All Local, All The Time
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I knew it. We’ve been hoodwinked, flimflammed and just plain ripped off. Really. After years of aerobics, anaerobics, Pilates and fitness centers foisted on us, which created a gazillion dollar industry based on guilt, bogus studies and ibuprofen, we’ve finally been told that exercise alone won’t help you lose weight. Well, duh. Thank you Time Magazine, you’ve confirmed what I’ve always known – “exercise alone” will not cause you to look like Princess Kate, even 10 minutes after she gave birth. What does exercise really do? It makes you reall...
We wanted to let Paul's [Dorn] family and friends know how sorry we were to hear about his passing. He will be missed at the Pebble. Over the years we had many great conversations about gemstones, natural stones and jewelry. We admired how he faced adversity and illness with a positive attitude and resilience over the years. Goodbye Paul, you will be missed. Kate Head, Pebble Art Jewelry, Niwot...
Every year the Niwot Nifties sing carols for the residents of the Peaks Care Center in Longmont. This year was no exception. On Saturday, Dec. 15, fully equipped with Santa hats, bells and song sheets, they arrived in full voice. Club members walked all the corridors singing to the more bedridden residents before arriving at the cafeteria and performing to a very receptive audience. A few new carols were debuted including I Wanna Hippopotamus for Christmas and The 12 Days of Christmas. A good...
For the 17th year, Dawson fifth and sixth-graders volunteered with Share-A-Gift this holiday season. Share-A-Gift has been helping children of low-income families in the Boulder County area with holiday gifts since 1972. Dawson students collected donations at the school for three weeks, and then both grades piled into buses and delivered them to Share-A-Gift. The fifth-sixth students, along with a few eighth-grade peer leaders, then spent the morning helping sort hundreds of toys donated by the...
At 17, Josie Whitley is clearly focused on her goals, figuratively and literally. The Niwot High senior is already an accomplished photographer, and has her sights set on one day working for the most well-known publication in our country’s history. “Working for National Geographic,” said Whitley, “that’s my dream in life. It’s a big dream.” Whitley, who grew up in Niwot and Gunbarrel, is displaying her work on the walls at Winot Coffee Company through the end of December, and it doesn’t take...
Some enterprising St. Vrain Valley business owners and entrepreneurs are trying to make a regular habit of meeting up to support each other while helping St. Vrain Valley women in need. The women, who all live within the St. Vrain Valley School District boundaries, gathered together for a pop-up shopping event at Cave Girl Coffee in the Prospect neighborhood of Longmont on Dec. 13. Selling goods and services ranging from hand-crafted natural hand creams to autism-spectrum tutoring, the...
Boulder County is now accepting applications for two openings on the Niwot Local Improvement District (LID) Advisory Committee, a nine-member independent board that “prioritizes expenditures of the LID sales tax revenue,” and makes recommendations to the county commissioners. The Niwot LID was formed in 1992 and authorized to collect a half-percent sales tax to pay for street, drainage and other improvements in Old Town. In 2007 following a successful Niwot effort to change state law, vot...
December is here, nights are getting longer and the first official day of winter, Dec. 21, is right around the corner. The familiar sights and scents of evergreen plants are in the air, especially at the entryways and insides of our homes. Evergreen wreaths hanging on doors, Christmas trees strapped to the roofs of cars. This time of year is a great opportunity for many of us to connect with nature, whether it is appreciating the scent from a wreath of cut branches, pruning some branches off...
Old age ain’t for sissies and until you’ve experienced it to one degree or another, it’s hard to comprehend the shifts growing old can bring. Our elderly furry family members are far more stoic than we are and, while in our hearts they feel like they’re our children, sadly they speed by us when it comes to the advancement of age-related changes. How old is old? Cats are generally considered senior citizens around age ten. While the typical lifespan of felines is upwards of 12 years, Dr. Nancy B...
First, multi-colored flags began popping up around Niwot, next the appearance of cryptic symbols sprayed on sidewalks. Then came the influx of orange-vested workers and similarly colored hazard cones, huge tarps spread across pedestrian walkways, and the arrival of lots of trucks. It was clear that a big project was underway. At least two dozen large sections of cracked and heaving sidewalk have been removed and replaced, along with curbs refurbished to meet the federal Americans with...
A group of local quilters has just finished stitching a batch of 48 quilts that they made to send a little comfort to the victims devastated by the Paradise, CA, fires. The quilters come from Boulder County, Denver and Fort Collins, meeting once a month in Gunbarrel at eQuilter’s classroom, to create comfort quilts which are sent all over the world to areas that have suffered natural disasters. The owners of eQuilter, their customers and their friends donate their time, effort and materials for...
Contributing to Niwot’s festive holiday decorations around town was on the minds of Niwot Community Association board members at their Dec. 5 meeting. The NCA put up holiday decorations this year at the Niwot Road entrance into town and board members agreed that they would like to add to that display. An informal subcommittee group, headed by Pat Murphy and Julie Breyer, are planning to hit the post-holiday sales to snap up decorations. In addition, board members expressed interest in working i...
Making a living off the land in Boulder County requires rolling with the craziness that Mother Nature doles out and to a great degree, being constrained by what county codes will allow. Boulder County agricultural land use codes haven’t undergone significant updates since 2012, and for some time now Boulder County farmers have been requesting a loosening of regulations that limit their potential to be more profitable. Started in late 2017, the Agricultural Outreach Project was comprised of staff...
[email protected] On Dec. 17, the Boulder County Land Use department held a community workshop at the Left Hand Grange to gather feedback and public comment concerning the Land Use Code in the Niwot Rural Community District (NRCD). About 80 Niwot residents, business owners and other stakeholders turned out for the discussion of potential amendments to the code, which earlier this year impelled a temporary moratorium on new development in certain parts of the district. “The rural community distr...
Employees of Treppeda’s Ristorante in Niwot were messaged at 1:58 a.m. Monday Dec. 17 that the restaurant was shutting down operations immediately. Owned by Howard Treppeda for 22 years, the business located at 300 2nd Avenue has its blinds drawn and a sign on the front door that reads, “Closed for tenant improvement.” The message sent to employee read, “Hello Team, It is with great sadness that Treppeda’s closes their doors today. We are not able to renew our lease due to the unwilling...
The Niwot United Methodist Church Choir’s (NUMCC) performance at New York City’s Carnegie Hall on Nov. 18 was a memorable experience for the small but accomplished group of local singers. NUMCC, under the direction of Liz Olson, had been rehearsing for a few months prior to their performance of Pepper Choplin’s Christmas Presence cantata as part of a 275-member choir. Choplin, who also conducted and directed the choir’s performance, drew rave reviews from the members of NUMCC. “Pepper Choplin ha...
If your new ‘smart’ technology makes you feel anything but, then it might be time to call Neighborhood Tech Services. Launched earlier this fall by longtime Niwot resident Jim Dorvee, NTS provides a wide range of IT and computer support services for the home market, from audio/visual integration, to online and home security, to laptop tune-ups and repair. “There’s smart doorbells, smart locks, smart thermostats, and all of those things often need to work together,” Dorvee said. “It’s no...
Thursday, December 13, 2018 – Friday, December 21, 2018. A pop-up community planning outreach booth is placed at the Niwot Emporium lobby as part of the Boulder County Land Use Code update to the Niwot Rural Community District (NRCD), which includes property along 2nd Avenue from west of Murray Street to Niwot Road. The primary focus of the outreach booth is to gather community feedback and public comment to inform the revisions to the land use regulations for the NRCD, enabling members of the public to provide input at their convenience. T...
This year’s Nutcracker performance by the Centennial State Ballet will be giving a special present to the audience. In addition to the usual professional production quality that the company delivers annually at Niwot High School, there will be an all-new orchestra playing some of Tchaikovsky’s most memorable compositions. The Centennial State Ballet (CSB) chamber orchestra is composed of musicians hand-picked by the CSB’s conductor, Rick Thomas. According to Heidi Lawrence, CSB’s marketi...
Beginning in January 2019, Twin Peaks Charter Academy (TPCA) in Longmont will be the first school in St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) to offer full-day kindergarten free of charge. Prior to this opportunity, TPCA offered either free morning or afternoon kindergarten classes. Families wanting their children in a full-day program were charged nearly $2,700 per school year, because Colorado does not provide funding beyond a half-day of instruction. According to TPCA’s director, Joseph M...
Boulder County will host a community workshop on Monday, December 17, 2018 from 6 – 8:30 p.m. at the Left Hand Grange No.9. Boulder County is seeking public input to shape the Boulder County Land Use Code related to the Niwot Rural Community District (NRCD), which includes property along 2nd Avenue from west of Murray St to Niwot Rd. The primary focus of the meeting is to gather community feedback and public comment to inform the revisions to the land use regulations for the NRCD. Areas of focus will include density, circulation and mix of u...
Just over 20 years from now, already congested traffic conditions are expected to increase by 25 percent along Highway 119 (the Diagonal.) According to RTD’s website statistics, 45,000 cars, buses, trucks, and bikes use sections of Highway 119 on a daily basis. By the year 2040, some 56,000 vehicles will be a realistic number. Acknowledging the current aggravation of traveling along the corridor and wanting to prevent worsening conditions, the Boulder County Transportation Department and the R...
Steve Gaibler, owner of the bustling Niwot breakfast and lunch spot, Garden Gate Cafe, converted his Italian restaurant in Longmont into a second Garden Gate Cafe location. Talk about a quick change over -- Gaibler closed Ragazzi Italian Grill the day before Thanksgiving, Nov. 21, and on Nov. 27, he presented patrons with a duplicate of his tried and true concept. Surreptitiously, while the establishment was still serving pasta and red wine, Gaibler began to make a few aesthetic changes. He put up reclaimed wood on the lower three feet of the...
The winning word was ‘diminutive’, but the accomplishment was just the opposite for Niwot Elementary fifth-grader Andrew Hudgins. The second-time finalist outlasted 12 other talented spellers to claim victory in the school’s annual bee, which was held at the school on Dec. 5. “I read through the list every night and memorized most of the words,” Hudgins said of his victory strategy. “I also practiced with my mom every day. She would read me words and I would spell them.” That daily commitm...
There is a snowman and Christmas tree, Which are in plain sight, for all to see. It couldn’t be quicker, So please take a picture, To give all in town some glee....
Twelve years ago, Niwot resident Jilly Gossett came across a basic sauce recipe. She began to tinker and tweaked the recipe to make it her own. One day, her husband said, “This sauce is outrageous! You have to start giving this as gifts.” She did, and the list got longer and longer each year. One year, as she was giving a jar to the pastor at her church, he grabbed it excitedly and exclaimed,”Oh, good! Jilly’s little jar of crack!” While she thought it was a little ridiculous that her pastor wa...
The tradition of giving books as gifts is practically as old as the printed word itself and, in fact, books were among the first items mass-produced and marketed specifically as Christmas gifts, back in the 1820s. Nearly 200 years later, books remain a popular choice for both givers and receivers, and not just for the holidays. A book can be a token of intimacy, of friendship, or even of just shared interest. A book can sometimes say what we can’t, and giving one at just the right time can m...
Last year at this time, Dale Peterson’s bold vision for building and equipping a new classroom and then shipping it overseas seemed like an impossibly complex undertaking. But thanks to a willingly conscripted army of both local and districtwide students, a brightly painted two-story structure wired for electricity and solar power will be trucked out of Niwot on Dec. 8, bound for its new home at the Mwebaza School in Kyengera,Uganda. “I’m feeling overjoyed that we could have so many kids invol...
Mwebaza Foundation founder and president Dale Peterson was in good spirits after the closing ceremony for ‘Cougars/CDC Creating Classrooms,’ held at Niwot High on Nov. 29. “I’m feeling overjoyed that we could have so many kids involved,” he said about the months-long project to convert two shipping containers into a functioning classroom that will be used at the Mwebaza Infant Primary School in Kyengera, Uganda. “I am also feeling relief that I will get more time with my family, but mainly just...
It all started with a letter that many Heatherwood homeowners received during the week of Thanksgiving, and it has quickly turned into a community coming together to educate themselves so that they can protect their homes and families. The letter from Rocky Mountain Hydrocarbon, LLC, was sent to homeowners who were identified through county records as owners of the mineral rights of the land their homes are built upon. Through the venue of the social media app, Nextdoor, residents voiced...
Few things in life start out as an exotic indulgence, but end up being a craving that you’re able to satisfy daily. That’s what happened when a kind of secret Japanese restaurant opened in the far corner of the Niwot Market. Who would think this tiny western town would become a haven for raw fish lovin’ folks? It’s all owing to Tsukasa Hibino, owner of Sachi Sushi, who provides us with a free steaming mug of green tea, deeply warming miso soup, and melt-in-your-mouth sushi. Oh, and ramen S...
The switch for one of the county’s most spectacular holiday light displays is now in the “on” position. From 5 p.m. to 9:45 p.m., Dec. 1 through Jan. 7, Chuck Rodgers’ fanciful, musical, and brilliantly executed drive-through holiday light extravaganza is on display for free to the public at 5980 79th Street in Niwot. Rodgers has put up thousands of lights at his house on the crest of the hill since the late 1980s. His gift to the community is an annual tradition that brings great joy to chil...
Thanks to the social networking app Nextdoor, when there’s an escapee cat or a dog running the streets, within a nanosecond the neighborhood is alerted and folks spring into action. The internet has loads of heartwarming tales about forlorn pets who’ve made it back to the arms of their loving families owing to a shout-out on Nextdoor. In the blended country-residential areas of Niwot, Gunbarrel and Longmont, it’s not surprising that animals of the farmyard persuasion also often warrant our c...
Niwot’s annual holiday parade brought spectators of all ages to Second Avenue on Saturday, Dec. 1, as well as some very good boys of the four-legged variety. More than two dozen community organizations and companies made their way down Second Avenue in full holiday regalia, led by the Boulder County Sheriff’s color guard. Bringing up the rear was the old man himself, waving from his usual perch in the Engine No. 10 vintage fire truck....
Casting a vote in the inaugural People’s Choice contest for Niwot’s Community Corner at Sculpture Park is a simple process, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy on voters. With eight diverse and highly engaging pieces in the running, the hardest part is choosing only one. “Honestly I didn't think we'd get the number of quality pieces we have to fill this garden in this first go-round,” Niwot resident Scott Deemer said. Deemer, who owns landscape design firm Outdoor Craftsmen, was the chief archi...
What started as a proposal for a modest “connectivity point” at the southwest corner of 79th Street and Niwot Road blossomed into a high caliber public art space thanks almost entirely to the efforts of Niwot resident Scott Deemer, recipient of this month’s Left Hand Laurel. “It was Scott Deemer's artistic vision and the generous contributions from his company, Outdoor Craftsmen, that changed the Connectivity Project from something ordinary into something extraordinary,” Chuck Kluber of the Ni...
Congratulations to all those intrepid travelers who went exploring during the Thanksgiving break. Though, by the looks of the fantastic picture the Brown family sent in, the bird, the scarecrow and his little dog too could still use a meal. First up is Dave Dell, who wrote, “That skeleton scarecrow/dog is in front of the first house on Niwot Rd. between 95th and 287 on the south side of the road. It's a blue house. I don't know its address.” Thanks, Dave. Then we have junior explorers Isa...
This past spring, an elk decided she felt perfectly at home on the Schultz Family Farm at the corner of Oxford Road and Highway 287. When she bounded the fence and joined Chester and Calvin, the oxen who call that field home, they graciously permitted her to share the field with them. There was some concern from passersby who thought maybe she was being held against her will. Others worried when they didn’t see her in the field and they thought she had been forced to move on or had been h...
Fifteen-year-old Fiona Nugent was a patient at Children’s Hospital of Colorado when a volunteer visited her room and told her about an art contest the hospital holds each year. Nugent was instantly interested and knew precisely what she would like to do. She wanted to create a painting of a landscape scene she’d photographed – it was of a snow-covered barn that had caught her attention on Airport Road. Nugent, a sophomore at Niwot High School, said, “I’ve always enjoyed art as a way to just c...
The results for the Enchanted Evening Window Decorating Contest are in! There were about 150 votes total, and while the competition was amazing and colorful, the clear winner for the 2018 season is Niwot Tavern. This is the second year in a row that the Tavern has swept the votes, and they credit their amazing wins to their window designer and decorator, Tom Studholme, who can be contacted at 970-619-9456 for people who wish to use his skills for their holiday window displays. The second place w...
On Oct. 17, the former home of Chris Finger Pianos and Powder Keg Brewing Company at 101 2nd Avenue in Niwot was sold to 3601 Park Ave Association, LLC, a New Jersey company. The LLC, registered to do business in Colorado, bought the building for $1,735,300 from the Christian and Barbara Finger Charitable Remainder Trust. Public records state the building was previously purchased in 1978 for $75,000. Architects Fletemeyer and Lee Associates will continue to occupy part of the building. The...
I look out and see patches of snow still frozen hiding in the northern shadows of plants and homes. We’ve been covered up several times in the last month by a wintery white layer of snow and even a little freezing rain. Ahhhhh…. a collective sigh of relief, seeing the mountains covered in white, knowing that we’ve been given the gift of moisture, a precious thing on the high plains. I’m grateful for that snow. Perhaps the El Nino phenomenon will settle in and bring us an abundance of precipi...
When Colorado coldness creeps in, the missing simple pleasures of digging in the dirt, admiring green textures in the yard, and watching buds turning to blooms can lead to an unfulfilled longing. Bringing home houseplants and cut flowers doesn’t always offer the same satisfaction that gardening can. Here are some easy indoor ideas to satiate those green thumb blues. Wheatgrass – This is like transporting a wee bit of your lawn inside, but you won’t have to mow it. You can just enjoy the fresh...
Since Michael Tomich and Patty Machen opened the door of Old Oak Coffeehouse a little over a year ago, it has lived up the symbolism of its namesake – it’s become a thriving and solid part of the community. So, when a smash and grab burglar made the cafe one of the victims of a string of small businesses robbed in the last two weeks, Tomich said the tree was a bit shaken. “To see someone in my shop, with a mask and gloves destroying and stealing,” Tomich said of the video footage he reviewe...
On Oct. 18, HPD (High Performance Devices) was recognized as and presented with the Photonics Company of the Year award at the Colorado Photonics Industry Association’s annual meeting. The Gunbarrel company received the award for achieving distinction in the industry and its contribution to the photonics economy in Colorado. According to the OP-TEC website, “Photonics is the technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon.” This...
Niwot resident Dr. Alan Stern has been appointed by President Donald Trump to become a member of the National Science Board (NSB). One of five new members to join the board, Stern will serve a six-year term through May 2024. Other appointees are scientists Maureen L. Condic of Utah, Suresh V. Garimella of Indiana, Steven Leath of Alabama, and Stephen Willard of Maryland. Stern is the associate vice president and special assistant to the president of Southwest Research Institute headquartered in Boulder. The distinguished planetary scientist...
A collaboration of the Boulder Ballet with the Longmont Symphony Orchestra (LSO) usually signals the heartwarming end-of-the-year classic, The Nutcracker Ballet. Along with what we’ve come to expect, there will now be the addition of an extra-special show at 1 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 1 when performers will host the Gentle Nutcracker, a sensory-friendly production that will be welcoming to all audience members. Tchaikovsky’s musical score is synonymous with the story of “The Nutcracker and the K...
Chris Doyle (left) and Paul Schafer, members of the Niwot Community Semi-Marching Free Grange Band, perform on bagpipes in a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I at the Niwot Cemetery on Nov 11....
Niwot’s 2018 holiday season officially gets underway on Friday, Nov. 23 with the 18th annual Enchanted Evening in Old Town and Cottonwood Square. “It is a wonderful family and community event,” Dr. Nancy Bureau, co-owner of Left Hand Animal Hospital commented. She is helping to organize this year’s festival for the Niwot Business Association, along with Chuck and Linda Klueber. “The best part of the evening is enjoying the sense of community that this event brings.” This year’s tradition-ste...