TELLURIDE – In the Telluride Adaptive Sports offices, they send people skiing who weren’t supposed to make it back outside to recreate. They see kids from Arizona with disabilities light up because they’re sliding on snow, sometimes for the first time. They hold classes for local kids to better understand disabilities. And they’re inviting you to help them with their mission – to get everyone outside, exploring the natural world. To that end, TASP invites everyone to don cowboy hats and wranglers on Friday, March 9, for its annual fundraiser, Goin’ Cowboy at the Opera.

Goin’ Cowboy, at the Sheridan Opera House combines Western music (the Vanishing Breed Band) with live and silent auctions and delicious food. The money raised goes into TASP’s outdoor programs for those with disabilities, including skiing, mountain biking and rafting.

Goin’ Cowboy Tickets, $40 in advance and $50 on the day of the event, are available at TASP offices, at Telluride’s Alpine Bank and at the Sheridan Opera House just prior to the event. The doors open at 6 p.m., and the live auction begins at 7:30 p.m.

“It’s a great opportunity for people to come out, bid on some wonderful auction items and support the adaptive program,” said TASP’s Matthew Beaudin.

TASP sends kids to the Special Olympics, runs winter ski and summer bike camps for veterans, and doesn’t turn people away due to inability to pay for adaptive instructions. Last year alone, TASP offered more than $80,000 in scholarships to those who wanted to participate in its programs, and provided more than 2,000 adaptive activities. TASP has also about 100 volunteers who make it all possible.

Some of the items up for auction include a stay at a secluded house in Nicaragua, a set of Wagner custom skis, a week’s stay at a historic Telluride house with two transferable ski medallions, a Nicole Finger painting, a one-of-a-kind trip to California’s wine country, and a stay for six at a home in Hawaii.