By Trish Mandes
With the dog days of summer hard upon us, are you seeking a cool, casual, outdoorsy, and relatively inexpensive vacation? If you are, check out Crested Butte (CB), Colorado. Getting there is fairly painless, even considering the annoyances now associated with air travel. The major airlines offer connecting flights to Denver, Colorado Springs, and Gunnison, which is a 45-minute drive to your destination.
Perhaps you want to glimpse Pike’s Peak and the Air Force Academy while you’re in Colorado. No problem. Catch an early morning flight and land at Denver before you’ve had time to finish reading the newspaper. Grab a Starbucks Doubleshot as you hop on a commuter jet for your final leg to Colorado Springs. Arrive less than an hour later, grab your rental car, and you’re on the road again, well before noon. Don’t you just love time changes?
The highway to Crested Butte is relatively unchallenging – no switchbacks on narrow roads across the Rockies, thank goodness. After a pleasant drive on I-25, surrounded by a breathtaking background of lofty mountains, you meet the real thing, the Monarch Pass. At an elevation of 11,312 feet, this Great Divide is a bit higher than the Blue Ridge. The lanes are wide, however, and the climb is gentle. Near the top is a cable car for intrepid travelers, who want to ascend to the snow-covered summit.
None of the quaint villages on the way prepare you for Crested Butte, which is about the size of Occoquan, Virginia. The site of traditional hunting grounds of the Ute Indians, CB was founded in 1880. When gold and silver were discovered nearby, the town boomed. Coal mining later became the major industry, and over the years the area declined in prosperity. The 1960s brought skiing, however, and the town’s rebirth. Restored miners’ shacks, Victorian store fronts, Craftsman houses, and log cabins create a flavor of the Old West. On Elk Avenue, the main drag, trendy shops and restaurants are painted vividly. Their eye-catching shades are complemented by brilliant flowers everywhere, spilling from window boxes, hanging baskets, fanciful pots, and curbside gardens. Flashy benches fashioned from skis, snowboards, and derelict chrome car bumpers line the street, and teams of Percherons pull restored stage coaches. Here is atmosphere to spare.
Crested Butte is a shopper’s paradise. Since chains are not permitted in the hamlet, individuality abounds. The first stop for many tourists is The Sweet Shirt Shoppe, which until recently was managed during the winter by Fairfax, Virginia resident Julia Millette. After stocking up on tees, sweats, and hats with the CB logo, you will be drawn to the inviting stores up and down the street. Do you want ceramics, textiles, toys, jewelry, antiques, crafts, art wear, or books? You will find the most beautiful items imaginable, both functional and decorative, in the boutiques along Elk Avenue.
The restaurants at Crested Butte are terrific. Whether you relish plain or fancy, gourmet or carry-out, you’ll be contented. The Secret Stash, opened in 2002, is a favorite. The décor is eclectic, memorabilia from around the world, accented with hippy chic. Cushions, sofas, and lounge chairs create an ideal setting for savoring mouthwatering pizza and pasta. If your taste buds crave Mexican, at Donita’s Cantina you’ll find the best chalupas, salsa, and fajitas west of Fairfax Station’s La Tolteca. The taco salad and fried ice cream are delectable. For lunch in a garden reminiscent of a Greek taverna, Pitas in Paradise offers an array of wraps and pitas, plus tabbouleh, pasta, Greek salads, and even conch fritters. At the Brick Oven Pizzeria, you can listen to live bluegrass and golden oldies late into the night while munching blissfully on the restaurant’s spacious patio.
Although the atmosphere, shopping, and dining are splendid, many people travel to Crested Butte for its recreation. Extreme sports have long been welcome. The town has a skateboard park, and snowboarders and skiers coexist peacefully. The ski lifts continue to operate in the summer, but you’ll have to imagine the snow. Covered with wild flowers, the slopes and rugged trails attract hikers and mountain bikers, who enjoy the bright sunshine and brisk temperatures. It was amazing to see cyclists pedaling up the steep roads and rugged trails without stopping to catch their breath. Rafting on the rivers around town, kayaking, fly fishing, and hunting draw enthusiasts as well. If you’re more sedentary, you might want to try a favorite activity of the locals, bench sitting, after you pick up a best seller from The Bookstore and a latte from Camp 4 Coffee on Elk Avenue.
Crested Butte is by no means the Wild West, but horses are part of the outdoor scene, too. Fantasy Ranch Horseback Adventures, where Julia Millette worked as a wrangler in the summer, offers excursions through the beautiful Colorado backcountry. The fifty horses in the herd are quiet and dependable, “bombproof,” a quality greatly desired by dudes who’ve never sat on a horse before. A two-hour trail ride winds through magical aspen groves, where the heart-shaped leaves tinkle in the breeze. The horses cross gentle, meandering streams and pass through forests of fir and pine. On the half-day ride, which is recommended for more experienced equestrians, riders soon leave the aspens behind, ascending Snodgrass Mountain through meadows knee-deep in wildflowers. Near the summit, the views of the majestic mountains towering nearby and the tiny town in the valley far below are spectacular and humbling.
The weather is just about perfect in the summer. Sunny and warm most of the day, it’s mild enough to swim in the pool at your hotel, but not too hot to discourage participation in more strenuous activities. From time to time, a shower lasts long enough to perk up the wildflowers on the meadows, and an occasional breeze or a puffy cumulus cloud cools the dazzling sun. “When an afternoon storm blows through,” commented Millette, “the horses aren’t disturbed by it, and the riders throw on ponchos and continue their excursion.”
Accommodations at Crested Butte range from cabins and huts to bed and breakfasts, motels, condos, houses, and luxury hotels. For people who enjoy living in the wild, the Pioneer Guest Cabins are just right. Located in the beautiful Gunnison National Forest, they are only a few minutes drive from the town. Rustic and quaint, the log cabins are cozy and well-equipped. Nobody staying at one of these “huts” is roughing it. The hotels are equally charming and comfortable. The renovated Grand Lodge on Mount Crested Butte is a stone’s throw from the chair lifts, which carry a stream of energetic bikers and hikers up the mountain. Whether you dust off your mountain bike, pull out your golf clubs, revel in the beauty of the Wildflower Meadow, or catch the whimsically painted shuttle bus into town for shopping and dining, you’ll agree with Reston resident Barbara Donovan, who traveled to Crested Butte for a destination wedding on the side of a mountain. She describes CB as “a hidden gem, the Nantucket of the West.”
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
THE MASON FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS
By Trish Mandes
George Mason University (GMU) has taken another giant step forward with the first Mason Festival of the Arts. Held from June 12-29, the event was brilliant. But brilliance is a commodity we have come to expect from GMU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA). The mission of the Festival -- “Create. Innovate. Educate.” – hints at its ambitious scale. Rick Davis, the Artistic Director of the Festival, assembled a staff of professionals and volunteers whose dedication to the arts is matchless. Fairfax’s own Gerry Connolly was the Honorary Chair of the Festival Board.
Kevin Murray, long recognized for his work with the Theater of the First Amendment (TFA), was the Managing Director, and Jim Maiwurm was the Festival Manager, a monumental task handled with aplomb. The three-week program was so vast, so comprehensive, so tempting that attendees might have been overwhelmed by the choices if the activities had not been coordinated so carefully. Perhaps you wanted to go to the Film Festival, but a play, a concert, and an opera were taking place simultaneously. Don’t worry; many were repeated at different times on different days, and you could savor a wide variety.
The Festival opened on Thursday evening, June 12 with a production of Mariela in the Desert. This stark, thought-provoking play, authored by Karen Zacarias, has never before been presented on the East Coast. It was followed on Friday by Two-Bit Taj Mahal, written by Mason’s own enormously talented Paul D’Andrea, the founder of TFA. Described by Davis as “lyrical and tough, sensuous and gritty,” Two-Bit Taj Mahal premiered at the Festival. Both dramas, which were given several times during the Festival, were greeted by enthusiastic audiences. CVPA Dean William Reeder acclaimed D’Andrea's opus as “the finest theatrical work of art by somebody I know that I’ve ever seen!”
The Community Arts Weekend was launched on June 14 and 15. From mid-morning until evening, families roamed happily around the campus, viewing films at the Johnson Center Cinema, sampling performances in the theaters and on the Arts Plaza, visiting exhibitors’ booths, looking at beautiful art, and enjoying marvelous music. Kathleen Stark, co-president of The Fairfax Art League, was justly proud of her organization’s exhibition at the Festival, and spectators were fascinated by the chance to see artists at work. Paintings, prints, and photographs by CVPA professors and students and by the Fairfax School Age Child Care Program’s students were displayed on every inch of available wall space. Free performances on the Spotlight and Sunlight Stages were amazing. The Voices of Merrifield, the gospel choir representing the First Baptist Choir of Merrifield, the Fairfax Jubil-Aires Barbershop Chorus, the Abdul Eshaggai-Afghan Dancers, the Al Williams Jazz Band – the list goes on and on. Who would believe that we have so much talent in Fairfax County!
TFA‘s First Light Discovery Program focuses on the development of new plays. In explaining First Light, Rick Davis noted, “We are offering four playwrights the exceptional opportunity to hear their plays worked on and read by professionals and to receive audience response.” At the Festival, the program’s results were impressive. Sarah Congress, a rising senior at Hayfield Secondary, won the high school competition for her drama, Boxes. Presented in a staged reading, which was directed by Shirley Serotsky, the play was engrossing. Full of one-liners, the dialogue kept viewers in stitches. An example was voiced by a newly-wed carrying boxes of his wife’s childhood collectibles into their first home: “There are so many tchatchkes in our apartment that it’s like living in a Hallmark store.” The language was poignant as well. In one of the vignettes, an older man sifted through a shoebox holding mementos of his dying wife. “Being in love is like being free,” he reflected. After the performance, the appreciative audience discussed the drama with the writer, director, and actors. Two comments summed up the reaction of many of us: “The pieces were beautifully rendered,” observed one viewer, while another murmured wonderingly to Sarah Congress, “You are so young to have captured all those emotions.”
Although artists from all disciplines were represented at the Mason Festival of the Arts, it was produced by The Theater of the First Amendment. The reason for TFA’s prominent role was space, a key concern at Mason’s burgeoning Fairfax campus. In 1990, TFA’s first year, the theater program had 30 majors. Even with Harris Theater, the Black Box, and TheaterSpace, the now more than 100 majors require all available space for their performances during the academic year. At a planning meeting not quite two years ago, a summer theater season was suggested by Dean Reeder, a leader of great vision. An inspiration, agreed his colleagues. Before long, however, the creative minds organizing the summer season had expanded it to a festival. “As inclusive as possible,” explained Davis, “since one of the hallmarks of great festivals is the variety of offerings. We think this Festival is a real showcase of the best of the arts of our region-- both from Mason and from the community-- and a real chance for people to come together in celebration of our own artistic vitality.” Move over, Spoleto!
George Mason University (GMU) has taken another giant step forward with the first Mason Festival of the Arts. Held from June 12-29, the event was brilliant. But brilliance is a commodity we have come to expect from GMU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA). The mission of the Festival -- “Create. Innovate. Educate.” – hints at its ambitious scale. Rick Davis, the Artistic Director of the Festival, assembled a staff of professionals and volunteers whose dedication to the arts is matchless. Fairfax’s own Gerry Connolly was the Honorary Chair of the Festival Board.
Kevin Murray, long recognized for his work with the Theater of the First Amendment (TFA), was the Managing Director, and Jim Maiwurm was the Festival Manager, a monumental task handled with aplomb. The three-week program was so vast, so comprehensive, so tempting that attendees might have been overwhelmed by the choices if the activities had not been coordinated so carefully. Perhaps you wanted to go to the Film Festival, but a play, a concert, and an opera were taking place simultaneously. Don’t worry; many were repeated at different times on different days, and you could savor a wide variety.
The Festival opened on Thursday evening, June 12 with a production of Mariela in the Desert. This stark, thought-provoking play, authored by Karen Zacarias, has never before been presented on the East Coast. It was followed on Friday by Two-Bit Taj Mahal, written by Mason’s own enormously talented Paul D’Andrea, the founder of TFA. Described by Davis as “lyrical and tough, sensuous and gritty,” Two-Bit Taj Mahal premiered at the Festival. Both dramas, which were given several times during the Festival, were greeted by enthusiastic audiences. CVPA Dean William Reeder acclaimed D’Andrea's opus as “the finest theatrical work of art by somebody I know that I’ve ever seen!”
The Community Arts Weekend was launched on June 14 and 15. From mid-morning until evening, families roamed happily around the campus, viewing films at the Johnson Center Cinema, sampling performances in the theaters and on the Arts Plaza, visiting exhibitors’ booths, looking at beautiful art, and enjoying marvelous music. Kathleen Stark, co-president of The Fairfax Art League, was justly proud of her organization’s exhibition at the Festival, and spectators were fascinated by the chance to see artists at work. Paintings, prints, and photographs by CVPA professors and students and by the Fairfax School Age Child Care Program’s students were displayed on every inch of available wall space. Free performances on the Spotlight and Sunlight Stages were amazing. The Voices of Merrifield, the gospel choir representing the First Baptist Choir of Merrifield, the Fairfax Jubil-Aires Barbershop Chorus, the Abdul Eshaggai-Afghan Dancers, the Al Williams Jazz Band – the list goes on and on. Who would believe that we have so much talent in Fairfax County!
TFA‘s First Light Discovery Program focuses on the development of new plays. In explaining First Light, Rick Davis noted, “We are offering four playwrights the exceptional opportunity to hear their plays worked on and read by professionals and to receive audience response.” At the Festival, the program’s results were impressive. Sarah Congress, a rising senior at Hayfield Secondary, won the high school competition for her drama, Boxes. Presented in a staged reading, which was directed by Shirley Serotsky, the play was engrossing. Full of one-liners, the dialogue kept viewers in stitches. An example was voiced by a newly-wed carrying boxes of his wife’s childhood collectibles into their first home: “There are so many tchatchkes in our apartment that it’s like living in a Hallmark store.” The language was poignant as well. In one of the vignettes, an older man sifted through a shoebox holding mementos of his dying wife. “Being in love is like being free,” he reflected. After the performance, the appreciative audience discussed the drama with the writer, director, and actors. Two comments summed up the reaction of many of us: “The pieces were beautifully rendered,” observed one viewer, while another murmured wonderingly to Sarah Congress, “You are so young to have captured all those emotions.”
Although artists from all disciplines were represented at the Mason Festival of the Arts, it was produced by The Theater of the First Amendment. The reason for TFA’s prominent role was space, a key concern at Mason’s burgeoning Fairfax campus. In 1990, TFA’s first year, the theater program had 30 majors. Even with Harris Theater, the Black Box, and TheaterSpace, the now more than 100 majors require all available space for their performances during the academic year. At a planning meeting not quite two years ago, a summer theater season was suggested by Dean Reeder, a leader of great vision. An inspiration, agreed his colleagues. Before long, however, the creative minds organizing the summer season had expanded it to a festival. “As inclusive as possible,” explained Davis, “since one of the hallmarks of great festivals is the variety of offerings. We think this Festival is a real showcase of the best of the arts of our region-- both from Mason and from the community-- and a real chance for people to come together in celebration of our own artistic vitality.” Move over, Spoleto!
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