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Alpine Fax
Billie | 6 February 2006
Monday, February 06, 2006
HANK BOSCO HONORED
Lifelong Glenwood Springs resident Hank Bosco was honored Saturday night as the Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association’s citizen of the year at the chamber’s annual ball. Bosco, who grew up at Glenwood’s old Star Hotel and managed the Hotel Denver, has served as president of the Glenwood Hot Springs Lodge and Pool for 30 years.
-GS Post-Independent, 02.05.06
3RD-YEAR OF RETAIL GROWTH
Total taxable retail sales in Aspen in 2005 were more than $448 million, a record, and a 10% increase over the previous record of $406.5 million, set in 2004. It marked the third consecutive year of retail growth for the city. The highest percentage increase in 2005 was in tourist accommodations, with a 13.6% jump.
-Aspen Daily News, 02.04.06
X GAMES + SNOW + BOOKINGS
Aspen’s central reservations system, Stay Aspen Snowmass, set a record last year for winter bookings and, this season, bookings are 7% higher than last year. The reservations system had four of its best six days ever during the X Games, with 200 calls every day during the X Games telecast, including a lot of people wanting to book for next year’s X Games.
-Aspen Daily News, 02.06.06
CROCS: THE NEXT IPO
Niwot-based shoemaker, Crocs, which makes brightly colored clogs from a patented resin, is the next company in Colorado to go public. Crocs is planning to price 9 million shares on Tuesday, in the range of $13 to $15 a share, and begin trading Wednesday.
-Rocky Mountain News, 02.04.06
SKYWEST: BIG IN C. SPRINGS
SkyWest Inc., a regional carrier for United Express and Delta Connection, begins construction on a $19.8 million regional jet facility in Colorado Springs, a 66,000-square-foot maintenance facility that will elevate Colorado Springs’ role in SkyWest route network.
-Denver Post, 02.06.06
WYOMING: COME ANYWAY
Tourism leaders in Wyoming are expecting a boom in business this summer based on the interest in “Brokeback Mountain”, a film whose backdrop is Wyoming even though the film was shot entirely in Canada. No problem, the film has created so many inquiries and e-mails, the state’s tourism division now has a “Brokeback Mountain” page on its Web site.
-Associated Press, 01.31.06
AIRPORT PROBLEMS
Officials at the Yampa Valley Regional Airport have asked travelers for patience as the airport try to work out parking and pick-up, drop-off problems. The airport is undergoing a $13.6 million building project, and travelers have experienced problems with the new parking gate and the passenger pick-up and drop-off site is too far from the airport during construction.
-Steamboat Pilot, 02.06.06
CAMP, MODEL AIRCRAFT LAND
Richard Harding and his wife, Debra, had planned to subdivide and develop their land eight miles northeast of Olathe…until they discovered endangered wild buckwheat growing there. Now, they have donated their 80 acres, which is entirely surrounded by Bureau of Land Management land, for the Olathe Outdoor Environmental Laboratory, a science camp and model aircraft aviation field.
-GJ Daily Sentinel, 02.05.06
2ND HOME STUDY
A five-county study of second-home owners by the Region 9 Economic Development District, the Social and Economic Effects of Second Homes in Southwest Colorado, revealed people living outside of Montezuma County own 21% of the county’s 8,098 private properties. Fifty-four of those non-local owners are from Colorado, and, of those, 64% have a Durango mailing address.
-Cortez Journal, 02.04.06
SUV, PLOW ACCIDENT CLOSES I-70
Westbound Interstate 70 was closed for about two hours Saturday at mile market 211 near the Eisenhower Tunnel, when an SUV driver collided with the blade of a Colorado Department of Transportation snowplow around 2 p.m. The highway was closed in both directions, with traffic diverted over Loveland Pass, to allow a helicopter to land and transport the SUV driver to Denver.
-Summit Daily, 02.05.06
FERRETS MAKING COMEBACK?
Biologists from the Colorado Division of Wildlife announced this week that they have discovered a female ferret born in the wild near the Rio Blanco and Moffat County line. It is believed to be the first evidence of black-footed ferrets released in Colorado reproducing in the wild.
-Craig Daily Press, 02.04.06
GIRLS DAY OUT
Some 100 women showed up for the first annual Ladies’ Day, hosted by Specialty Sports in Vail, which treated women to guided snowshoe hikes, skiing and snowboarding clinics and demonstrations. A similar event is already established by Specialty Sports in Aspen, and in addition to the clinics and activities, participants received a gift bag.
-Vail Daily, 02.05.06
RUNNING THE RIVERS
River outfitters and guides from the Colorado River Outfitters Association and the Utah Guides and Outfitters will meet for a trade show and conference at the Two Rivers Convention Center in Grand Junction Tuesday through Thursday. The river industry is big business in Colorado. In 2004, the latest year for which figures are available, commercial river rafting in the state had an estimated economic impact of $114 million. The Arkansas was tops in 2004, with 204,000 user days, and a $53 million economic impact; the Colorado River in the Glenwood Springs area was second, with 55,000 user days, generating $14 million; and, the Westwater section of the Colorado generate 7,500 user days and almost $2 million.
-GJ Daily Sentinel, 02.05.06
CHOCOLOVE FOR VALENTINE’S
Boulder-based Chocolove, the premium chocolate bar company founded and headed by Tim Moley, has logged 35% annual sales growth in its first 10 years without advertising, and that was followed by a 64% increase last year. Chocolove has now won shelf space in 135 King Soopers and City Market stores and the bars are carried in Target stores. The high-end Chocolove bars have a love poem printed inside each wrapper and the company’s Swiss-and Dutch-made production machines can form, cool and wrap 35,000 bars daily at the factory east of Boulder.
-Boulder Daily Camera, 02.06.06
TOP FAMILY-OWNED
Top family-owned companies in Colorado, ranked by number of employees:
1. American Furniture Warehouse 1,600
2. Tuff Shed Inc. 1,200
3. Burt Automotive Nework 871
4. Vitamin Cottage Natural Food Markets Inc. 709
5. RK Mechanical Inc. 700
-ColoradoBiz, February 2006
