Estes Park what are you proud of?

I am of course proud of our floods. Yell flood or even high water and we get every Denver television station camping out to do remotes. Has anyone thought of a flood festival, our town fathers are fond of our floods as well, they bring it up all the time. Remember we did something after the 1982 flood, remember the flood, we actually did something. We put in some sidewalks and paved the street, remember? “Hey, some one in the advertising department phone the Trail it’s time to run the annual flood pictures”.

Conversely we’re not so proud of our business community, that’s been well established. Our town leaders publicly berate the local businesses; labeling them as stupid, sellers of junk, going so far as to evict the businessman’s cooperative, The Chamber of Commerce. The mayor installed a town department as a replacement, the logic being town employees know the business of Estes better than the business owners . In a strange twist Town employees will begin selling the same stupid stuff the businesses sell to feed their families. Because Estes cares. I know I’m proud to read the Trail.

The visitor’s center will now be a park and ride to direct businesses away from the Estes Park business community directly into the Park. We do seem to be proud to have great neighbors, we spend our money to advertise our neighbors, come here and visit our neighbor Rocky Mountain National Park. Proud to be your neighbor, unless you happen to be a neighbor business owner for you we have an “equalization” policy, we are more proud of some neighbors than others.

Every town and city has issues it must deal with, leadership can rely on local pride and core community values to carry the day. How are our leaders rallying this community? What leader has a dream, a vision for our community to grow beyond our reputation as a carnival booth on the way to Rocky Mountain National Park? We are in the middle of a political race for trustee I am waiting for my champion, someone with a vision, someone who can make me believe, make me proud. Someone lie to me, I’m so accustomed to being lied to, someone tell me we have a bigger plan than hoping for a natural disaster to piggy back on for the next quarter century.

Tell me you’re romancing investors and spearheading a plan to put in a ski area like Windsor Colorado, (yes flat land Windsor east of Loveland, night skiing, man made snow two hundred feet of drop).

Tell me we you’re romancing investors that will build an ice skating rink bigger than Greeley or Windsor or Fort Collins.

Tell me you are proud you live here.

Tell me you will be proud severing me.

Tell me you love me and kiss a baby.

Make me proud to be an Estesparkian.