Taking Chances with your Community

When people lock their doors and hide inside, rumor has it, it’s the end of paradise.

Styx

Rumor has it.....

When I retired, as most people know, I headed up to the mountains of Northwest Colorado. I had grown up in a small town in rural Delaware and was anxious to return to my simpler roots after living my entire adult life in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and Denver.

I was single, didn’t really know anyone in the Steamboat Springs area (with the exception of the guys who built my house) and was clearly without a job. I had to work at insinuating myself into the community—and fortunately it wasn’t difficult.

People who move to Steamboat Springs, especially in midlife, choose it because of the world class skiing, the growing arts and cultural scene, and the beauty that sits at their backdoor. On the other hand, if you move to the northern part of the county that Steamboat sits in, you do it for different reasons. With the ski mountain and art galleries, not to mention grocery stores, hardware stores and other necessities at least a 25-mile journey, you look for other qualities.

My neighbors in North Routt County are an independent bunch. Many work in town, some are ranchers (both the gentlemanly kind and the real Western kind), and just about everyone truly enjoys the out-of-doors and partakes in hiking, biking of all kinds, camping, cross-county skiing, snow shoeing, and snow mobile adventures. This isn’t a once-a-month thought; it’s a way of life up here. People are ruggedly individual, fiercely independent, and recognize the importance of coming to the aid of their neighbors. 

It’s a lifestyle choice to live here. Over 76 percent of the adults in our 440 square mile unincorporated area have advanced degrees. You find men with chemistry and evolutionary biology degrees working in the construction business. You trip across people who were business executives and decided to check out in exchange for a simpler lifestyle. Then, there are the retired boomers that are picking up their musical instruments—some after a long respite, others for the first time.

People take chances in this area…and one is Barbara McNary. I met Barbara because she is a volunteer fireman, along with her husband, for our rural fire protection district. Her career training was in interior design and she worked in that field off and on while raising children in Steamboat. But, after divorcing then meeting Mike Swinsik, the operations manager for the regional hospital in Steamboat Springs, Barbara and Mike decided to merge their family operations in a lovely area on the west side of the Steamboat Lake State Park.

Barbara stayed involved in home design and furnishing retail operations after she and Mike married. And while the economic recession was initially slow to reach our tourist dependent area, it has arrived. And with it, Barbara found herself without a job.

What to do?

Barbara decided to work for herself—something she had done with her early interior design business. Even though few of us living up here can toss a stone and hit our next door neighbors, we are a friendly bunch. The Clark Store is “our everything.” You need groceries but don’t want to make the trek into town? Want a bottle of wine for dinner? Need to pick up your mail (most of us don’t have home delivery) or mail a package? Rent a video? Exchange a good paperback book? It’s all at the Clark Store. You can even buy a copy of Changing Lanes!

There are a handful of local eateries and you generally can’t stop in for a meal without seeing at least a couple people you know—or wish you knew. And while, like any good rural area, everyone seems to know what’s going on, Barbara saw the need for disseminating information in North Routt. She decided to create North Routt Rumors, a weekly newspaper, out of her home.

So, each week, I look with great anticipation for the new issue. Barbara generally has a personal story on the front page…why she volunteers for the fire department, how our neighbors think about politics and the recent election, or how someone has reconnected with a passion long abandoned.

North Routt Rumors is a labor of love for Barbara. She feels like she is supporting the community she’s come to love.

I asked her if I could share her recent front page commentary about Bonnie Murray, one of our talented neighbors—and a fellow change artist. She graciously agreed.

Bonnie Murray had no idea her move to the mountains would lead her to the realization of her lifelong dream—to perform.

Bonnie was born with musical talent.  Her mother, an excellent musician, encouraged the talent in each of her four children. She saw a special talent in Bonnie as a violinist, and encouraged her to go on to play professionally; she herself having desired to be a professional opera singer. 

Bonnie went to college to pursue a degree in Performing Arts. Her senior year, she decided to throw in a degree in Education...just in case...even though she already had a position lined up to play in the Brazilian National Orchestra.  Then a letter came cancelling the position due to political unrest in the region.  Bonnie fell back on her Education certification and began teaching orchestra to students in Boulder.

Though she never planned to marry and have children, love came along.  She met and married Greg, and they had two sons.  Bonnie easily devoted herself to her family. Greg’s career moved them from place to place. His job had him traveling quite a bit and Bonnie needed to be home for the boys. But she would teach wherever they went; staying fresh with her music—the other love of her life. 

One day, when their sons were almost through college, Greg said, “Let’s move to the mountains!”  Bonnie thought that this would lead to her playing her violin in nature, with the trees, deer and her dog, Levi. However fate was already in motion.

Three other talented string musicians moved into the same vicinity, around the same time. Teresa Steffan-Greenlee moved to Steamboat from Wisconsin. John Sant’Ambrogio retired in Steamboat from first chair cellist of the St. Louis symphony. And Mary Anne Fairlie and family moved to Willow Creek after the devastation from Katrina of their home in New Orleans.  The four met and have become the Steamboat String Quartet. In-between practices for the Steamboat Symphony, and rehearsals for other engagements, the quartet enjoys their theme nights at Harwigs. They love the shared intimacy with the crowd that cannot be experienced when on stage. (My note: Willow Creek is a development of about 150 homes in the area and Harwigs is a restaurant in town.) 

Bonnie also now plays with the Bluegrass group called “Ragweed.”  She gushes with amazement at the talent within the mountains, and her luck in being able to live two fulfilling lives. But that is how she is—modest, kind, loving, devoted, and grateful.  If there is karma, she’s earned her rights to such luck. 

She is also probably red with embarrassment right about now. You see, it isn’t the fame or glory for which Bonnie performs—it’s for the harmony of playing with other musicians, and for the exalted effect of great music on an audience.

When I called Bonnie for a story, she thought I wanted ideas for stories about others.  When we met to talk about it, she tried to tell me all about her fellow musicians and their accomplishments. She recited the talents and interests of a number of people in the village (Hahn’s Peak Village, our original county seat and now an eclectic collection of homes.)  I finally ended up getting most of the information for this story from her husband of 29 years, who is too proud of his wife to not speak up. 

Bonnie’s favorite place to play is at the Café.   She said she and Greg moved to North Routt because of the sense of community they feel here.  And she thinks it wonderful that DJ and Katie let locals bring their talents to the Café. (DJ and Katie own the Hahn’s Peak Café, a very popular lunch and dinner spot.)

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