Things to like, and others to not in this liminal time…

Not even including that weird month of March where summer popped in for a few weeks at the end of the ski season, it will be a long summer season this year. Memorial Day was May 25, and Labor Day will fall on September 7. Given that Memorial Day landed on an unusually early date and Labor Day falls on a late date, the summer season is an historically long 106 days this year. Yeehaw.

The liminal time — the period between the heat of the seasons — for us, is now. Last weekend saw a pop in people and it will be busier the next few weeks than it was in say, April, but real summer tourist season is still several weeks away…

Here are a few things I like around this time of year:

—I like the upcoming graduation weekend in Crested Butte. Our local Crested Butte Community School pumps out unique individuals that can either enter the “real world,” take a gap year or move on to the not so real work of higher education. But kids that grow up and go to school here form a bond. They might not always know it in the moment, and Lord knows there are more than a few instances of kids not always respecting or even being nice to their peers, but as life goes on, they will come to understand the special experience they had growing up here at 9,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains. And they will better appreciate all of those they shared the experience with.

—I like the off-seasons, including this liminal period. I like the pace, the people you see sharing the lean time, the feeling of small-town CB. The weather can be iffy but the opportunity to breathe is real.

—I like the intimate Memorial Day march by veterans with local ties on Memorial Day Monday. Walking in military cadence down Elk Ave to the CB cemetery is quintessential small-town America.

—I like, no, I love, our backyard. I love the soft green as the aspens begin to pop. I love the beauty of something as simple and nearby as the Woods Walk (or as CB old-timer Cindi Yaklich says it should be called, Ruby Bend). I love seeing friends and acquaintances from ages seven to 70 recreating on the nearby trails. Honestly, when the views from the Lower Loop become unimpressive—it might be time to leave.

—I love the action in the skatepark that I can see from the office window. People of all ages on everything from skateboards to bikes to scooters having a good time and encouraging one another. It’s pretty consistent over there by the ice rink.

—What’s not to like about Petrichor?

On the other hand…

—I don’t like running half a dozen obituaries in the paper in one issue. I didn’t know all the people named in last week’s CB News, but they all contributed something to the community fabric and will be missed. I know we are all headed to the same place, and to have spent time in this valley makes life more interesting than most, but that doesn’t make it easier to miss our friends and neighbors who have passed to the other side.

—I don’t like that the CB South POA and the Gunnison County Library District can’t sit down and find common ground — because it appears to me there is plenty of common ground. But it appears they will each spend a ton of taxpayer dollars on lawyers, many of which don’t even live here. Great…

—I don’t like that Colorado governor Jared Polis commuted the sentence of that crazy conspiracy theorist and former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters. She broke a huge public trust in our state’s elections system, and was convicted in August 2024 of orchestrating a security breach of her county’s election system in a failed 2021 attempt to uncover voter fraud. Those that work in the system, Democrats and Republicans alike, hate what she did and feel she shouldn’t be out of jail early. I agree.

Polis commented at a recent Colorado Sun event that his decision “will be remembered fondly” — only to have protesters unfurl an enormous banner that read “Eat shit Polis” as they booed him. (I like that BTW).

I won’t miss that arrogant guy when he’s gone.

—I don’t like that Donald has gone full mob boss in almost everything he does and his ‘family’ is jumping into the fray. Have some inside info on the Iran situation? Go put money down in the prediction market and rake in the windfall. Still not enough money? Make thousands of stock moves when you know what will happen and which way the market will go. Stillllll not enough moolah? Wave the magic mob wand and set up what has to be an illegal $1.8 billion fund for your friends and loyal outlaws. After all you’ll need them when you go one step too far… The sardonic response to all of this is, “Oh, I’m shocked, shocked I tell you!” Because no one really is.

It won’t be getting better any time soon… Donald’s pressure for absolute loyalty and fealty is keeping the underlings in line. His guiding light appears to make only transactional decisions whether it be pardons or government policy, which is shaping our country, and prizing omertà over the rule of law. The guy is playing Tony Soprano without the self-awareness. I’m shocked, shocked I tell you!

Anyway, good luck to the CBCS class of 2026. You will likely have to deal with the mob fallout that is coming whether you believe it or not. For now, in this liminal time, enjoy your weekend — but be safe out there.

—Mark Reaman