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June 20, 2007
Snowmass Rodeo opens season
SNOWMASS VILLAGE - The Snowmass Rodeo opens today for its 35th consecutive season. The rodeo, with events such as bull riding, barrel racing and saddleback bronc will run Wednesdays through Aug. 22.
This season will feature new activities for spectators, including a petting zoo - returning from a two-year hiatus - featuring llamas, a goat and other animals. There also will be a motor-driven bull for budding cowboys to try out for $5.
Still, the main attraction remains the Grand Entry - at 7 p.m. - where cowboys and cowgirls compete for cash prizes in events such as bull riding, bareback riding and dally ribbon roping.
In addition, there will be a local drill team, a synchronized riding team and Anita Witt, with her trick ponies. Mike Land, an experienced rodeo announcer, will join longtime announcer Twirp Anderson.
"Word has gotten around among visitors and locals that there's a big party in Snowmass Village at the Rodeo Grounds on Wednesday evenings," said Chris Kelly, executive director of the Snowmass Western Heritage Association, the nonprofit organization that operates the Rodeo. "It's not unusual to have 800 to 1,000 spectators."
Gates open at 5 p.m., with plenty of activities, such as roping lessons for kids and $10 pony rides.
Kids younger than 10 get in free, and kids 11-15 are $10. Adult tickets to the rodeo are $16. VIP seating, in front of the bucking chutes, are $25 for adults, $10 for children 6-15 years old, and free for kids, age 5 and younger.
The Snowmass Rodeo is the best rodeo in the valley.
For more information about events and activities in Aspen-Sowmass, visit www.stayaspensnowmass.com
Posted by Dina at 08:33 AM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2007
Aspen Club Cares
ASPEN, COLORADO by Jessica Andrews (Post Time News)--The Aspen Club & Spa has long been considered the one fitness institution around town with a worldwide reputaton. Now Aspen Club chief executive officer Michael Fox is pumped about getting local members of the community involved in a weekly summer event to benefit good causes in the Roaring Fork Valley.
ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)--The Aspen Club & Spa has long been considered the one fitness institution around town with a worldwide reputaton. Now Aspen Club chief executive officer Michael Fox is pumped about getting local members of the community involved in a weekly summer event to benefit good causes in the Roaring Fork Valley.
“Tuesday Evenings at the Club will be designated as ‘Community Nights’ to benefit local charities around town,” Fox said. “We really hope this will be a great way to get locals out and mingle while supporting a good cause.”
The event should last from 5- 8 p.m. every Tuesday with a $25 admission charge to cover food, drinks and live entertainment. Fox said that Big Daddy Lee & The King Bees will be performing most Tuesdays throughout the summer at the Club during the party.
For the next two weeks proceeds from the Aspen Club happening will go to benefit the Susan B. Komen Foundation of Aspen, an organization that is dedicated to Breast Cancer awareness. The Komen Foundation is also responsible for the popular Race For the Cure hosted every summer in July.
“We’re already in the process of talking to a variety of local charities,” Fox said. “There are so many great foundations in Aspen that really should be recognized.”
We offer a free shuttle to the event, if you need a ride or want more information call 925-8900
Posted by Caseym at 08:16 AM
June 17, 2007
Live Music Tuesday
by Wendy Smith
The Aspen Club & Spa graciously hosts a gourmet feast with live music every Tuesday evening from 5-8 p.m. on the sun deck at The Aspen Club! Relax and enjoy the beautiful surroundings, fabulous food, terrific company and popular music by Big Daddy Lee & The Kingbees! The cost is $25 for dinner and a drink. Proceeds benefit a different non-profit every event. Call for free shuttle service 925-8900. SEE YOU THERE!
Posted by Caseym at 09:55 AM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2007
Free Half-Hour Of Personal Training
The Aspen Club and Spa would like to invite you to try out a personal training session for free.
Have you heard about the Aspen Club and Spa before and always wanted to try it out, here is your chance. Call Sarah Mickschl at (970) 925-8900 ext 204 to set up your free personal training sessions with 1 of our talented Personal trainers. Make sure to mention that you saw this ad in the SAS Blog. Sarah will connect you with the right trainer to meet your needs. This is a free no obligation training session.
Posted by Caseym at 09:50 AM
Aspen Mountain: Silver Queen rides again
Aspen Mountain is kicking off the summer with music and activities this weekend. The Silver Queen Gondola resumes daily service today and The Wayword Sons will perform Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. at the top of Aspen Mountain. There will be bluegrass on the mountain every Sunday during the summer season. Forming last year, The Wayword Sons are a new bluegrass band that features Benny Galloway (former songwriter for the Yonder Mountain String Band). Bluegrass Sundays continue every Sunday through Sept. 2. The concerts are free with the purchase of a Silver Queen Gondola ticket. In addition to Bluegrass Sundays and the gondola opening, the disc golf course, climbing wall, obstacle course and Silver Nugget Dig will also open today, and the ACES guided nature walks begin Saturday. Daily kids' activities and yoga hikes begin Monday, June 18. The Saturday Classical Music series resumes Saturday, June 24, and the Eurobungy Trampoline opens on July.
For more information on 4 Mountains activities, visit the Stay Aspen Snowmass Activity Planner.
Posted by Dina at 07:56 AM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2007
Food and Wine Classic in Aspen
Are you planning on visiting Aspen for the Annual Food & Wine Classic? Be sure to keep up your health and wellness routine. The Aspen Club & Spa would like to invite you to be our guest during your stay. Special pricing for Food & Wine visitors – mention this blog and receive a 4 day membership and complimentary 50 minute massage for only $280. (Savings of $120!!!) Contact Membership Sales at 970-925-8900 Today.
Posted by Caseym at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)
CITY OF ASPEN WORKS WITH FOOD & WINE MAGAZINE CLASSIC 2007 TO PUT GREEN MEASURES AND COMPOSTING ON THE MENU
Aspen, Colorado - June 11, 2007- The City of Aspen is working with the Food & Wine Magazine Classic to make the event more environmentally friendly than ever before. The City of Aspen Environmental Health Department and Canary Initiative approached Food & Wine to explore if the entities could work collaboratively to create a greener event. Food & Wine embraced the concept and a variety of new environmental measures are being taken at the event.
Similar to the emissions inventory done for the City of Aspen, the Canary Initiative will complete a basic emissions inventory for Food & Wine. It will include tracking the energy use (from the grid and generators) at each tent and seminar facility. The inventory will not include travel of the participants or goods. Once the energy use is calculated it will give the City of Aspen a baseline of the event’s energy consumption. This data will then be analyzed in an effort to lower Food & Wine’s energy consumption in the future. "This is the type of event we want to have in Aspen," said Calla Ostrander, Canary Initiative Facilitator. "Food & Wine was so eager to try new things and so receptive to these programs. This effort can become a template for how to run other special events in Aspen with the environment in mind."
In addition to the emissions inventory, the Environmental Health Department will be sponsoring a pilot zero waste program for three of the seminar tents, Paepcke 1 and 2 and the Little Nell Tent. The goal is to produce as little waste as possible in these three venues. All plates, utensils, garbage and compost bags are compostable and/or recyclable. "We want to find the biggest sources of waste during the seminars," said Sarah Laverty, Environmental Projects Coordinator. "Once we find out that information we can determine how to make the event greener in coming years and we can hopefully expand the effort to the Grand Tasting tent and other venues." Laverty will be taking inventory of the trash and compost at the end of each day and analyzing the data.
In addition, City staff will be monitoring what goes into the registration bags to see if more of the goodies can be made of recyclable materials.
"The greening of the Classic is important to all of us at Food & Wine," said Devin Padgett, Producer Special Projects for Food & Wine. "We're excited to collaborate with the City of Aspen and the Canary Initiative on measuring and improving the environmental impact of the event. While we are proud of our past efforts, we hope to continue learning and implementing new strategies in an effort to make the Food & Wine Classic a green leader in the event world."
In addition to the City's efforts, Food & Wine have instituted a variety of programs such as using recycled products, showcasing sustainable/organic vendors, selling organic merchandise, recycling and partnering with the Grow for Good campaign.
Stay Aspen Snowmass is a proud associate of the 2007 Aspen Food 7 Wine Classic
Posted by Dina at 09:49 AM | Comments (0)
June 13, 2007
2007 La Sportiva Trail Race Trifecta Offers Something For Everyone
Boulder, Colo., June 5, 2007- The 2007 La Sportiva Trail Race Trifecta takes place Saturday, June 16th and Sunday, June 17th on the breathtaking aspen-lined singletrack of Snowmass Village, Colorado.
A full weekend of trail racing fun, the La Sportiva Trail Race Trifecta is a trailrunning endurance race unlike any other. The Trifecta is comprised of three separate races: a five-mile sprint, a 2.9-mile hill-climb with a 1,364-foot elevation gain, and a half-marathon. Entrants are encouraged to enter one, two or all three races.
The top five women and top five men in the general classification with the shortest total elapsed time for all three races will share a purse of $5000. Additionally, there will be great merchandise prizes for the individual races.
The 5-mile race will kick off the weekend's festivities on Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. with the hill-climb starting that afternoon at 1:00 p.m. Sunday will feature the ultimate stage in the Trifecta, the half-marathon, beginning promptly at 9:00 a.m.
For more information about the La Sportiva Trail Race Trifecta, including course information, registration and special lodging packages, visit www.runtherockies.com. For an extensive trail racing calendar, news from around the country, and interviews with top trail runners, the absolute best resource
For more information on local sporting events, please visit www.stayaspensnowmass.com
Posted by Dina at 07:51 AM | Comments (0)
June 12, 2007
See Sean Fly
Thanks to our partner's at Aspen Expedtions, Staff member Sean Keery got to go pargliding over the town of Aspen.
Do you need an adventure? visit www.stayaspensnowmass.com
Posted by Dina at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)
Chili and beer fest sets record
In its fourth year, Snowmass' Chili Pepper & Brew Fest once again set a record, with about 7,000 people attending the three-day festival last weekend.
Saturday, capped off by a performance by Ziggy Marley, was the busiest day of the festival, with about 5,000 attendees, according to estimates by the town's marketing department. That's equal to the total number of people who attended last year. Friday drew 1,800 people and about 400 came to the locals' competition on Sunday.
Event director Josh Behrman estimates the festival went through at least 200 to 300 kegs of beer and 200 gallons of chili. Twenty-four breweries and 34 International Chili Society cooks participated in the weekend competitions.
Also, seven local home brewers and 14 local cooks faced off in the local competitions. On Sunday, winners of the locals chili cook-off were: Dan Beach with "Dirty Little Piggy" in first place, Steven Rodriguez with "Simply Delicious" in second, and Nicole and Ellen Hammes with "Damn Good Chili" in third place. Winner of the locals homebrew competition were Jeff Dahl with his Lemon Wheat in first place, Marty Swanson with Smoked Out Stout in second, and a tie for third place between Griffin Spit and his Unicloud Pale Ale, and Eric Cree.
For more information on events in & around snowmass, please visit www.stayaspensnowmass.com
Posted by Dina at 08:01 AM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2007
Public turned loose onto airport runway
Aspen Daily News
Philip Armour - Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
For two hours in the afternoon -- when rain, sleet and lightning effectively shut the party down -- airport officials let the public enjoy the repaved and silky smooth runaway on "any non-motorized vehicles," as one airport official greeting visitors put it.
An impressive menagerie of wheeled conveyances darted across the newly repaved runway, including skateboards of every shape and size, bicycles (ditto), rollerblades (with and without ski poles), kick scooters, a quadracycle (think: Flintstones car with pedals), wheelchairs, electric toy airplanes, strollers, and more. One guy was even harnessing the day's hurricane-force winds with a "wind-skate," a handheld sail that propelled him and his skateboard to frightening speeds.
"This is the last chance for the next 25 years to get out on that runway, so take advantage of it," said Pitkin County Commissioner Michael Owsley in a speech to thank and congratulate the airport staff and contractors.
Almost as impressive was the smorgasbord of free food and drinks served up by Back Door Catering. Sushi, chicken wings, watermelon, deviled eggs and more filled the tables. A large cake read: "Congratulations On Time. Door prizes included a free tandem paragliding flight with Aspen Paragliding and lots of bike helmets and water bottles."
"Where else in the world would they do this? Only in Aspen," said John Carter, one of the catering staff.
Local personalities made it to the event as well. Klaus Obermeyer, 87, was dressed in tight riding shorts and straddling a handmade bike from Italy painted in an American flag motif and stenciled with the word "Hawaii."
"A friend of mine from Milan made this bike for me and shipped it here to celebrate Hawaii becoming a sate," said Obermeyer, reminiscing about 1959.
"It still goes pretty good," he added, patting the 48-year-old bike, then turned to a friend and unleashed one of his trademark yodels. "Ciao baby!"
To remind people of the intense labor undertaken over the last 60 days, airport officials also lined up a row of massive construction equipment and snow removal machines near the front entrance. There was even a yellow-painted Saab 900 Turbo, marked with black letters reading: Friction Tester and a flashing light on the roof. Revelers zigzagged through the parked behemoths before zipping down the 7,004-foot-long runway.
Owsley said it took a total of 38,000 accident-free man-hours to accomplish the airport work at a cost of $12.7 million. The Federal Aviation Administration forked over about 95 percent of the funds, according to Owsley.
At its peak, the project had 125 workers per day and was spending $300,000 a day. Sixty thousand cubic yards of dirt were moved from the east end of the runway and 40,000 tons of asphalt were poured onto the runway, Owsley said.
Asked why the resurfacing project was not put on hold until the fate of the proposed runway extension was decided, Owsley said, "This had already been approved and the funding was lined up. We're still waiting on the environmental impact statement for the runway extension. There will also be a round of public commentary. These are two totally different projects."
"This smooths things out for us. It's a short runway at a high altitude so everything helps," said pilot Dave Faddis, director of flight training and standards for SkyWest Airlines.
"It's a good day," said airport director Jim Elwood, breathing a sigh of relief. Fielding congratulatory handshakes he touted the runway's new culvert, 20-foot paved shoulders, and repainted runway markers.
"We just wanted to acknowledge the community's patience and the impact the project has had one everyone," he said about opening the field to rolling revelers.
The first flight is scheduled to arrive today at 4:43 p.m. from Denver.
Posted by Dina at 02:26 PM | Comments (0)
Dubfire & Gogol Bordello at the Belly-up on June 9th
Dubfire (aka Ali Shirazinia)- one half of the Grammy Award winning and four-time nominated electronic music duo Deep Dish-is spinning a late night party at The Belly Up directly after the Gogol Bordello show. Playing the finest in house, electro, techno, and even industrial music, Dubfire's latest eclectic release features sound bites from Depeche Mode, Carl Craig, and Love & Rockets
For more information on concerts in Aspen/Snowmass visit www.stayaspensnowmass.com
Posted by Dina at 07:52 AM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2007
CHILI PEPPER & BREW FEST DEBUTS NEW MUSIC EXPERIENCE AT SNOWMASS VILLAGE
Here is the latest press release from Snowmass Village:
Summer's first festival unveils $400,000 in venue upgrades and exceptional new sound
Snowmass Village, Colo. -- On June 8, the Chili Pepper & Brew Fest not only kicks off the summer festival season but also unveils a completely altered stage look, sound-system and light system designed to drastically enhance the quality of the concert experience at Snowmass Village.
"These improvements considerably increase the level of production and sophistication of the Fanny Hill venue," says Stu Urfrig of Alchemy Audio Visual / Concert Systems. "This outdoor venue will be unparalleled by all other similar mountain resort venues in the state and has the potential to attract national A-list talent to Snowmass and Fanny Hill."
While the stage flooring essentially will remain the same, the town of Snowmass Village Marketing & Special Events Department and Alchemy have jointly spent approximately $400,000 to replace the roofing, sound, and lighting systems. The new professional grade production apparatus features a welded aluminum roof structure soaring 45 feet high and spanning 40 feet square. The roof system houses a state-of-the-art JBL sound system as well as a new lighting system. According to Urfrig, the "line array sound system is the best sound system available anywhere, while the stage and roofing size will provide more flexibility to the scale of productions possible." New hillside sod seating also will be completed in time to ensure festival-goers are as comfortable listening to the concerts as they are in awe of the new sound quality.
The Chili Pepper & Brew Fest summer music line-up features an all-star roster of performers. On Friday, Colorado favorite Sweet Sunny South starts off the music at 4 p.m. followed by renowned bluegrass act The Del McCoury Band. The David Grisman Quintet takes to the stage at 7 p.m. featuring the first opportunity to hear new band member Frank Vignola, who is widely considered to be one of the top ranked guitarists in the nation today.
On Saturday, the music starts at 3pm with a hot young up-and-coming act, the Spencer Durham Group. Acclaimed solo artist Papa Mali follows at 5 p.m. with four-time Grammy Award-winning reggae star Ziggy Marley taking to the stage at 7 p.m.
In addition to music, some of the world's top chili cooks will be on-hand for sanctioned International Chili Society district and regional competitions in Chili Red, Chili Verde and Chili Salsa to qualify participants for the world championships. The microbrew component of the festival offers the chance to sample as many as 40 different microbrews and check out which elite brewery is crowned best summer ale. Public tastings in chili and microbrews are offered on both Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, local chili aficionados and home brewers will compete to the tunes of local favorite Smokin' Joe Kelly.
Chili Pepper & Brew Fest festival tickets are only $15 on Friday or $20 on Saturday and include access to the outdoor concerts on Fanny Hill and food, beer, and wine concessionaires. For only $10 more ($25 on Friday and $30 on Saturday), a party pass for ages 21 and older allows unlimited access to the microbrew tastings and to sampling different types of chili each day. A weekend party pass of only $50 offers additional savings and incredible value.
Snowmass Chili Pepper & Brew Fest Event Information
Posted by jmidthun at 07:50 AM | Comments (0)
