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Members of the business community in Telluride and Mountain Village are calling for an end to the ski patrol strike.

Nearly 100 community members gathered Wednesday afternoon at the San Miguel County Courthouse to voice their concerns.

“Thank you all for coming. We’re all here for one reason, we love our community. We’re not anti-patrol, we’re pro-Telluride,” Luke Brown said while speaking from the courthouse steps.

“We want to get back to sharing our love for our community with the people that we need to come and visit to support our businesses, support our families and our livelihoods. We’re asking for a resolution quicky so we can join forces as a community, end the fracture and get pushing in the right direction together,” Brown said.

Brown is the owner of Wild Oak Telluride, a local property management company.

The Telluride Ski Patrol Union went on strike Dec. 27 after months of failed contract negotiations with Telluride Ski Resort. The resort closed for more than a week, and Chair 1 is currently the only lift open.

Brown said the impact on his business has been “almost uncomprehensible.” He said the company has been operating in triage mode, trying to stop the financial losses.

“I’m on the front lines. People can’t call the ski area; they can’t call ski patrol. They call us, as the people with their accommodations, and we’re getting the brunt of a lot of their anger and frustrations,” Brown said. “We’ve got potential lawsuits, and all these things that are getting threatened upon us that are out of our control. The losses are absolutely significant.”

Brown said members of his staff have offered to go on furlough for January to help keep the business afloat.

Kate Contillo, who works for Alpine Lodging, said the company has lost tens of thousands of dollars since the strike began, with hundreds of work hours lost for employees. She said the march was not about assigning blame.

“The goal is not to figure out who’s at fault and what’s right and what’s wrong between the two parties that are negotiating,” Contillo said. “Rather to show that the community wants to find a solution to the problem, and wants them to find a solution to the problem.”

Marchers moved through downtown carrying signs reading “Make it stop,” “Unity now,” “Drop (avi) bombs not jobs,” “Telluride thrives when we’re all in it together,” and “This hurts innocent locals.”

Carolina Sanchez attended the march with some of her children. Her husband works in ski valet and lost his work when the mountain closed.

“He was shocked and then he also had to talk to the guys that work with him and explain to them that they couldn’t to pay anyone because of the situation, because of the strike, and everything going on,” Sanchez said.

She said her family will get through the situation because they have no other choice. She and her husband have four children.

“But still, it’s a lot of stress on us. It’s a lot of anxiety. It’s a lot on us as families,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez echoed Contillo’s sentiment that the march was focused on resolution rather than assigning blame.

“We don’t care who’s responsible for this or not,” Sanchez said. “They need to understand that they’re hurting all of us. The families, the businesses, the hotels, restaurants, everybody is being affected because of this behavior.”

On Tuesday, Telluride Ski Resort made a new contract offer to the ski patrol union. Union members plan to vote on the proposal Thursday.