All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
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The abundance of vibrant, carefully-maintained flower pots that has long been a signature of the summer season in Niwot was devastated by the midday hail storm that roared through town on June 19. “Almost every single container suffered some kind of damage,” Chuck Klueber of the Niwot Business Association Streetscapes Committee said. “Some weren’t damaged as badly as others, because they were protected by trees or posts or flags. It just depended on where they were.” Using funds furnished...
In the Kuria West district of southwest Kenya where the per capita annual income is $860, there’s a barefoot farmer weeding his cornfield. He pauses, reaches into his pocket, pulls out a flip phone and reads a text message that he, along with 500 other farmers, are receiving. In this remote area where there are only dirt roads, and there’s no running water or electricity, he’s reading a message informing him of a devastating crop disease in the area, and advising him that if he takes some speci...
Boulder Country Day Middle School’s STEM and Programming teacher, Phil Mayhoffer, has been selected to participate in the first cohort of the US LEGO® Education Master Educator program. The LEGO Master Educator program which is designed for educators in early learning through secondary school who currently use LEGO hands-on learning solutions in their classroom. The selected participants embody the LEGO Education mission of enabling success for all students through hands-on learning ex...
If you’ve driven past the intersection of 63rd Street and Hwy.119, you’ve probably noticed the solar array by the Reservoir Water Treatment Plant (RWTP). According to Meghan Wilson, City of Boulder communication manager, the array helps the city meet its goal of reducing carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2030. The RWTP was the second largest energy user for all of the city’s facilities. The panels will supply two-thirds of the treatment plant’s energy needs. Wilson said, “We are aiming fo...
If you’ve lived in Colorado long enough, you know that on any given day it can rain, hail, snow and/or either freeze or boil you to death. Monday and Tuesday, June 18 and 19 were just such days. From stripped tomato plants and trees to landscaping and flowers laid bare, Niwot and Gunbarrel were clobbered with marble, quarter and golf ball-sized hail. Here are a few photos of love’s labor lost as well as those of you who believe when life hands you a hail storm, go sledding. Unfortunately, whe...
Sponsored by Fabulous Finds The work of a few who quietly and reliably give from their hearts becomes the powerful way in which people’s lives are touched and forever changed for the better. Jim Jones is one of those people - a humble, caring man who has joyfully provided Niwot with his energy and positivity in a whole host of ways for more than 25 years. Jim and his wife Pat, both originally from Michigan, moved to Minnesota after college where Jim began his professional career as a software e...
Thus far only 10 percent of the thousands of right-of-way ash trees in unincorporated Boulder County have been adopted through the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) program, according to Michelle Ferguson, Boulder County’s EAB coordinator. Within Gunbarrel and Niwot there are nearly 200 of the trees that will be removed by the county beginning this fall if they have not been adopted....
Local teenager Jason Champion loves two things: the environment and Rock & Rails. So, if you go looking for him on a Thursday night during the summer, a good place to start is on top of an eco-cycle bin at Whistle Stop Park. “When I came here the first time, I absolutely loved it,” the Boulder Country Day seventh-grader said. He credits a school project for bringing him to the weekly concert series initially. “So, I kept on volunteering. It’s an amazing place.” Champion is a regular on the Ro...
Concertgoers were treated to a Motown revue at the June 21 show of Rock & Rails 2018 summer concert series....
Plans to turn the former site of the Neighborhood Learning Center of Niwot into a 6,405 square-foot veterinary clinic cleared an important hurdle when the Boulder County Planning Commission gave its conditional approval to Left Hand Animal Hospital’s site development proposal at a public hearing on June 20. After hearing testimony from county planning staff and more than a two dozen supporters, the seven commissioners in attendance agreed that the proposed renovation at 304 Franklin Street is b...
At its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, June 5, the Niwot LID Advisory Committee considered funding requests for the eighth annual Jazz on 2nd Avenue festival, as well for mowing of the future parking lot west of Old Town. Before hearing the evening’s applications, members reviewed Treasurer Harris Faberman’s report through the end of May. So far, the LID has committed to $109,314 in expenses in 2018, leaving $23,686 from the budget to spend for the remainder of the year. However, the report...
Gadzooks – Our fair kingdom can boast about quest seekers worthy of Don Quixote himself. No windmills this time, but instead they have found Excalibur. Congratulations to knights extraordinaire Edward “Torque” Nowak and Robb Haas. Then there are our knights-in-training: Paxton Lavigne, whose mother Marcie Lavigne said, “Paxton went on a quest and found the sword.” And Ben and Jon Lenger, who wanted pictorial proof of their find. There are no damsels in distress for this quest. Hailey Noterman...
Cottonwood trees planted in the spring of 1895 on the Caywood Homestead no doubt inspired the eventual moniker for the property on Neva Road – The Shady Nook Ranch. The Jones family moved into the single room house that was encircled by the Cottonwoods in 1904 and dubbed it that sweet name. In 1970, the Theobald family bought the property and this is where Tom Theobald started the Niwot Honey Farm. The house grew with a few small additions, but the trees grew even more and now safety concerns a...
Last September, Niwot’s Bob Keesy (65) got serious about getting himself a kidney. He’d been on the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) waitlist since 2013. But, as his kidney function got much worse, the prospect of continuing to wait beyond what he had originally anticipated was not acceptable to him. Besides attaching a large banner to his fence facing 79th Street saying “Bob Needs a Kidney,” he, his family and some friends began wearing t-shirts and hats, and placed signs on their cars w...
It was winter when the Makovec family uprooted their lives in Colorado to begin an experimental genetic treatment for seven-year old Mila in Boston. All efforts were focused on Mila at that critical juncture as she battled against Batten CLN7 disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disease which has been robbing the previously normal little girl of her of her sight, mobility, cognitive and speech abilities. The diagnosis of Batten Disease a year earlier radically changed the family's life and set...
Father’s Day has always been an odd holiday for me. I say this because when you get down to brass tacks, if you’re a father who is present in your children’s lives, every single day is Father’s Day. My son turned 11 this year, and my daughter is now eight. They are — hands down — the best thing that has ever happened to me and truly what made me a man. I suppose I wouldn’t realize what I was missing if I never had it in the first place, but the thought of that void breaks my heart. As a relative...
A dedication to problem-solving on Niwot’s behalf is among the reasons Niwot Community Association board members chose former chair Dick Piland to serve as the 2018 Grand Marshal of the town’s July 4 parade. “I am honored to serve as Grand Marshal,” Piland said. “But frankly, I was very surprised to be nominated. I think there are several others more deserving than I am.” Piland’s willingness to pitch in is a strength others appreciate. “Dick jumps into projects without reserve,” said...
A community meeting called by St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) to discuss the Boulder County Sheriff’s office proposal to store an AR-15 rifle inside Niwot High School (NHS) was quick to turn emotionally charged. An audience of about 150 people at Sunset Middle School on Thursday, June 6, unreservedly asked questions and offered opinions throughout the nearly three-hour meeting. SVVSD Superintendent Dr. Don Haddad led the discussion and was joined by five school board members, i...
Colterra restaurant in downtown Niwot has submitted a request for Site Plan Review Waiver to the Boulder County Land Use Department as the first step in its effort to rebuild the fire-damaged restaurant, which closed in October 2017. Bradford Heap, owner of Table 210 LLC, which owns the property at 210 Franklin Street, is working with his insurance company’s architect, James D. Powers of PowerSquare Design & Architecture, LTD, on the project. Boulder County Land Use Department emailed the referral packet to adjacent property owners and other i...
Alzheimer’s support group An Alzheimer’s support group will meet on the first Wednesday of every month. This class is free and open to the public, no registration required. The events are from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Niwot United Methodist Church, 7405 Lookout Road, Gunbarrel. Peaches fundraiser for NHS band The Niwot High School band instrumental program have started their 2018 peach sale to help with costs throughout the school year. To pre-order, visit www.niwotpeach.org. Currently the programs consist of a marching band in the fall, two conce...
This month’s topic is very important in my mind. We are seeing an increase in road rage, not only in our state, but across the United States. The reason road rage starts varies from situation to situation, but it needs to be taken seriously because it can be deadly in the end. I want all of you to be careful when driving the roadways of Colorado. It seems with the increase of traffic and the inevitable gridlock we have when traveling on weekends and holidays, tempers are rising quicker than ever. Here’s a few tips to avoid getting caught up...
When announcing that horn player Rachel Clark was the recipient of the 2018 John Philip Sousa Award at the Niwot’s band’s final performance of the year, director Wade Henricks told his audience that “high school programs are built around students like Rachel - they are pillars of the band that remain long after the student has graduated. I'll happily live in the house Rachel has helped build.” The John Philip Sousa Award is bestowed annually “in recognition of superior musicianship and outst...
The Niwot United Methodist Church has been looking for ways to utilize some of their land on Lookout Road and Mt. Evans Place in Gunbarrel, and Habitat for Humanity homes have been considered. A meeting was held in late May to discuss the proposition with neighbors and members of the church. Some concerns raised during the meeting included impact on water and sewer services and local schools, construction time-line, lot sizes and potential for loss of the view. Dave Emerson with Habitat said that the process began as a way for the church to...
When Niwotians Linda Vehrenkamp and Kathy Trauner met professionally, they instantly bonded as friends. For nearly 30 years they’ve continued their friendship as their lives unfolded; they met and married their husbands, changed careers, added children, and gave time to the community. Now they’ve decided to combine their talents and their kinship in a new business - Fly Away Home Decor. Last fall while driving home from an unsatisfying home décor-shopping trip, Vehrenkamp and Trauner brai...
A little more than three years after they were ordered to suspend their educational programs due to violations of the Land Use Code, owners of Longmont’s Sunflower Farms received conditional approval from Boulder County Commissioners to operate as a Demonstration Farm, a move that will allow them to relaunch their SproutHouse preschool and day camps later this summer. At a public hearing on May 24, Commissioners Cindy Domenico, Elise Jones, and Deb Gardner voted unanimously to approve S...
Ever wanted to start a small business? Heatherwood fourth-graders know how. This spring, students in Ms. Runyon’s and Mrs. Zimmerman’s classes studied economics through a unit called mini-society. During the unit, students paired up to form companies. Each company earned seed money, called Husky Bucks, by doing chores around the classroom, such as stacking chairs or taking attendance. Companies used their bucks to buy supplies and create products. Some students made items to sell and others cre...
The Longmont Downtown Development Association (LDDA) cordially invites alumni from all graduating years at Longmont, Skyline, Silver Creek, Niwot, Erie, Mead, Frederick, Lyons, Olde Columbine and the St. Vrain Online Global Academy to come downtown and enjoy food, music and old friends at the fifth annual St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) High Schools Reunion on Friday, June 8. Festivities kick off at 4th and Kimbark at 6 p.m., when SVVSD student band Bad Choices hits the stage, followed...
Alzheimer’s support group An Alzheimer’s support group will meet on the first Wednesday of every month. This class is free and open to the public, no registration required. The events are from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Niwot United Methodist Church, 7405 Lookout Road, Gunbarrel. Peaches fundraiser for NHS band The Niwot High School band instrumental program have started their 2018 peach sale to help with costs throughout the school year. To pre-order, visit www.niwotpeach.org. Currently the programs consist of a marching band in the fall, two conce...
You may have seen the most interesting man in the world walking in Niwot. His beard is white, his jacket and shorts reminiscent of a jungle explorer’s garb; his stride is measured and purposeful. David Bjorkman (DB) and his wife, Victoria Thomas, are Niwotians who met, lived, studied and worked in “unusual circumstances” as told by Bjorkman, and he’s not being dramatic. LHVC: How and when did you come to live in Niwot? DB: Victoria built a house here in Niwot in 1976. I arrived in 1983, after o...
The Boulder County Sheriff’s office is holding a meeting for the Niwot feeder community on Thursday, June 7 from 6-7 p.m. at Sunset Middle School to present a pilot program that would allow the sheriff’s department to securely store an AR-15 rifle inside Niwot High School’s main office. The rifle would be in a locked safe. The sheriff believes that storing an AR-15 would facilitate a better response time to an incident and provide the school resource officer with an important additional Resource. The department wants to receive public input...
Linda Johnson began her duties as postmaster in Niwot on May 14. Johnson has been working for the United States Postal Service since 1992, mostly as a carrier supervisor. She started her career in Denver before moving to Aurora, then to Boulder and back to Aurora. She was previously postmaster in Hudson before coming to Niwot. “I like the people here, they’re really nice,” Johnson said. “I came from a bigger office, Boulder main. This is down to two people, so it’s more personable. I’m just...
Last week the Colorado Lottery announced winners of the 2018 Starburst Awards, which recognize public projects that use lottery funds, and the Niwot Children’s Park was one of 11 winners chosen statewide. The lottery funds — in the amount of $140,000 — came out to be about 70 percent of the purchase price of the property the park sits on at 101 First Avenue in Niwot, with Jeff and Cynthia Lambert and funds from the Niwot community providing the balance. Another $20,700 of services were donat...
It turns out, if you give a first-grader the opportunity to deep dive into their inquisitive minds, a torrent of inspiration and ingenuity will be the probable outcome. Teacher Kelly Bernhardt dared each of her 24 students at Niwot Elementary (NES) to do just that through a process called the Genius Hour. Originally used by inventive companies, the Genius Hour gives employees freedom to wander through their own thoughts while on the job. After selecting what lights them up the most from their...
Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle, and the Boulder Public Defender’s Office are leading an effort to form a Mental Health Diversion Pilot Program in Boulder County. This program would divert low-level offenders out of the jail — prior to any charges being filed — to provide them with mental health treatment. Dougherty has agreed to defer the filing of charges on individuals in need of treatment. The program is designed to enhance systems support and treatment of the contributing factors driving crimi...
Alzheimer’s support group An Alzheimer’s support group will meet on the first Wednesday of every month. This class is free and open to the public, no registration required. The events are from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Niwot United Methodist Church, 7405 Lookout Road, Gunbarrel. Open House Boulder Rural Fire Rescue will be hosting an open house with fire engines, hoses, a bouncy castle, face painting and many demonstrations throughout the event, which is free and open to the public. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jun...
Girl Scout Troop 3010 recently completed a drive that grew bigger than expected for its Bronze Award project. Troop Leader Julie Dye of Gunbarrel said that the award is for scouts at the Junior Level, and that students at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation have always been on their radar for a future project. “The Troop has been fascinated by building this year, with robotics and tinkering and designing,” Dye said. “The project we came up with for their bronze award was to create tinke...
Maddie Dangerfield moved to Colorado from Maryland three summers ago, just before she started her freshman year at Niwot High School. Throughout middle school, she had been involved with Best Buddies. Best Buddies is an international organization for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their peers without disabilities. The group’s website states, “Our programs empower the special abilities of people with IDD by helping them form meaningful friendships with the...
A public meeting was held at the Left Hand Grange last week to discuss an upcoming project in the Morton Heights neighborhood of Niwot. The project will update and improve sidewalks around Niwot Elementary School, specifically on Morton Road, Walker Avenue and Marathon Road. Dave Webster with the Boulder County Transportation Department led the meeting, which was attended by over 20 people. The project somewhat started with the asphalt bicycle and pedestrian track that was laid on Morton Road la...
Alzheimer’s support group An Alzheimer’s support group will meet on the first Wednesday of every month. This class is free and open to the public, no registration required. The events are from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Niwot United Methodist Church, 7405 Lookout Road, Gunbarrel. Open House Boulder Rural Fire Rescue will be hosting an open house with fire engines, hoses, a bouncy castle, face painting and many demonstrations throughout the event, which is free and open to the public. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jun...
…In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. Benjamin Franklin – 1789 There is one thing I’ve learned in life – everything has a consequence. But it’s the unintended consequences that often catch us by surprise. Tariffs have been in the news lately. Simply put, (thank you Google) a tariff is “a tax or duty to be paid on a particular class of imports or exports.” Tariffs are said to protect jobs and goods. If a tariff is placed on materials coming into the country, those materials, either finished or unfinished, w...
The 13th-annual Rock & Rails summer concert series kicks off on June 7 and organizers are gearing up for another great summer of live music and family fun on Thursday nights at Whistlestop Park. Opening acts take the stage at 5 p.m., for an hour, followed by a headliner, with music resuming around 6:30. There is no charge for admission, and seating is “bring-your-own” on a first-come, first-serve basis. Leading things off this season is longtime local guitarist Dean Himes in the early show, foll...
The Regional Transportation District (RTD) is holding public meetings May 23 and May 24 on the progress toward implementing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service on State Highway 119, between and within the cities of Boulder and Longmont. The meetings, which are open to the public, will seek input and provide an update on the process. A consultant team, led by Parsons Transportation Group, is evaluating alternatives to the growing congestion and travel demand in the corridor as well as environmental impacts, multimodal access, transit reliability...
At Niwot High School, the name McKynzie Clark has become synonymous with “leader.” In fact, it might be easier to list the clubs and organizations that she hasn’t helmed over the past four years than the ones she has. A non-exhaustive list of her titles just from senior year includes President of National Honor Society, captain of the Forensics interpretive team, lead prosecutor for Mock Trial, and co-director of The Drowsy Chaperone. Her talents also extend to the classroom, where she’s...
Niwot’s Bootstrap Brewing Company added another accolade to its already long list when long-time customer favorite Wreak Havoc was awarded a Bronze medal in the Imperial Red Ale category at the 2018 World Beer Cup. “We are absolutely thrilled about it,” Leslie Kaczeus said. She owns Bootstrap Brewing with husband Steve Kaczeus. “The World Beer Cup is one of the most prestigious blind beer tasting competitions in the world.” Hailed as the “Olympics of Beer,” the biennial competition ...
Boulder County Commissioners met with Xcel Energy officials on May 8 to discuss the current status of the energy company’s Valmont power plant. Following the cessation of most of the facility’s coal operations in 2017, cleanup and containment efforts have been in process. Both the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the federal Environmental Protection Association regulations determine the specific directives to which Xcel must adhere throughout the process. Commissioners Elise Jones, Cindy Domenico, and Deb Gardner wer...
Heatherwood Elementary School (HES) won the lottery when Carrie O’Boyle moved to Gunbarrel seven years ago. Her husband Patrick was starting a new job in the area, so after more than 20 years in Madison, WI, the couple and their two young children headed to Colorado. The O’Boyle boys are Finn, now 11 and attending Platt Middle School, and Cormac (Mac), 9, a fourth-grader at HES. “Carrie, a valued volunteer at Heatherwood Elementary, is always willing to pitch in where needed and lend a helpi...
Students in kindergarten through fifth grade at Rocky Mountain Christian Academy (RMCA) had a special guest during their book fair last week. Children’s author Julie Danneberg of Boulder, came to speak to the students and their teachers, and conducted a reading of her book, “John Muir Wrestles a Waterfall,” followed by a meet-and-greet signing. “John Muir Wrestles a Waterfall” is a fictional tale about the famous naturist and founder of the Sierra Club going behind the Yosemite Falls, and the wonderful things he sees. Sarah Overturf, librarian...
Although it may seem that Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Walmart, and Kroger (King Soopers) have cornered the market on drug sales, there are more than 22,000 independent pharmacies across the United States according to the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA). Flatirons Family Pharmacy, on the southwest corner of Highway 287 and Ken Pratt Boulevard, is one of the 150 plus independent pharmacies in Colorado, according to NCPA’s 2016 Digest report. Opened four years ago by o...
Boulder County Transportation Department held an informational meeting May 14 at Niwot High School to update the public on the status of the Quiet Zone project along Highway 119 between Boulder and Longmont. Quiet zones are a system of warning signs and physical barriers (raised medians, quad gates, and channelizing devices) that fulfill the safety requirements of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and eliminate the need for train engineers to sound horns as they approach each crossing. To an audience of approximately 40 local...
