanted to purchase it, to which Matt responded, “The first one’s not for sale but I’ll build you one.” He left his full-time job at the granite shop to pursue building instruments, which later evolved into building fiddles. “I started going to fiddle conventions. I wanted to dive into that scene, meet more clientele and learn more about the music. I was going to these festivals carrying around a mandolin,” but the fiddling moved him and he felt he wanted to explore that genre musically. “I wanted to be a fiddler. It wasn’t that far a jump into making fiddles.” He had made nine mandos before taking on his first fiddle project. “I could feel my fiddle love was surpassing my love for the mandolin.”

After helping a friend build a gourd banjo, Matt dove into making one for himself, “At this point, I had to build my instruments, it was too easy to go out and buy one.” The banjo just didn’t call to him like the fiddle did, however, he was now considered a bonafide acoustical engineer, or luthier. “I hear a different quality, overall tone and playability,” he says of each new instrument he creates. He’s made 17 mandolins, seven fiddles and three banjos to date.

Matt detoured west to Colorado from a moonshine run for a friend in West Virginia. “I had a good buddy who was making good stuff. I was going to a music fest in West Virginia and to deliver moonshine to a friend.” The friend was going to an old-time music festival in Berthoud. Matt was curious about the scene in Colorado, “I wanted to see how these people were playing that type of music, having gone to festivals on the east coast and the south. I was ready to stretch my wings.”

He brought two of his newly made fiddles that summer of 2018, to sell and promote his business, “And that’s where I met Lizzy,” he grins of his new bride and fellow musician, Lizzy Plotkin. “She was interested in my fiddle and I was interested in her. She bought my fiddle and she took me to the airport and we smooched and that was all she wrote.” He made the move to Almont in 2019. “I had intentions of moving her back to North Carolina, but that didn’t work,” he laughs. “It’s expensive here and I ran out of money fast so I had to resort back to my secret weapon, the granite shop.” He landed a job making twice as much in wages as he could back east doing granite. The couple married in 2020 and are now proud owners of a house up Spring Creek. “I’ve built a wood shop and hope to transition into being a woodworker full time, not just a luthier,” he says of wanting to expand his business into making cabinets and furniture, “I want to do it all.”

Matt’s discovered skiing, too. “It’s an added bonus to living here and it’s become an outlet for me to express my thrill-seeking extreme side. Colorado has got it all when it comes to living life ­— it’s got my woman here, music, pretty views, outdoor activities and everything to encourage you to live a strong, healthy life both spiritually and mentally. This whole acoustical music experience has been a spiritual experience. It’s brought me closer to God in my life and I feel like all of these things have been given to me as blessings from God. People out here are trying to live their longest, healthiest life.” In their new lives together, Matt and Lizzy spend a lot of time playing music. “We play often around the house and I like that more intimate setting of home rather than on stage. I do miss my family. COVID keeps me from going back to see them but I want to go back and catch up with everything and once we all get vaccinated, that can become a reality again.”
You can check out Matt’s work at Lackey Instruments on Facebook.