Good morning, Colorado. Memorial Day means the unofficial start to summer (although it feels like we didn’t get a proper spring, but maybe that’s the Southerner in me talking).
So I hope you’ve gotten your summer plans sorted and can start thinking ahead to autumn, because we’ll be kicking that season off with the second annual SunFest.
Hosted by The Colorado Sun at the University of Denver Josef Korbel School of International Studies, SunFest 2024 will be a daylong event bringing Coloradans together to discuss what makes A Better Colorado.
Tickets are on sale now, with discounts for members and students. Find the details (with more information to come) at coloradosun.com/sunfest-2024.
Here’s today’s news, as well as Parker Yamasaki’s weekly look ahead at What’s Happening this weekend.
THE NEWS
HOUSING
“Enormous progress” for tenants: Here’s how the Colorado legislature tried to help renters in 2024
Affordable housing was a much bigger priority during this year’s legislative session. After last year’s session frustrated housing advocates with a lack of help for non-homeowners, the state’s Democratic majority this year secured a mix of legislative wins and modest reforms aimed at renters. Brian Eason breaks it all down.
WATER
Fast-growing northern Colorado wins $250 million in loans for new dam, regional water project
Two significant loans from the state this month will help finance a new dam outside Loveland and a major regional water project northwest of Fort Collins. Jerd Smith details the $155 million Chimney Hollow Reservoir and the $100 million Northern Integrated Supply Project, two of the largest financing projects the state has approved in recent years.
OUTDOORS
Peter Landsman, the resort industry’s chairlift savant, has visited 3,000 chairlifts at all 750 ski areas in the U.S. and Canada
Peter Landsman loves ski lifts so much he’s made it his ambition to see, ride and photograph every single one in North America. He’s a lift supervisor based in Jackson Hole who keeps a website dedicated to documenting ski lifts around the U.S, and at age 34 has just completed a 25-year quest to visit every chairlift on the continent. Jason Blevins talked to Landsman about his ongoing life’s work.
THE COLORADO REPORT
🔑 = source has article meter or paywall
What’s Happening
Mountain Words. If there’s one thing festival director Brooke MacMillan wants people to know, it’s that you don’t have to be an intellectual to attend a literary festival. “It’s for anyone that’s curious,” she said. “Anyone that wants to have a wonderful time using your brain, learning about new topics and connecting with people.”
The Mountain Words literary festival in Crested Butte this weekend has nearly 50 different panels, parties, live theater performances and kid-friendly events.
The workshops can be a little more literary, but the panels span a wide range of topics and skew toward issues that affect communities in the West. Panel discussions like “The Future of Ski Towns,” “Writing the River” and “Public Lands and Future Threats” will bring together nonfiction authors and journalists to discuss pressing land use questions.
One of the events that MacMillan is looking forward to is the debut of “Singletrack! The musical” by Steven Cole Hughes, a live theater production hilariously deconstructing the 1980s sports action genre à la Rad —with more dance numbers.
A full festival pass costs $350 and includes access to all events, as well as exclusive discounts from local businesses (like $3 cocktails at Montanyas Rum Distillery). One-day and single-event tickets can also be purchased for those who’d rather pick and choose, while more than 20 free events will take place throughout the weekend. (Disclaimer: The Colorado Sun is a sponsor of Mountain Words, and our journalists have been on panels in previous years.)
Free-$350; May 24-26; Crested Butte Center for the Arts, 606 Sixth St., Crested Butte
Feels wrong that the Rockies are the only pro sports team in town left to root for already. Oh well, more reason to get out of the house this summer.
— Kevin & the whole staff of The Sun
Corrections & Clarifications
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