Courtney is the new Mental Health Coordinator at the Estes Park School District. She comes from Texas, which is a vote of confidence in our book right off the bat. It's a delight to have her expertise and her passion serving our kids and our community. Mental wellness is so important for our students right now, thanks for all you do, Courtney. You can reach her at [email protected].

Michael has been the artistic talent behind Catch the Glow for 11 of the 13 years it’s been running. This year when a pandemic forced us to get creative about how to celebrate Christmas, Michael pulled a rabbit out of a hat and created a beautiful stationary parade of lights at the fairgrounds. He didn’t do it alone. He gives lots of credit to Rob Hinkle for campaigning to make this happen and a crew of supporters who run the details. The invaluable float team workers include Aimee Sawlaw, Rod Williams and Chris Biniek! There’s still one weekend left, December 5th, 6th and 7th. You don’t want to miss it.

Great segue from the fire to getting back to business. Anastacia and Kevin were just cutting the ribbon on Macdonald Book Shop on the day we were evacuated. Reuniting the book shop with the coffee shop has been a dream of theirs. Paula Steige has been running the shop since 1971, so this was a decision long in the making. We conducted this interview in the storytelling room, where the Reed boys sit and play at the same table Paula played at when her mother ran the store. It's a heartwarming holiday story. Help make it a great fire recovery story. Special order a book from Macdonald Book Shop that we don't have in stock & when you come back to pick up your book, you'll get a "delayed gratification" book mark for a free 12 oz beverage of your choice from Inkwell & Brew.

There is a lot of knowledge and preparation that goes into battling a wild fire. The most timely interview we could bring you after the evacuation and recovery of the Estes Valley is with Fire Chief David Wolf. Learn how he got into firefighting, where he came from and how the emergency response team makes decisions that impact our residents.

Not that we hope to experience this again anytime soon, but there are tremendous resources for families who live in the Wildland Urban Interface to be prepared, always. It's always good to have a plan. Check out these details at estesvalleyfire.org.

If you love authentic Mexican food or hanker for a margarita, you might know Ericka as the owner of Chelitos on Elkhorn Ave., or the Carniceria & Mexican Market on Dunraven St. She's soon to be the owner of a third business on West Elkhorn selling street tacos! You might know that she has three children and that her youngest, a precocious two-year old named America, follows her to work like she owns the place. You might know that she used to work for Crisis Advocates, that she sells real estate and volunteers selflessly, but I'll be you didn't know she used to practice law in Mexico before she came to America. 

Join our conversation and get the inside scoop on Ericka Santana.

You hear the name Nick Smith and you think of beer. You might imagine sitting on the deck at Lumpy Ridge Brewing Co. You might not think of Estes Arts District and Friends of Folk. Nick shows his true colors when he talks about his inspiration for this festival. We've even included a sample of the latest festival, which was recorded because of COVID -- forever immortalized for you on YouTube.

If you know Rachel, you know she coordinates public relations for our town’s destination marketing organization — Visit Estes Park. She works with magazines to write stories about our town and manages media relationships, providing a valuable resource for our tourism economy. What you may not know about Rachel is that she's a volunteer firefighter! Hear the full story here.

What you didn't know about Nick Molle ....

... before he was a video producer, Nick was a songwriter. 

Listen to his story.