Holidays in the Rockies
The holiday season in Gunnison-Crested Butte, Colorado is all about embracing family and friends and kicking back for a little high country fun. The magic happens all on its own in this part of the Colorado Rockies, where life is still pure, simple and authentic. The season for winter sports kicks off just in time for Thanksgiving celebrations, with Crested Butte Nordic Center opening Nov. 22 and Crested Butte Mountain Resort ski area opening Nov. 26.
CB Nordic Progressive Bonfire Dinner
The Crested Butte Nordic Council's annual Progressive Bonfire Dinner is a unique culinary journey that takes participants along a luminary-lit path for a four-star, four-course, four-fire meal. Snowshoes and Nordic skis are the mode of transportation, and the camaraderie of sitting around crackling fires and dining on good food and warm drinks along the way makes this event on March 21, 2009, one truly for the memory books.
CB Nordic Alley Loop
The 23rd annual Alley Loop Nordic Marathon on Jan. 31, 2009 not only is the highest-altitude Nordic marathon in the United States, it reflects the athletic and free-spirited nature of Crested Butte, Colo. This American Birkebeiner qualifying race starts and finishes in the heart of Crested Butte on Elk Avenue (a National Historic District since 1974) and winds its way through streets, alleyways and Nordic trail system located on the outskirts of this historic mining town.
Crested Butte Nordic Thanksgiving Training Camp
Nordic enthusiasts are invited to post-Thanksgiving workouts in Crested Butte, Colo. Join former Olympians Rebecca Dussault, Kendall and Ingrid Butts and other great instructors for this early season, high-altitude ski training. Working off turkey dinner is another bonus at the Crested Butte Nordic Council's Thanksgiving Training Camp.
With all clinics held at elevations in excess of 8,800 feet, camp participants of all levels are sure to get a jump on conditioning for a successful season of competitive racing, recreational touring or fun winter exercise. For more information or to register, call Crested Butte Nordic Center at (970) 349-1707 or visit http://www.cbnordic.org/. Clinics are designed to enhance and improve skills and are limited to approximately 12 people in each, so register early.
Crested Butte Nordic Center, Progressive Bonfire Dinner
A unique 4-course, 4-star, 4-fire dining experience! Ski or snowshoe from course to course along the town ranch with a warm bonfire and gourmet Italian food at each station. Proceeds to benefit Gunnison/CB Junior Nordic Team. Times: 5:00pm - 5:30pm - 6:00pm - 6:30pm. Cost: $35 Adults / $15 Children. Tickets on sale now. Call CB Nordic for Reservations: (970) 349-1707.
Flauschink
The last weekend of ski and snowboard season isn't a quiet occasion in Colorado's last great ski town, Crested Butte, where the expected rarely happens. Locals and visitors will be flushing out winter and welcoming spring with the 41st annual Flauschink, April 1 - 5, 2008.
Flauschink is the flip side of the town's Vinotok, a harvest festival that celebrates Crested Butte's Eastern European heritage in September. Vinotok invites people to come outside and play, be merry and enjoy fall before the snow begins.
Eighth Annual Crested Butte Wedding Show
Over 30 wedding professionals have signed up to participate in this year's show which offers all the services you might need to plan your dream wedding in the Gunnison Valley. During the show you will have a chance to talk with wedding experts as you sample great food, listen to local musicians, and view the latest fashions.
Crested Butte Music Festival
The Crested Butte Music Festival will take place July 4-31, 2009 and the theme for this year is "Follow the Generations through Paradise". The world will celebrate the anniversary of two of its most interesting and acknowledged composers, Joseph Haydn and Felix Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn was born in 1809, the year when Haydn died. And although it seems their lives were so close together, their music is quite different. The Crested Butte Music Festival will present masterworks in symphonic and chamber music programs throughout the season honoring the wonderful music of these two great composers.
Crested Butte Wildflower Festival
Event History Celebrating 22 Years
Crested Butte Wildflower Festival was created in 1986 after a local businessman, Terry Hamlin, suggested the idea after witnessing flower festivals in Europe. With the help of the Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce, a volunteer committee was formed to make the idea a reality.
In 1989, the mayors of Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte and the town manager of Mt. Crested Butte approached the General Assembly of the Colorado State Senate and achieved the official designation of "Wildflower Capital of Colorado" for Crested Butte. The festival continued briefly under the Chamber of Commerce umbrella; in 1996, the volunteer committee organizing the festival secured its nonprofit status. With the success and growth of the festival, a director was hired in 1999.
The festival began as a weekend event and has evolved into a week long celebration that begins the first Sunday after the Fourth of July. Workshop leaders come from around the country and include experts in botany, photography, gardening, art, flower arranging, cooking, crafts and more.
Fat Tire Bike Week
June 24 - 28, 2009
Voted Best Festival in Bike Magazine's third annual reader poll, this oldie-but-goodie bike festival celebrates Crested Butte as one of the birthplaces of mountain biking. Local riders lead beginner, intermediate and advanced tours on the Crested Butte area's epic trails, and there is plenty of time to socialize at the daily FTBW Expo with live music, a pig roast, beer garden, food court and bike rodeo. Beginner rides might follow a mellow mining road while endorphin junkies power up technical single track to distant mountain passes. Bike limbos and log pulls are just part of the fun at the Bike Rodeo/Relay Races. In the Chainless Race competitors coast their chain-deprived bikes from the top of Kebler Pass at 9,980 feet into the town of Crested Butte often wearing costumes.
Gunnison River Festival
Gunnison-Crested Butte will showcase hundreds of miles of scenic waterways and rugged recreation. The Gunnison River Festival and River Awareness Week promise to deliver plenty of river fun and learning on June 26 - 28th, 2009.
The Gunnison River Festival highlights a wide range of outdoor recreation available in the Gunnison Valley. The Gunnison Whitewater Park's features were redesigned in the fall of 2007 and will make for great a freestyle kayak and boater cross competition. We're expecting big water this year!
Join us Friday night for an artist's reception themed around a "Celebration of Rivers". In conjunction with the festival - River Awareness Week offers hikes, float trips, bird watching trips, talks, and demonstrations for those looking for a different style of "river-related" excursions.
Public Policy Forum
Since 2003, the Public Policy Forum of Crested Butte has hosted Senators, Ambassadors, Pulitzer Prize winners, a Supreme Court Justice, distinguished lecturers, policy makers and more. Their extensive experience in the political arena, nationally and internationally, has shaped their world perspectives. Through very personal experiences they are able to share unique points of view on the world's most enduring challenges. Join us every Wednesday evening in July and August for a stimulating two hours of lecture and question and answer. As we plan for the next five years of Public Policy speakers, we would like to extend opportunities for everyone to help support our efforts to bring knowledgeable and progressive thinkers into our community. We personally invite you to become involved, attend, and actively support the Public Policy Forum of Crested Butte.
109th Annual Cattlemen's Days Rodeo
People who love the aura and authenticity of The West, will find plenty of reasons to spend summer in Gunnison, Colorado. The highlight will be the "Granddaddy of Colorado Rodeos," the 109th Annual Cattlemen's Days on July 11 - 19, 2009.
Cattlemen's Days features a county fair, parade, carnival, live music and dancing, horse shows, cow pie bingo, horse races, and of course rodeo events sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA).
Sybil Leverett Memorial Horsemanship Clinic
TBD August 2009
The horsemanship clinic will include personalized instruction, ground and arena work and lunch and refreshments at the end of the day.
Auditing is available for a $15 donation.
Horses should be saddled and ready to go by 10:00AM.
The clinic will go until approximately 4:00 - 4:30PM with après clinic beverages to follow.
This clinic is meant to bring riders to a point where their horse will do what the rider asks and the horse will perform willingly and with respect in a non-confrontational environment. In every clinic Johnny stresses the same foundation: communication, understanding and respect. To really connect with horses, humans need to open their eyes and throw away their clocks, egos, frustrations and expectations.
Paragon Art Gallery People's Fair
Labor Day Weekend, from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. the Paragon Art Gallery of Crested Butte will host the 20th Annual People's Fair, Arts and Crafts plus a whole lot more! If you haven't been to Crested Butte to experience the People's Fair then you haven't seen this awesome town at it's finest! For the past 18 years the artists of the Paragon Gallery have hosted the this annual event, an eclectic mix of 60-70 booth selling unique regional arts and crafts, collectibles and antiques, preserved food from local gardens, music, and more in a fun, family oriented environment. Reasonably priced items make this fair affordable for everyone and a must for treasure hunters!