People are a bit worried. Can you say Blagojevich?

A longtime local businessman wanted to chat last week. He was genuinely worried. Worried about his future in Crested Butte. Worried about the future of Crested Butte in general. And this is a guy who has been here a long, long time and seen a lot of peaks and valleys with the local economy.
“What can we do?” he asked. “We just need the people that love this place to make a point to come back. It’s good for them and it’s good for us.”
He handed me a piece of paper with some thoughts and asked if the News would publish it. Here it is…
    
Wherever you are out there; if you love Crested Butte and/or someone in Crested Butte all we really need, in the way of your help, is for you to just come and just BE here. If you do that, you know that you will derive a sense of peace away from the world that is increasingly troubling and at the same time you will preserve what is here and in troubled straights.
All of us have a strong attachment to this place, whether we felt we could live here or not. THAT is our bond…the thing we share. Those of us here need to see you here and we would be appreciative of your presence.
Thanks,
CBBOA

I don’t know what the CBBOA stands for. I do know that Crested Butte is a good place to come to get away from the daily challenges of the “real” world. It is a great place to recreate. As someone pointed out to me once, the word recreation comes from the chance to re-create yourself when things get a bit out of hand. Are things a bit out of hand?  Can you say Blagojevich? Stock Market? Madoff? Housing bubble? Bailout? Blah, Blah?
And that one particular businessman isn’t the only I’ve heard here voice concerns about the state of the place. Retailers, restaurant owners, realtors, construction guys, property managers, ski bums all can feel a shift that is knocking us a bit off kilter.
So for those of you out there in the “real” world, think about the benefits of taking a few days and coming to a place you already know and appreciate. A place to refresh, renew and recreate. You will be better for it, the place will be better for it and so will those of us living here.
Hey, the snow is great right now and will only get better. Happy holidays and see you soon.