Noticias

• Safety First at the Bike Rodeo
• Telluride Farmer’s Market Celebrates Community
• Birdsongs on the San Miguel

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Safety First at the Bike Rodeo

Safety might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the rodeo, but this weekend, it’s shifting gears.

“The Bike Rodeo is an annual event on bike safety,” said Lindsay Dickinson, a Telluride Elks Lodge member, which is organizing the event.

Now in its fourth year, Dickinson said she got the idea for the rodeo as her kids were growing up.

“I have a nine and eleven-year-old, and as they were coming up in the biking world, I wanted to have the ‘third coach’ to support. Sometimes kids listen to other people better than they do their own parents.”

But it’s turned into a true community event, with information on how to ride the roads safely.

“There was a big callout for bike safety for all ages and the concern of e-bike safety, parent biking safety, helmet use, speed control,” she said.

The Elks is partnering with the Town of Telluride, Telluride Marshal’s Department, Telluride Regional Medical Center, members of the community and the Telluride Fire Protection District to put on the event.

Participants will be able to register their bikes with the Marshal’s Department. The Medical Center will discuss helmet safety and provide bike gloves and first aid kits. Community members will show participants how to maintain their bikes. Finally, the Fire Protection District will host a road safety obstacle course.

“They run three different courses. We have cones course, serpentine, figure eight. We have general safety. We have a quick, fast, hard stop opportunity to understand our brake mechanisms and when they need to be used.”

Then, wrapping up the day:

“We finish up with a bike ride and some food of course because by then you’re very hungry, and we do bike decorating as well.”

Dickinson said the goal is to learn bike safety, but also how to navigate the community.

“Not just general rules, but the community mapping on how your bike safety should look in live time with tourist traffic, intersections, lack of stop signs and yields.”

She noted the event is truly for everyone.

“We do start as young as 3 years of age with the strider community – using their feet – and we are welcome to go up to as old as one rides a bike.”

She added that can be e-bikes, one wheels or your more traditional human-powered cycle.

At the end of the day, Dickinson said she hopes folks will take the knowledge from the Bike Rodeo and send it out into the community.

“Perhaps some of these learnings that they’ve had from the attendance of the bike rodeo will not just be remembered by them, but shared with their friends to help spread community safety, and awareness of being able to look over your shoulder before you cross the street, make sure you’re using hand signals to indicate where you want to go. Have that be a share process and not keep it to themselves.”

The Bike Rodeo will run from 9:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 31, at the Telluride High School back parking lot.

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Telluride Farmer’s Market Celebrates Community

South Oak Street is bustling with a sure sign of summer.

“It’s opening day of the farmer’s market! And it’s beautiful and the sun is shining!” exclaimed Malarie Clark, who was wandering through the market with her coworkers from the Ah Haa School for the Arts.

She and Kris Kwasniewski had already scored big.

“I have a rosemary sourdough, some garlic scapes, and ranunculus,” Kwasniewski said, showing off her bag.

“In my very cute, virally famous Trader Joe’s bag, I have a little, tiny flower bouquet, some Mexican wedding cookies, and sesame sourdough bagels,” added Clark.

For more than 20 years, the Telluride Farmers Market has served as a summer community hub for residents and visitors looking to shop local, and for vendors from across the region to sell their wares. This year, there are nearly 60 booths.

Julia Levine, manager of the Telluride Farmers Market, said the market plays a unique role in a remote town like Telluride.

“Especially in a remote place like Telluride, a farmer’s market provides the opportunity for locals to actually consume local goods,” Levine said. “When you walk into Clark’s Market, not very many things in there are made in Colorado, let alone made on the Western Slope. That’s one of the huge upsides. We’re bringing regional, local goods to the Telluride community and make it really easy to access. It all comes here every Friday.”

Chloe Anderson has a new booth at the market this year — Chloe’s Kitchen. Based in Hotchkiss, the business specializes in clean-ingredient baked goods. Anderson said she started baking as a child and fell in love with the blend of science and creativity.

“I think we all need an artistic outlet and this is what I was good at,” Anderson said. “It’s really fun, there’s a lot of science in it — I’m kind of nerdy; I love learning the chemistry of why things turn out the way they do, tweaking it and how the slightest tweaks make a big difference.”

Further down the street, Brooke Barnhart is running her booth, Sunbird, where she sells handcrafted shrubs — vinegar-based fruit syrups.

“The word shrub comes from the Arabic word ‘sharab’ which means ‘to drink,’” Barnhart said.

Based in Dolores, Barnhart said the idea for her business came from noticing how much fruit in the community was going to waste.

“I was noticing how much fruit was falling off the trees and going to waste,” she said. “I was thinking ‘we need to do something to preserve this fruit. What can I make, or how can we do as a community?’ I thought, ‘maybe I should try making a shrub again.’ A lot of the fruit I harvest myself. I’ll also source stuff from other local orchards and organic fruit in the area.”

For both Anderson and Barnhart, the farmers market is essential to community resilience.

“When supplies break down, what you have is the people around you. It’s crucial to communities surviving,” Anderson said.

“People who want to get real food and local, this is the place to shop. To support those people who are adding that value to the community and are really the cornerstone of that community,” Barnhart said.

Back with her flowers, wedding cookies and bagels, Clark agreed.

“This keeps our somewhat broad community really tight,” she said. “Everybody can gather here, all the different vendors can come together. It’s just a beautiful thing!”

The Telluride Farmers Market runs every Friday on South Oak Street from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. through Oct. 10.

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Birdsongs on the San Miguel

Summer brings green hills, warm weather, and the melodious song of a bird. Next week, the Wilkinson Public Library – in collaboration with birding expert Katie Triest – is hosting its first Birding Walk of the summer. In honor of event, we’re rebroadcasting a story from former KOTO newsie, Eliza Dunn, originally aired in July 2024.

Story begins at 7:20.

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Mountain Village Seeks Public Input on New Gondola Stations

Gondola cabins get riders from point A to point B, but the stations at each end are a key part of the experience, too.

With a new gondola in the works, the Town of Mountain Village and the Telluride Mountain Village Owners Association, in collaboration with the San Miguel Authority for Regional Transportation, will hold an open house next week to gather community input on the design of future gondola stations.

The event will focus on the Market Plaza and Mountain Village Center stations. The Town of Telluride is developing plans for the Oak Street station, and all parties will collaborate on the San Sophia Station.

The open house will take place Wednesday, June 4, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Mountain Village Town Hall.

An online survey is also available for those who wish to provide feedback. It can be found at bit.ly/MVgondolastationsurvey.

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Telluride Arts District Seeks Local Artists for Summer Exhibition

The Telluride region is bursting with creativity, and this summer the Telluride Arts District plans to showcase local talent with the Heart of the Arts Telluride exhibition.

The exhibit will bring together artists from Telluride and the surrounding area, featuring paintings, photographs, mixed media, ceramics, sculpture, glasswork, and shadow boxes.

Applications are due Monday, June 2. The exhibition will launch with an art walk on Thursday, June 5.

Artists can apply online at telluridearts.org.

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Colorado Adds Drug Overdose Education to High School Health Classes

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed a law Thursday requiring the state board of education to include drug overdose education in high school health classes.

Students will learn how to identify, prevent and respond to drug overdoses under the new standards. The law also allows schools to accept gifts, grants and donations to provide overdose reversal medications like naloxone on campus or on school buses.

The bipartisan measure builds on efforts by lawmakers in recent years to expand access to overdose prevention tools in schools.

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Chronic Wasting Disease Spreads Among Deer, Elk in Wyoming and Colorado

A fatal neurological disease affecting deer and elk is spreading in Wyoming.

Hunters in Colorado are urged to report any sick deer and refrain from shooting the animal. Instead, they should notify the nearest Colorado Parks and Wildlife office.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife says about half of the state’s deer herds and one-third of elk herds have animals infected with the disease.

For Rocky Mountain Community Radio, KHOL’s Dante Filpula Ankney reports.

Story begins at 15:55.

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Norwood Author Craig Childs Explores Night Sky in New Book

Best-selling nature writer Craig Childs, known for his extensive work on the American West’s landscapes, turns his focus skyward in his latest book.

The Wild Dark: Finding the Night Sky in the Age of Light recounts a journey Childs took from Las Vegas deep into the Mojave Desert.

For Rocky Mountain Community Radio, KVNF reporter James Barr spoke with Childs about his new book.

Story begins at