TELLURIDE – With a growing season of fewer than 90 days, the high alpine community of Telluride may not seem like the ideal locale for successful food production.

That’s also why it’s the perfect place in which to demonstrate that food production is possible at nearly 9,000 feet.

EcoAction Partners is collaborating with Telluride Grown to help create two aquaponic demonstration units for this year's Mountainfilm festival. This year’s theme for the festival’s Moving Mountains symposium is Climate Solutions. According to EcoAction Partners’ Executive Director Kris Holstrom, building a robust local food system is an important step in finding solutions to climate change.

The project envisions constructing greenhouses to raise fish and organic vegetables for local consumption. The aquaponics demonstration units will demonstrate how aquaponics works, and how communities can create models of “urban agriculture” – even in remote, high-altitude locales like Telluride. 

“We are showing that growing food in the high country, though challenging, is both possible and fun,” Holstrom says.

Steve Cieciuch, a 23-year Telluride resident and co-founder of Telluride Grown, explained the motivation behind the project.

"After years of being inspired by Mountainfilm, I asked myself what role I could play in making a difference. I was very concerned about the long distance and high carbon footprint of getting our food to Telluride,” he says. He attended an aquaponics training session in Milwaukee, and the concept of Telluride Grown 'grew' out of that. Cieciuch connected with local food advocate Holstrom last fall; the duo have been working on moving the idea from concept to reality ever since. “We are incredibly excited to premiere the idea for a local aquaponics greenhouse at Mountainfilm, where so many great ideas are are born," Cieciuch says.

The goal, Holstrom says, is to create demo units for the Mountainfilm festival at the end of May which will also be available for display throughout the summer. Once the festival season has ended, the group anticipates incorporating these units “into our local schools, so that their impact grows locally as well as the ‘far and wide’ impact we anticipate from their presence at our well-attended festivals,” she says.

According to EcoAction Partners’ data, 100% of the food consumed in Telluride is imported, which results in a high carbon footprint. The most recent greenhouse gas inventory for the region shows that food is responsible for approximately 17-20% of the community’s total emissions.

EcoAction Partners and Telluride Grown are hoping community members will be inspired to get involved, and tax-deductible donations of any amount are greatly appreciated. For more information, contact Holstrom by phone at 970/708-0289, or email kris@ecoactionpartners.org.

OURAY – Celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, the Wright Opera House is about to enter a whole new era, as the second phase of a capital campaign gets underway that will be focused on the restoration of the facility. 

The Friends of the Wright Opera House, the organization which came together to purchase and preserve the historic structure as a center for the performing arts in 2010, has always conceived of its capital campaign as having two phases: purchase and restoration. 

“The purchase was very visible – we went from not owning the building to owning and operating it,” FWOH Executive Director Josh Gowan said. 

Since that time, there has been an undercurrent of urgency to get the next phase of the capital campaign underway, so that the much-anticipated restoration phase can begin. 

Making visible progress toward restoration goals actually makes it easier to raise money, Gowan said. 

So, with the FWOH board’s blessing, Gowan has started rolling out small but noticeable improvements at the Opera House. These projects aren’t structural in nature, but will offer a big bang for the buck in terms of the experience people have when they enter the historic building. Recent improvements include the construction of a new sound booth to protect the Opera House’s state of the art sound system, and a delicate, painstaking effort to remove decades’ worth of paint and plaster to expose one of the beautiful historic brick walls inside the theater.

Gowan is particularly excited about a new box office which is currently under construction on the ground level of the building. The box office renovation will create a functional workspace for ticket sales and information. 

“It’s the first step to a series of new projects,” Gowan explained. The projects can be sorted into two categories. First come the “access projects” which focus on improving access to the theater – ticketing, installing an elevator on three full levels, and redoing the stairs up to the theater level.

The elevator, slated for installation in 2014, will come up through the concessions area on the upper level, necessitating the reconfiguration of the upstairs lobby.  

“Each project, once complete, will get the Wright ready to receive people more comfortably,” Gowan said. “Then we can focus on improving the theater itself.”

Within the theater, another series of projects awaits, including the construction of balconies and newly-configured walls to open up more seating.

“It has been such a juggling act,” Gowan said. “It’s funny how in old buildings, there are so many little projects that are all connected. Just when you focus on one thing, you need to account for something else. The projects are so tied together.”

Full restoration of the Wright Opera House will come in phases over the next five to seven years as projects and their dependencies are established and budgeted for in advance.  

The full restoration of the box office and staircase, as well as the installation of the elevator, is budgeted to cost $250,000.  With $60,000 currently in the bank for the elevator, FWOH is tasked with raising the difference prior to getting started on the elevator and staircase project.

In addition to the box office construction that is underway, FWOH is also in the process of coordinating restoration of its roof, funded by community donations and a grant from the State Historical Fund. A second grant application to restore the building’s foundation has been submitted to the State Historical Fund and is awaiting approval.

Ultimately, Gowan said, the goal is to demonstrate that the Wright is an integral part of the community. The theater seems to be fulfilling this purpose already. In just the past two weeks, community members have packed the house for performances, ranging from Fifth Grade Shakespeare and a student piano recital to two performances of Weehawken Dance’s spring show and a professional jazz concert. 

With the second annual Summer Music Series just around the corner, the schedule at the Wright shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

“We stand by the philosophy that the more events we have, and the more we make this a community venue, the more the community will see the potential of what this place can be,” Gowan said. “We view the Opera House as part of the community, and that’s what this is about. It’s up to us, all of the community, to take ownership of it and make this restoration happen.”

Information about FWOH’s capital campaign and restoration projects can be found by visiting the Wright online at http://thewrightoperahouse.org.  

swright@watchnewspapers.com  

Twitter: @iamsamwright

DISCUS THROWER Lance Brooks competed in the 2012 London Olympics. (Photo by Steve DeAutremont)

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RIDGWAY – Ridgway Secondary School’s 28 graduating seniors will be inspired to relentlessly pursue their own personal best – whatever that might be – as Olympic discus thrower Lance Brooks takes the stage to deliver a rousing commencement address at their graduation ceremony next Friday, May 24. 

“This is a great opportunity for the graduating class, to have an Olympian speaking at their event,” said Ridgway Secondary School Principal Jim Bob Hobbs. “In terms of the hard work and diligence it takes to become an Olympic athlete, his journey has been the epitome of exactly that. Lance sharing a message with the class related to his work ethic, determination, and personal perseverance should serve as inspiration to all.”

Standing 6 feet 6 inches tall, with a 7-foot wingspan and size 17 feet, Brooks is truly a larger-than-life inspirational figure. The 29-year-old Denver-based athlete excelled in Track and Field in high school and college, but had to dig deep to find the stuff to become an Olympian. “I missed making it to the 2008 Olympics by 26 inches,” he recalled. “But, this did not deter me from continuing my Olympic quest.”

After four more years of incessant training, he went on to become the top-ranked American in the discus event at the 2012 Olympic Trials, placing first with a new personal best of 213.7 feet. At the London Olympics, he placed 21st.

Ridgway Town Councilor Rick Weaver will introduce Brooks at the commencement ceremony. Weaver’s well-known father, the late actor and environmental activist Dennis Weaver who adopted Ridgway as his hometown in his later years, would likely have made the 1948 Olympic Team in the Decathlon, “had he not spent the wee hours of the night before the trials pounding the streets of New York chasing his dream of becoming an actor,” his son recalled. “Ironically, London is where Lance Brooks did compete last year in the Olympics Discus Throw – a decathlon event. So, there is a connection here.”  

Dennis Weaver caught his dream, became an actor, and was later asked by the U.S. Olympic Committee to be a torch bearer prior to the Opening Ceremonies in Los Angeles in 1984. That torch will be on display at the upcoming graduation ceremony. 

“Many young people dream of making the Olympic team,” Rick Weaver reflected. “Incredibly, Lance caught this dream on his final attempt at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials, making the team by throwing a personal best,  and I hope he'll speak to and inspire the Ridgway graduates as to how they can catch theirs. It will be my honor to introduce Lance Brooks at the Graduation Ceremony next week.” 

Local businesses and families are funding Brooks’ visit to Ridgway and his speaker fee. A few more sponsors are still sought. Contact Toni Cotton at camelidvet.cotton@gmail.com or 970/318-6683 for more information.  

The graduation ceremony starts at 6 p.m. and take place at the Ridgway Secondary School. The event is open to the public. Beloved RSS English teacher Brad Fritsch will also give a commencement address.