Boulder Weekly 02.06.2025

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COMMENTARY

OPINION

A REIGNITED PASSION

The incredible experience of skiing as a wheelchair user

BY JENN OCHS

Last month, I got to go skiing at Eldora with Ignite Adaptive Sports. I skied a lot growing up. When I was five, my dad tied a rope around my waist and sent me down the mountain. That’s when I became a speed demon. Eventually, I had proper lessons so I could race down ski runs with confidence.

Once I became disabled, skiing became impossible. Or so I thought. Ignite Adaptive Sports has made it possible for me to ski again.

Founded in 1975, Ignite started with a group of CU Boulder students who wanted to help people with disabilities to enjoy the outdoors. Fifty years later, Ignite has 336 volunteers and just three full-time staff.

Last season, Ignite provided 1,327 lessons to 366 athletes. According to Kevin Wilson, Ignite’s program manager, volunteers provide over

$600,000 worth of support annually.

“I would not be able to raise enough money to provide the staffing support our volunteers do,” said Kevin Wilson, Ignite’s program manager.

This season is Ignite’s first in the new Caribou Lodge, where the organization has the entire first floor. The lodge has easy access to the Bunny Hill (actual name: Uncle Bob’s) and the Magic Carpet beginner lift (Tenderfood). Before the

WANT TO HELP?

Ignite is looking for volunteers. Visit igniteadaptivesports.org to learn more

FEBRUARY 6, 2025 Volume 32, Number 25

PUBLISHER: Stewart Sallo

EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Shay Castle

ARTS EDITOR: Jezy J. Gray

REPORTERS: Kaylee Harter, Tyler Hickman

FOOD EDITOR: John Lehndorff

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Jenn Ochs, Dan Savage, Ann Schimke, Andrea Steffes-Tuttle

COVER: Courtesy: Igntive Adaptive Sports

SALES AND MARKETING

DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING: Kellie Robinson

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ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES: Chris Allred, Austen Lopp

SPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGER: Carter Ferryman

MRS. BOULDER WEEKLY: Mari Nevar

PRODUCTION

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Erik Wogen

GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Chris Sawyer

CIRCULATION

CIRCULATION MANAGER: Cal Winn

CIRCULATION TEAM: Sue Butcher, Ken Rott, Chris Bauer

BUSINESS OFFICE

BOOKKEEPER: Austen Lopp

FOUNDER / CEO: Stewart Sallo

As Boulder County’s only independently owned newspaper, Boulder Weekly is dedicated to illuminating truth, advancing justice and protecting the First Amendment through ethical, no-holds-barred journalism and thought-provoking opinion writing. Free every Thursday since 1993, the Weekly also offers the county’s most comprehensive arts and entertainment coverage. Read the print version, or visit boulderweekly.com. Boulder Weekly does not accept unsolicited editorial submissions. If you’re interested in writing for the paper, please send queries to: editorial@ boulderweekly.com. Any materials sent to Boulder Weekly become the property of the newspaper.

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lodge, Ignite operated out of a trailer.

On my first day with Ignite, I used a bi-ski. I sat in a contraption called a boot, which sat on top of two skis. Outriggers attached to my forearms, enabling me to steer my boot down the mountain.

My seat was called the bucket. It has a handle on the back so an instructor could hold on to me to help me balance. As the student progresses, the instructor can use tethers to give the student freedom to steer and balance on their own.

I tried another device in my second lesson called a SnowKart. I loved the ski cart, because it’s more stable and doesn’t require you to balance — which meant I could go faster.

(Regular readers of this column will remember from my report on adaptive water skiing that I like to go fast.)

OPINION

Boulder Weekly Market

The SnowKart is like a go-cart on skis. Steering is controlled by levers attached to skis. On the bi-ski, the skier steers by pushing down on the outriggers and leaning. It’s difficult to build speed before falling over. This doesn’t happen on the ski cart.

For me, the ski cart gave me a closer experience to actual skiing.

Students can choose half- or full-day

lessons. Equipment and a lift ticket are provided. I paid $95 for a half-day lesson — $95 for two instructors (the number of instructors is determined by the athlete’s need), equipment and a lift ticket is a great deal.

Ignite even has options for quadriplegic skiers: the TetraSki, a cart that can be controlled with a joystick or a puffand-blow, allowing skiers to steer using their mouth. The Denver School for the Blind includes Ignite skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing into their yearly curriculum.

The equipment is state-of-theart; Ignite works with college students trying out new designs.

The TetraSki was originally a SnowKart; students from the University of Utah reconfigured it and added electronics, Wilson said.

My two January trips to Eldora were the first time I’d skied in over 15 years; the first time since becoming a wheelchair user. As a person with disabilities, I’m so thankful for programs like Ignite.

Jenn Ochs lives in Boulder and enjoys listening to music, podcasts and audiobooks while painting or drawing. She is a disability rights advocate and a graduate from Baylor University in Texas, which is where she realized that Boulder is the best place to live.

Jenn Ochs enjoys a lesson with Ignite at Eldora Mountain Resort. Courtesy: Ignite Adaptive Sports

More than 300 volunteers provided over 1,300 adaptive ski lessons last season, according to Ignite program manager Kevin Wilson. Courtesy: Ignite Adaptive Sports

Boulder Bookstore

LETTERS

UNDERSTATED IMPORTANCE

Thank you for your recent coverage of prairie dogs (“Weekly Why: Why do Coloradans care so much about prairie dogs?” Jan. 15). It’s an important topic, and I appreciate your efforts to highlight it.

I wanted to offer a suggestion for future articles on this subject: a deeper exploration of what it means that prairie dogs are a keystone species. While you briefly mentioned their status as such, I’m concerned that many readers may not fully understand the profound implications.

Keystone species like prairie dogs play a critical role in maintaining ecological balance. If they were to disappear, it would trigger a cascade of negative effects, potentially leading to the decline of many other species that depend on them. Animals such as eagles, coyotes, foxes, hawks, badgers and burrowing owls rely on prairie dogs either as a food source or for their burrows. Their survival is interconnected with that of prairie dogs.

By expanding on this information, you could help the Boulder community better understand why coexistence with prairie dogs is so vital. For those who love the wildlife that makes Colorado unique, protecting prairie dogs should be a priority.

Thank you again for covering this important issue, and I hope to see more in-depth discussions in future editions.

– Annie Mikkelson, Boulder County

AGING BOULDER NEEDS A PLAN

In Japan, some seniors prefer jail or prison to homelessness, tents and dangerous streets, according to a recent story from CNN. It’s coming to Boulder unless the city starts a massive building program for older adults.

I am 79 years old, born January 1946, and on the leading edge of the Baby Boomer generation. There are millions of us coming behind me; thousands in Boulder.

Right now I am set. I have a house paid for and a retirement account. I live at home and have some visiting care such as Meals on Wheels. But I am a stroke and heart attack survivor. I can still walk, drive, get around; my brain and mind are sharp as a tack.

But what happens when I become incapacitated and need in-patient care or a nursing home? Will Boulder have enough facilities to take care of me and all the Boomers? I will probably choose assisted suicide when it is time, if I can. But the real question for public officials: Are you ready for this wave?

– Jann Scott, Boulder

FRESH PRODUCE, FRESH START

My name is Ana Yanez. I’m 50 years old and a single mother of three. I came to the United States from Mexico 13 years ago as a permanent resident.

I work long hours to support my family, because making ends meet is hard. The Fruit and Veg Longmont Program from Boulder County Public Health has made a big difference in our lives. It’s helped my family stay healthier and given me hope and more control over our well-being.

Supporting my oldest son in college has been one of my proudest achievements. He’s the first in our family to attend college, and he’s attending Harvard University. While this is a dream come true for us, it also means that every extra dollar goes toward his education.

Two years ago, I joined a healthy challenge through the promotoras de salud at El Centro Amistad. Through this challenge, I realized how important fresh fruits and vegetables were to my health, but I couldn’t keep up because I didn’t have the money for them. That’s when they referred me to the Fruit and Veg Longmont Program.

Thanks to this program, I now receive $150 in coupons each month, which allows me to buy the fruits and vegetables I need to make healthy meals for myself and my children. We now drink

fruit-infused water, enjoy spinach quesadillas and make green juices — all meals that keep us healthy. I am grateful beyond words for these coupons.

This program doesn’t just provide me with food: It gives me the tools to care for my health. For the past five years, I was pre-diabetic, with my blood sugar levels always on the edge. In September, my doctor told me I had reversed my pre-diabetes.

Right now, I am really struggling to make ends meet. Supporting my son while managing the cost of living has been difficult. Without this help, I would not have been able to afford the foods I needed to stay healthy, and my story might have ended very differently. Instead of hearing that my blood sugar levels are normal, I might have been told that I have diabetes.

Thank you to Boulder County Public Health and everyone who makes the Fruit and Veg Longmont Program possible. It has improved my health, supported my family and given me hope. I hope it continues to grow and reach more families like mine.

– Ana Yanez, Longmont

CORRECTION: A letter from the publisher in last week’s Anniversary edition incorrectly identified Farfel’s Farm & Rescue owner Sandy Calvin as Sandy Richie.

7 - 10 pm

Release your inner child at the Children’s Museum! Discover beers from local breweries, snack on tasty bites, and best of all, enjoy an evening of play in our exhibits.

mychildsmuseum.org

‘CITY

NERD’

New Ward 2 Longmont city council member Matthew Popkin takes center stage

BY TYLER HICKMAN

Afew hours after raising his right hand, swearing to faithfully serve his community to the best of his ability, Longmont’s new Ward 2 city council member Matthew Popkin addressed a room packed with his constituents.

“Hello, Ward 2,” he said. “It’s nice to meet you all.”

Laughter sizzled in the chamber, a pleasant break from the drone of what would turn into a three-hour hearing on a controversial development plan in Popkin’s new precinct.

Despite the glaring crowd, the new council member was poised — if it weren’t for a few miscues on speaking order, you would never know it was his first night on the dais.

Popkin is in a unique position. He’s starting an appointed term with only 10 months left in a city he’s called home for less than four years. And yet, the 33-year old is unphased, and while there’s a lot to catch up on, Popkin says he’s ready.

Planning and Zoning board — until he retired this role for a seat on city council.

Popkin is “fascinated” by the systems that our cities are built on: utilities, transportation, housing — an infatuation he recognizes is not common for people in their 30s.

“I think too often people at my age or or around my age don’t think about how much of this impacts your life,” he says.

“The median age of Longmont is 40; over half the population is under 40. I represent everyone in Ward 2, but I also hope I can bring a little bit of a breath of fresh energy.”

“This isn’t a credential for city council, but I’m part of the mug club of Shoes and Brews,” a Longmont running store with a joint taproom. “[I] set up a kind of a recurring piano bar there that we call Blues and Brews, usually once a month,” Popkin says, where he plays song requests from bar patrons. “We’ve been doing that now for about a year and a half, and that’s just been a lot of fun.”

As with his duties as a city council member to learn a bit about everything, Popkin takes his arsenal of juke box hits seriously. If he’s getting

“The moment you leave Lafayette or you leave Boulder, you’re driving through mostly farmland or extremely rural neighborhoods for a while, and then you hit Longmont,” he says. “It is this small, cozy town, and we fell in love with that, literally, the first time we drove here.”

“Our first meal was a picnic at Sandstone Ranch with some cheese we got from Cheese Importers, and we just sat down, and we’re trying to digest, literally and figuratively, where we were.”

Despite its small-town charm, Longmont — sitting at roughly 99,000 residents — is growing fast and may soon overtake Boulder (106,000 residents) as the largest city in the county.

PIANO MAN

“When you’re drinking out of a fire hose, everything feels a little bit overwhelming at first,” Popkin told Boulder Weekly. “There’s a lot to learn, and as a municipal city nerd like myself this is really exciting, but it’s still overwhelming.”

City nerd is a title Popkin wears proudly and has rightfully earned. By day, he spends his time as a program manager for the think tank Rocky Mountain Institute, traveling the country to advise cities and towns on how to plan for and fund a sustainable energy transition. After a quick costume change, he would play the part of commissioner on Longmont’s

Popkin is new to public office — he did have an unsuccessful go at a council seat in College Park, Maryland, while in grad school — but his comfort in front of an impassioned crowd that first night in the council chambers isn’t surprising.

“I’m a pianist and a vocalist,” Popkin says. “I’ve been playing the piano for just about 30 years. I do a casual piano bar around town in a few places.”

The Maryland-born showman was raised on a steady diet of piano rock ballads from Elton John and Billy Joel, and when he and his wife moved to Longmont in 2021, his love for music is what helped him build community.

requests he doesn’t know, he adds it to his never-ending Spotify playlist of “songs to learn” and commits to giving the people what they want to hear, from Jethro Tull to everyone’s favorite pop girlies.

“There’s so many different styles and genres out there,” he says. “I got a lot more Taylor Swift requests in the last year than I usually did, so I started learning a few Taylor Swift songs.”

SMALL-TOWN GUY

Popkin is a fresh face in Longmont, but the reasons he landed here are the same for Longmonters who have called this city home for a lifetime.

Still, Longmont maintains that fairly compact feel, Popkin says. Open space access, clear community investment evident in the city-owned internet service Next Light, and a commitment to redevelop areas like the abandoned sugar mill into a modern neighborhood hub, are what struck him.

How Longmont continues to grow is one of Popkin’s top priorities. He was a witness to rapid expansion in his hometown of Rockville, Maryland, and sees parallels in these two burgeoning communities.

“I’m almost having déjà vu here, where I’ve seen what happens when we build thoughtfully, and it works really well in some places,” he says. “I’ve also seen when that isn’t as managed.”

There’s only so much Popkin can do in 10 months, he says. For now, he’s focused on having conversations. From Creekside to Old Town to his own neighborhood in Southmoor Park, where he lives with his wife, dog and four chickens, he hopes to understand what people need.

“I haven’t lived in every neighborhood, nor has anyone else,” he says, “And so, you know, just making sure that I understand what they’re dealing with and what would be helpful for them, small or large.

“My goal here is to earn people’s trust, and if that is an uphill battle, I’m ready for it.”

STORY AND PHOTO

Matthew Popkin takes his oath of office at the Jan. 28 Longmont city council meeting. Credit: Tyler Hickman

BOULDER WRESTLES WITH SLOW GROWTH, LABOR SHORTAGES

‘A lot of risks’ in economic forecast, experts warn at Chamber event

BY ANDREA STEFFES-TUTTLE

Boulder’s economic growth is slowing, according to economists, presenting many challenges for the city as it looks to revitalize its economy post-COVID. Boulder business leaders, city officials and local economists gathered in late January at the Boulder Chamber’s annual Economic Forecast event to discuss the economic trends impacting the nation, the state and the City of Boulder.

Slow growth has been a recurring theme at the chamber’s economic forecast events since before the pandemic, with economists predicting a slowdown as early as 2019. That trend has now materialized, and amid inflation, post-pandemic strain and uncertainty over the new administration’s policies, Boulder businesses are feeling the impact.

“To say there’s a lot of risks in the forecast right now would be sort of a super mild understatement,” said Richard Wobbekind, senior economist and faculty director at CU Boulder’s Leeds School of Business.

THE GREAT FLATTENING

According to Brian Lewandowski, an economist at CU Boulder, the last 15 years “have been ours,” referring to the high gross domestic project (GDP), personal income and population growth Colorado has seen compared to other states. Today, however, Colorado is ranked 38th in real GDP growth, 33rd in personal income growth and 17th for population growth.

Boulder County echoes the slow growth trends seen in the state. The Boulder Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) has slipped in its ranking and now falls in the middle of the pack of the 400 MSAs across almost all metrics, ranking 128th in GDP

growth, 374th in personal income growth and 231st in population growth.

Sales tax collection data — often used as a proxy for retail activity — reveals flat yearover-year growth in Boulder. Statewide, the growth rate is only slightly better at 0.8%, which Lewandowski characterized as “absurdly slow.”

that the state of Colorado and the city of Boulder have an aging population, with “40,000 people retiring from our labor market every year,” according to Lewandowski. This creates what the presenters referred to as a supply-side issue, “slowing down job growth.”

terly survey that gauges Colorado business leaders’ opinions about economic trends and how their industry will perform in the coming quarter — business leaders’ expectations of local conditions lagged behind the nation in the current survey for the first time since 2005.

Said Wobbekind, “This is kind of unheard of.”

HOPE IN EMERGING INDUSTRIES

Experts say several factors are impeding Boulder’s economic progress: a tight labor market,, high costs of living and the unpredictability of the new presidential administration.

LABOR SHORTAGES, AFFORDABILITY AND UNCERTAINTY

Colorado has a tight labor market, and data shows that Boulder has a distinct shortage of workers. Boulder’s labor force participation has plateaued at peak levels for the past three years, while unemployment remains below historic norms. This sustained trend has led to an acute labor shortage.

These strains are worsened by the fact

Affordability is another constraint. Colorado’s high cost of living is evident in its housing market, with the state experiencing the highest year-over-year home price increase in the country at 6% — a rate that outpaces state inflation.

This issue is particularly pronounced in Boulder, where median housing prices exceed $1 million.

“We continue to see increases in [the number of] sales,” said Lewandowski, which some might argue means that Boulder is accessible. “But we also see an increase in median days on the market, so we’re not affordable.”

A contributor to high home prices is the slow recovery of the construction industry. High interest rates have contributed to a reduction in home building; in Boulder, data shows that building is flat, resulting in fewer new homes being added to the market.

The uncertainty of a new presidential administration also has business leaders worried, with concerns about immigration, healthcare policy changes and tariffs topping the list. Colorado has the most immigrants of a non-border state in the country. Shifting immigration policies could create labor force constraints.

According to the most recent Leeds Business Confidence Index — a quar-

Although Boulder’s previously rapid economic growth has decelerated, experts remain optimistic about the city’s emerging industries, particularly quantum computing. Currently, the quantum sector supports approximately 3,000 jobs across Colorado, but with state funding approved by Gov. Jared Polis through House Bill 1325 in 2024, that figure could exceed 10,000 within the next decade, according to a CU Boulder Today article.

“We think some sectors will re-emerge from a business cycle that they’ve gone through,” Lewandowski explained. “In industries like construction, the mining industry, the energy sector and manufacturing, we think, will actually come out of its own recession in 2025, nationally and locally.”

In answer to Boulder’s economic challenges, Chamber President John Tayer said the organization has taken on some new responsibilities to “add a couple of extra tools to our quiver and respond to the economic needs of the time.”

The Chamber now houses the Transportation Connections Group to support the transportation needs of employees who can’t afford to live in the county. They’re also working on business recruitment to “help fill those vacant office buildings” created by the pandemic-era shift to remote work.

Tayer added that the Chamber has decided to host the Boulder County Film Commission with the intent of strengthening, “the burgeoning film and creative talent industry, whether or not we get the Sundance Film Festival.”

“The Boulder Chamber will need to respond in ways that best meet the challenges head on while taking advantage of the opportunities,” Tayer said at the event, “just as I know each of your own businesses will do kind.”

Slow growth and an uncertain future were themes at the Boulder Chamber’s recent Economic Forecast event. Credit: McBoat Photography

GOV’T WATCH

What your local officials are up to

BY BOULDER WEEKLY STAFF

BOULDER CITY COUNCIL

On Feb. 13, council will hold a study session on the city’s homelessness services. The discussion, scheduled for three hours, will include an evaluation of programs, a conversation about updating the city’s strategy and information about frequent users of the criminal justice and health care systems.

The meeting can be streamed online (youtube.com/@CityofBoulderGov/ streams) or on Channel 8.

BOULDER COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

On Feb. 7, commissioners will:

• Meet virtually to discuss the Affordable and Attainable Housing Tax. Passed in 2023, the tax is expected to raise $16.7 million in 2025 for construction of new homes, supportive services for residents and grants for towns and cities in the county, along with housingfocused nonprofits.

Commissioners, staff and stakeholders will discuss next steps and criteria for distribution of funds.

The meeting begins at 10 a.m. No public comments will be taken during the meeting; they can be shared in advance by email: commissioners@ bouldercounty.gov. Attend: boco.org/ AAHT-Feb7.

On Feb. 11, commissioners will:

• Hold a public hearing and receive an annual report on open space acquisitions and other real estate activities in 2024. Last year’s notable purchases include two properties near Longmont, totaling 150 acres and $4.75 million, and a winning bid of $6.2 million for 105 acres at Haystack Mountain.

Boulder County’s Parks and Open Space (BCPOS) department is cele-

brating its 50th anniversary this year. The county has protected more than 135,000 acres of open space and agricultural land and built 120 miles of trails, according to BCPOS data.

The meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. on the third floor of the historic Boulder County Courthouse, 1325 Pearl St., Boulder. Register to speak in person: boco.org/InPerson-Feb11AM. Written comments can be emailed to commissioners@bouldercounty.gov. Attend virtually: boco.org/BOCC-Feb11AM.

LONGMONT CITY COUNCIL

On Feb. 4:

• The developers seeking approval to construct a 310-unit apartment complex on 17.3 acres located on Quail Road withdrew their annexation application before council was able to vote on the issue.

The impromptu withdrawal came during council discussions after council members Sean McCoy, Matthew Popkin and Shiquita Yarbrough said they would not be supporting the applicant’s concept plan.

The discussion was a continuation from last week’s meeting, where a large group of residents spoke out against the development plan during a public hearing. Ultimately, council felt it was in the city’s best interest to seek development opportunities that provide affordable for-sale homes, rather than market-rate rental properties.

The land parcel at Quail Road, while surrounded by city-owned land, is situated in unincorporated Boulder County and would first have to be annexed to provide access to city services. This gave council members more control over the situation, allowing them to effectively deny the development by opposing the annexation.

• Council voted to appropriate $30,000 in council contingency funds to purchase a public library hold box. The box is similar to lockers used by retail stores and Amazon to allow for secure pickup of products at singular locations. It will provide access to books for residents who are unable to visit the library during its operating hours. During the meeting, council identified the Centennial Pool as a potential location for the pickup box.

LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL

On Feb. 4, council:

• Approved a resolution regarding the terms of employment for Mary Lynn Macsalka as Lafayette’s in-house city attorney beginning March 30. Macsalka is currently the city’s contracted attorney.

During the 2025 budget process, council approved a transition from a contract with a private law firm to an in-house position. Annual salary is set at $230,000. Benefits include health, dental, disability, vacation and sick leave, holidays, retirement benefits and an automobile allowance. An additional $15,000 transition assistance is included to cover financial obligations due to her ownership of a private law firm.

Erin Poe has been hired to serve as Lafayette’s first deputy city attorney beginning Feb. 3. No council action is needed.

• Reappointed Municipal Judge Amanda Bailhache for an additional two-year term with a salary increase from $39,393 to $47,272. The court continues to have two sessions per month; sessions are usually held on the second Thursday and fourth Tuesday of the month.

SUPERIOR TOWN COUNCIL

On Feb. 7, town board members will meet with the public at Superior Community Center, 1500 Coalton Road, from 7:45 to 9:30 a.m. for First Fridays Coffee. Residents are invited to discuss community issues.

All agenda items subject to change. Karen Norback contributed reporting.

Courtesy: Boulder County Parks and Open Space

COLORADO’S CHILD CREDIT: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

An explainer of the new tax break for low-income families with kids

BY ANN SCHIMKE, CHALKBEAT COLORADO

Anew state tax credit worth thousands of dollars is now available to many Colorado families with children under 17.

It’s called the family affordability tax credit and is expected to help hundreds of thousands of cash-strapped families across the state. Lawmakers and advocates who championed the credit during last year’s legislative session see it as a chance to address Colorado’s high cost of living and pick up where the federal government left off when its expanded child tax credit expired in 2021.

That expanded tax credit helped cut child poverty in America nearly in half to a historic low of 5.2% in 2021. By 2023, child poverty rates jumped to 13.7%.

Since then, several states have expanded or created their own child tax credits. Colorado, which already had a child tax credit for families with young children, created the family affordability credit to provide more financial help to families already getting the child tax credit and give new aid to lower income families with older children.

Here’s what you need to know about the new credit.

What is the family affordability tax credit?

5 or younger as of Dec. 31, 2024, and up to $2,400 for each child who was 6-16 years old as of Dec. 31, 2024.

The size of the credit goes down as family income goes up, eventually phasing out when single tax filers hit an adjusted gross income of more than

a state child tax credit of $600. (The state child tax credit is only available to lower income families with children under 6.)

It’s also worth noting that, unlike the state child tax credit, the family affordability credit may not be available every year. That’s because lawmakers decided to offer it only in good economic times when the state collects enough surplus tax revenue to fund it. During bad years when the state collects too little surplus tax revenue, the state will reduce the amount of the credit or refrain from offering it at all.

How do I know if I’m eligible for family affordability credit?

Use the tax credit calculator from Get Ahead Colorado, which is run by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The online tool asks a

refundable. That means that even if eligible families owe nothing in taxes, the state will pay them the amount of the credit as long as they file a state tax return.

Families who earn enough to pay income taxes may still get money back if their family affordability credit exceeds the amount they owe the state.

I don’t have a Social Security number. Am I still eligible?

Possibly. Parents who don’t have a Social Security number may be eligible for Colorado’s family affordability tax credit if they have an Individual Taxpayer Identification number — or ITIN — and their eligible children have a Social Security number.

$85,000 a year and joint tax filers hit an adjusted gross income of more than $95,000 a year.

It’s a new state tax credit for lower income Colorado families with children under 17. It was created during the 2024 legislative session and is now available for the first time to families filing their 2024 tax returns.

Eligible families can get a tax credit of up to $3,200 for each child who was

How is it different from Colorado’s child tax credit?

The family affordability tax credit is much bigger than the state’s child tax credit and includes families with older children. For example, a single mother who earned $30,000 in tax year 2024 and has a 4-year-old and 7-year-old would receive a family affordability tax credit of $4,445 and

few questions about your income and the number of kids you have and spits out a list of state and federal tax credits you may be eligible for, including the family affordability credit.

The tax credit calculator is available in dozens of languages by clicking on the “Select Language” button in the top right corner.

I don’t make enough to pay income taxes. Am I still eligible? Yes, the family affordability tax credit is

ITIN numbers are available from the Internal Revenue Service to certain individuals who are categorized as resident aliens or nonresident aliens, regardless of immigration status.

Will getting the family affordability tax credit reduce my SNAP benefits?

No. Tax credits are not considered income and will not negatively affect most benefits, including SNAP, TANF and Medicaid.

Are there other tax credits for Colorado families with children?

Yes. Both the federal government and the state have earned income tax credits, which are available to lower income families with or without children. Both also offer child tax credits, with the federal version available to qualifying families with children under 17 and the Colorado version available to qualifying families with children under 6.

How can I get help filling out my tax returns?

You can use myfreetaxes.com, an online program offered through United Way. It’s also available in Spanish.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering education and related issues.

BOCO, BRIEFLY

Local news at a glance

BY KAYLEE HARER

BOULDER, LOUISVILLE KING SOOPERS WORKERS SET TO STRIKE

Workers at King Soopers in Boulder and Louisville stores are set to strike for two weeks starting Feb. 6.

The strike covers 10,000 workers at 77 unionized stores in Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties, according to a press release from UFCW Local 7, which represents workers in Colorado and Wyoming.

This is the first time Front Range King Soopers workers have gone on strike since 2022.

“We are holding this strike for a twoweek period to allow everyone to understand our concerns, and give the employer time to right their wrong,”

UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova said in the release.

Union representatives said they are striking over unfair labor practices including “interrogating union members,” sending employees home from work for wearing union gear, and “refusing to provide information necessary for the union to be able to make or consider proposals in contract negotiations,” according to the press release.

Contract negotiations have been ongoing since October, and the contract expired in January, according to the release.

Connor Hall, a union bargaining member and King Soopers worker from the deli department at Store 33 in Boulder, said in the release that the company is trying to “force us to accept a new contract that takes us backward.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Hall said. “We have real problems with low staffing, and low wages that make the jobs so bad that many of us can’t even afford to shop where we work.”

The company said in a Feb. 3 state-

ment that the union has not provided “a single counter wage proposal, and has once again chosen disruption and uncertainty by scheduling a work stoppage.”

“The Company respects its associates’ rights to participate in a work stoppage,” the statement said. “Any associate who chooses to continue to work is welcome to do so. However, the Company believes associates would be better served if the Union worked with the Company to reach an agreement that would not risk leaving associates without a paycheck, as the Company remains open to continuing to meet with the Union to reach a resolution.”

King Soopers officials said in a Jan. 31 release that its stores will remain open during the strike and that it will hire temporary workers to staff stores “if necessary.”

NCAR, UCAR SHUTTER DEI OFFICES; CU TELLS RESEARCHERS TO CONTINUE WORK

In the wake of President Trump’s executive orders targeting DEI efforts and a now-rescinded memo ordering a federal funding freeze, CU Boulder told researchers to continue their work as usual. Meanwhile, atmospheric research centers that call Boulder home have shuttered DEI offices.

NCAR and UCAR closed all offices “engaged in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work” and “all of the organization’s DEI-related work has been ended,” as of Jan. 24, according to a release. All staff associated with those offices have been placed on paid administrative leave.

A spokesperson for the organization would not say which offices specifically had closed and how many staff members had been placed on administrative leave. The primary goal of the organization’s DEI work was to “work toward broader participation in the geosciences,” said David Hosansky, the UCAR/NCAR spokesperson.

“This action ensures the organization, as a federal contractor and an NSF (National Science Foundation) federally funded research and development center (FFRDC), is in compliance

with President Trump’s executive orders,” the release stated.

One of the orders calls for the termination of all “illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear” as well as termination of “all DEI, DEIA, and ‘environmental justice’ offices and positions.”

It was not yet clear how a nowrescinded memo ordering a widespread freeze on federal grants and loans — which sparked confusion and concern last week and has since been temporarily blocked by a federal judge would impact the organization.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Jan. 29 that rescinding the memo was “NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze” and that the “President’s EO’s on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented,” creating further confusion.

On Jan. 31, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) directing federal agencies not to “pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel or terminate” funding.

“[W]e are monitoring the situation but can’t speculate on what may or may not happen,” Hosansky said.

The National Science Foundation, which funds UCAR/NCAR as well as other research centers in Boulder, paused payments Jan. 28 before unfreezing them Feb. 2.

The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at CU Boulder has not put a stop on any projects or made any staffing changes as a result of the orders, according to university spokesperson Nicole Mueksch.

Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) which is part of CIRES, said Jan. 28 ahead of the TRO that the center was “very concerned” about the potential federal funding freeze.

“All I’m prepared to say at this time is that we are very disappointed at this executive order that is targeting DEI, environmental justice programs, etc.,” he said. “However this does not change and will never change what we

are at NSIDC, what our core values are.”

Serreze named collaboration, respect, leadership, curiosity, communication, excellence and service as the organization’s values.

CU Boulder “is evaluating relevant executive orders in coordination with CU system, other CU campuses and higher education groups such as the Association of American Universities (AAU), the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU) and the American Council on Education (ACE),” university spokesperson Nicole Mueksch said in an email.

The university issued guidance Feb. 3 regarding funding freezes and the temporary restraining order: “We ask that all researchers, faculty, and staff continue working on their grants as normal.”

“These issues are rapidly evolving, and we recognize the uncertainty and worry our campus communities are experiencing,” the guidance stated. “We are here for you, and we are actively working with the [university] President, Chancellors and our legal team.”

The U.S. Department of Commerce, which runs the Boulder labs of NOAA, NIST and NTIA, did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.

IN OTHER NEWS…

• Strap in — Boulder’s “seer of seers” is predicting for more weeks of winter. Flatiron Freddy, the city’s prognosticating stuffed marmot, saw his shadow on Groundhog’s Day.

• Community members can provide feedback on Folsom Street safety improvements at an upcoming open house. Join in person Wednesday, Feb. 12 from 4-6 p.m. at the Penfield Tate II Municipal Building (1777 Broadway, Boulder) or through a virtual open house Jan. 29 through Feb. 19. More details: bit.ly/ FolsomOpenHouseBW.

• Longmont Public Library’s free seed library allowing community members to select six seed packets at no cost returns March 2.

MUSIC

SWEET LITTLE HEARTS

The Velveteers talk misogyny, Hannah Montana and love letters to the inner child ahead of Valentine’s Day show

BY KAYLEE HARTER

The Velveteers are feeling jaded.

“There’s a lot of frustration built up within us,” says the Boulder-based trio’s frontwoman Demi Demitro. “I kind of just felt like it was going to come out — regardless of if we wanted it to.”

“A big part of the music industry is there’s a lot of misogyny,” she says. “You know there’s gonna be some of that, but then when you’re experiencing it, it’s kind of wild to know how intense it is.”

Now, on a sophomore album that brings their cosmic brand of rock to glimmering new realms, The Velveteers are balancing the light and the dark of their experiences in the music industry as they find their place within it.

“You can love doing something so much, and you have this beautiful thing right in front of you, but a lot of times it comes with something that’s gonna stab you,” she says. “While it’s beautiful and amazing, there can be a lot of negativity that comes with something like that.”

That’s the sentiment of the album’s title track, A Million Knives, out Feb. 14 via Easy Eye Sound.

“[The album] is kind of a love letter to the inner child in all of us,” Demitro says ahead of the Valentine’s Day release show and tour kickoff at Denver’s Hi-Dive.

“We all come into this world with our hearts being very pure. And then as time goes on, just naturally you … lose that innocence.”

I MIGHT EVEN BE A ROCKSTAR

It’s a fitting theme for musicians who have known each other since they were teens in Boulder.

Demitro and drummer Baby Pottersmith, then 16 and 15, initially met about a decade ago at a concert at The Fox.

“All I remember is that it was like a white boy reggae band,” Pottersmith

says. “I don’t know why we were there — really bad.”

“The only reason I was there is because I knew you were gonna be there,” Demitro answers. “I was like, ‘This is my chance to go talk to them.’”

They bonded over acts like The Kills, The White Stripes and The Black Keys,

when I was a kid, I was obsessed with Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus.”

That was her first concert, and her 12th birthday was Hannah Montana themed. As a young teen, she put on her first concert singing Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Brittany Spears covers.

The band credits Lady Gaga as an influence on the album, particularly on the single “On and On.”

“From the very beginning, I feel like those pop influences have been there,” Demitro says. “I just wasn’t embracing them as much.”

SOFT SPOTS

Those pop sensibilities don’t mean the new album is absent of Demitro’s hard-driving guitar or the massive percussion of Pottersmith and Fig — quite the opposite. The Velveteers’ signature blend of glitzy glam and witchy mysticism is ever-present, too.

But there’s also something softer there.

and began making music together. Demitro and Pottersmith, who later added drummer Johnny Fig to the group, have now toured with the likes of Smashing Pumpkins, Guns N’ Roses, Greta Van Fleet and The Black Keys whose frontman Dan Auerbach produced A Million Knives as well as the band’s debut album, Nightmare Daydream

“Back then, it was like, ‘Oh yeah, we love this. Maybe someday someone else will love it,” Pottersmith says. “So seeing someone like Dan, who’s been successful in the industry, like the stuff we were putting out, and then put his hand behind and believe in it, was cool and felt really nice.”

Despite those early straight rock influences, Demitro, now 27, says they’ve been drawing on poppier inspiration this time around — another ode to the inner child.

“When I was probably 14, I was, like, obsessed with pop music,” she says. “I wasn’t even into rock at that point. So

“This one feels a lot more vulnerable. Our first album was really kind of straightforward, heavy rock ’n’ roll,” Demitro says. “With this one, we wrote about things that were a little more vulnerable for us and encouraged those moments a little bit more.”

As they navigate those soft spots through the ups and downs of the music industry, The Velveteers say they want to stay true to their vision.

“There’s so many people that are going to try to make you feel like a product and make all these things seem like they’re really important, when at the end of the day, they’re the least important things,” Demitro says.

“I just want to be authentically myself and authentically an artist, and I hope that inspires other people.”

ON THE BILL:

The Velveteers with Cherry Spit and Diva Cup. Friday, Feb. 14, Hi-Dive, 7 South Broadway, Denver. $20. Sold out

The Velveteers have captured the attention of critics and listeners with their signature blend of glitzy glam and witchy mysticism. Credit: Jason Thomas Geering

A Million Knives, the sophomore LP from Boulder-based trio The Velveteers, is slated for release Feb. 14 via Easy Eye Sound, the independent record label of Black Keys’ frontman Dan Auerbach. Courtesy: Easy Eye Sound

FOUND SOUNDS

What’s in Boulder’s headphones?

BY BOULDER WEEKLY STAFF

The final notes of January have faded out, and here in the People’s Republic, it sounded … chaotic. We held space for our inner theater kid with the Wicked soundtrack, paid our respects to late hip-hop legend Mac Miller and got chopped and screwed with Oklahoma City slam-metal freaks Peeling Flesh. What’s the throughline between these bestselling new vinyl releases from Paradise Found Records and Music? Don’t ask us. It just sounds good.

1. MAC MILLER Balloonerism

2. VARIOUS ARTISTS Wicked: Original Soundtrack

3. CHILDISH GAMBINO Atavista

4. PEELING FLESH The G Code

5. FLIPTURN Burnout Days

MUSIC STAFF PICK

Few sonic pivots have turned heads in recent years quite like Perverts by Ethel Cain. While the Tallahassee-born folk artist’s 2022 breakout Preacher’s Daughter was haunted by echoes of the Southern Gothic tradition, darkness blooms in a whole new register on her stunning new full length marked by heavy doses of ambient drone and religious trauma, featuring guitarwork by Colorado’s own Midwife — Jezy J. Gray, arts editor $ 1 0 B U R

For the complete list of top new local vinyl releases, visit bit.ly/FoundSoundsJan25

LOVE IS WEIRD

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a fucked-up twist on ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at the Dairy Arts Center

BY JEZY J. GRAY

It’s awards season once again — and believe it or not, the alt-cinema goblins at the Dairy Arts Center’s weekly Friday Night Weird showcase know a little something about prestige.

Co-curator Shay Wescott says she never imagined the nonprofit’s offbeat film series would overlap with the hobnobbing world of haute couture that is the Academy Awards. But in the nearly 10 years of the program, they’ve screened Best Picture winners and nominees like Everything Everywhere All at Once, Triangle of Sadness and last year’s standup-and-holler body horror masterpiece The Substance, alongside underground gems you won’t find on Netflix.

“Recognition feels increasingly decentralized,” Wescott tells Boulder Weekly

“There isn’t a formula to determine what deserves your attention; you just have to take risks. Look to festivals, auteurs, critics and your local independent theater to find these films first — because I promise you, they are there. 2025 is already getting weird, whether you like it or not.”

From a pair of Shakespearean sendups to a millennial-core emo caper and a spectrum of strangeness in between, here’s what’s on deck this month at Friday Night Weird.

GRAND THEFT HAMLET

FEB. 7

Sam Crane & Pinny Grylls, 2024, UK, 1:29, R. $12

Get in, losers — we’re adapting Shakespeare in GTA Online.

Two out-of-work actors aim to bring the Bard’s seminal tragedy Hamlet to life within the hyper-violent open world of the long-running Grand Theft Auto video game series in this singular documentary from Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls. Shot

entirely in-game at the height of COVID lockdown in the U.K., the film’s subjects are all portrayed by their digital avatars.

“If I could just request that you refrain from killing each other,” Crane asks of the onlooking gamers who gather as digital witnesses to their experiment. “And don’t kill the actors either.”

Since the film’s debut at last year’s SXSW Film Festival, where it took home the Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature, Grand Theft Hamlet has garnered plenty of buzz from critics and viewers along its journey to the Boedecker Theater screen. Wescott says that’s partly because it wrestles with big questions about cultural production in our increasingly automated world.

“At a point when I think a lot of us are genuinely worried about the future of art and how new technologies will change the way we make and experience art, who controls the production and access to art, or even what we consider art, Grand Theft Hamlet is completely inspired,” she says. “It’s not just about modernizing Shakespeare or pointing out that his work will never not be relevant — it’s really about reaffirming a belief that art will never die.”

TROMEO & JULIET: A VERY TROMATIC VALENTINE’S DAY

FEB. 14-15

Lloyd Kaufman, 1996, USA, 1:47, NR. $12

“I hope Shakespeare would be proud of not one, but two completely irreverent adaptations of his work playing this month,” Wescott says of the special twonight, Valentine’s Day weekend screening of Tromeo & Juliet, a trashy low-budget twist on the Bard’s classic tale of starcrossed lovers from B-movie juggernaut Troma Entertainment.

“I tend to personally gravitate more toward the type of ‘weird’ films that transcend their genre status to make relevant commentary or advance the visual language of film,” she adds. “But I also think

the flipside of that is reminding ourselves that we can’t hold anything too sacred.”

Nothing is sacred in this 1996 update on the timeless story co-written by James Gunn, replete with “all the body-piercing, kinky sex and car crashes that Shakespeare wanted but never had.”

Both screenings will be hosted by local author and filmmaker Mathew Klickstein, who will be joined remotely on Feb. 15 by director and Troma co-founder Lloyd Kaufman for a post-screening Q&A with the audience.

“Lloyd is a hero for what he has done for independent film, very much in the vein of [cult film director] Roger Corman,” Wescott says. “He is incredibly incisive and funny and down to earth and full of incredible stories that need to be shared.”

Editor’s note: Read an interview with Klickstein before the screenings on p. 17.

INVADER FEB. 21

Mickey Keating, 2024, USA, 1:10, NR. $12

The Chicago suburbs set the stage for this home invasion film from shapeshifting horror maven Mickey Keating. Wescott says the emerging filmmaker’s raw take on the disturbing subgenre — following a young woman (Vero Maynez) who makes a horrifying discovery after her cousin goes missing — is especially unnerving due to its quick runtime and lack of bullshit.

“Like Thomas Hobbes’ quote on life, the new one from Keating is nasty, brutish and short,” Wescott says. “The choice to make this 70-minute film so lean and stylistically sparse is, in many ways, what makes it so chilling.”

Borrowing from the naturalistic “mum-

blecore” movement that swept independent film in the mid-00s, Wescott says Invader is the unlikely mash-up you didn’t know you needed.

“Much like what Promising Young Woman did for ‘the nice guy,’ there is something inherently unnerving and almost untrustworthy about meek, brooding and almost always male mumblecore protagonists,” she says.

“Mumblecore’s commitment to naturalism can be just as alienating to audiences as the idea of violence in horror films.”

“Even most horror aficionados cite the [home invasion] genre as the one that scares or even repels them to the point of not watching,” she continues. “I think when you’re dealing with real fear, this kind of raw and confrontational filmmaking is not only justified, but maybe necessary.”

RATS!

FEB. 28

Carl Fry & Maxwell Nalevansky, 2025, USA, 1:30, NR. $12

Swapping naturalism for sensory overload, Screen Rant describes this ultra-saturated dark comedy debut from filmmaking team Carl Fry and Maxwell Nalevansky as “a kind of anti-mumblecore punk blast of electricity.”

Set in the fictional town of Pfresno, Texas, during the emo heyday of 2007, RATS! goes down the rabbit hole with 19-year-old Raphael Tinski (Luke Wilcox) who gets mixed up in a madcap nuclear plot following his arrest at the hands of an unhinged cop (Danielle Evon Ploeger). The result is a “youthful, gross and totally absurd” romp, soundtracked by periodappropriate screamo acts like The Blood Brothers and Thursday, sure to light up the pleasure centers of that special 30-something in your life.

“If you take all the film festival reactions to [this movie] and put them in a blender, you would get Napoleon Dynamite as a stoner comedy directed by John Waters, but make it emo,” Wescott says. “It’s all very millennial core and immensely pleasing to the teenager with impossibly side swept bangs that I still long to be.”

Will Keenan and Jane Jensen in Tromeo & Juliet Courtesy: Troma Entertainment

ART BRUT

Mathew Klickstein on the weird and wonderful world of Lloyd Kaufman

BY MICHAEL J. CASEY

The Toxic Avenger, Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead, Tromeo and Juliet, Cannibal! The Musical, Surf Nazis Must Die, the list goes on. Even if you haven’t seen them, you’ve probably heard of them. They’re legendary movies in cult circles, as is the company behind them, Troma Entertainment, co-founded by the one and only, Lloyd Kaufman.

“He’s very much out there, like a P.T. Barnum-type of guy,” Mathew Klickstein says. “Provocative and evocative.”

Formerly of Boulder, now residing in Greeley, Klickstein has authored, coauthored or edited more than a dozen books to date. His latest as editor, Lloyd Kaufman: Interviews, for University Press of Mississippi, is a collection of press interviews and profiles of the independent filmmaker from the 1980s to the 2020s.

“He’s always been this real firebrand who is going to speak his mind very loudly, very irreverently, and he’s not going to mince words,” Klickstein says of Kaufman. “It’s no wonder that he was, in many ways, an early mentor to Trey [Parker] and Matt [Stone] because he has that same kind of politically agnostic sensibility that they have on South Park.”

‘A COMPLETE

“We would end up crossing paths a lot,” Klickstein explains. “Wherever I was, if he was in the same place, we would go grab some coffee, or we’d go check out a movie — just basically go hang out.”

And though Klickstein admits that Kaufman “can come off sometimes as very curmudgeonly and jaded, bitter, angry and forceful,” he’s “often very prescient” and “always got a certain love to him.”

“Very funny and charming,” Klickstein says of the 79-year-old filmmaker. “He really is kind of like your old Jewish grandfather — who you love, but some-

is, what Lloyd’s all about, what Troma is. Leslie’s article was very helpful in even giving me a broader perspective.”

As Klickstein points out, that’s partly because of Pariseau’s perspective.

‘SHAKESPEARE DOESN’T SELL’

times is going to be an old man raging at the clouds. But doing it in a very funny and charming way that tends to even have a fresh angle to it.”

OUTSIDER’

Klickstein first met Kaufman in the mid2000s at the TromaDance Film Festival, a free event Kaufman used to counterprogram in Park City, Utah, during the not-sofree Sundance Film Festival. From there, a beautiful friendship was born.

That probably comes across strongest in Leslie Pariseau’s 2018 article for The Ringer, “Troma: a Love Story,” which was a standout discovery for Klickstein while he was putting together Interviews

“She completely nailed it,” Klickstein says. “Really got to the heart of who Lloyd

“She explains in the beginning [of the essay] that she actually wasn’t familiar with Lloyd and what Troma was when she started the story,” he says. “She was a complete outsider and newbie to the world of Lloyd and Troma.”

The inclusion of Pariseau’s article is what makes Interviews a valuable read for fans of Kaufman’s films and for those who have yet to discover the madness within.

For those unfamiliar, one of the best introductions might be Kaufman’s 1996 lowbudget riff on Shakespeare: Tromeo and Juliet, which will screen at the Dairy Arts Center on Feb. 14 and 15. Klickstein will host both nights, with Kaufman joining remotely for the Feb. 15 show. Written by James Gunn — known these days for his Guardians of the Galaxy installments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — Tromeo and Juliet is not your average take on the star-crossed lovers. Kaufman had a difficult time selling his perverse take on the Bard because theater owners told him, “Shakespeare doesn’t sell.” But then came Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, and Kaufman got a ride on the coattails. A few theaters even mistakenly booked Tromeo and Juliet, thinking they were getting the Luhrmann fantasia instead.

The Dairy’s screening of Tromeo and Juliet is just the beginning. Klickstein has several local events and signings planned for the near future, including a March 8 stop at Boulder’s Time Warp Comics and Games, where he’ll be signing copies of Lloyd Kaufman: Interviews as well as his new graphic novel, Daisy Goes to the Moon. For dates and locations, check mathewklickstein.com to stay in the know.

ON SCREEN: Tromeo and Juliet, presented by Mathew Klickstein, 8:30 p.m. Feb. 14, and 5 p.m. Feb. 15, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., 80302. Lloyd Kaufman: Interviews will be released Feb. 17.

Top: Mathew Klickstein. Courtesy Mathew Klickstein. Above: Will Keenan and Jane Jensen in Tromeo and Juliet

Courtesy Troma Entertainment. Right: Lloyd Kaufman: Interviews Courtesy of University Press of Mississippi.

8

7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., Feb. 7-8 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9, Charlotte York Irey Theatre, CU BoulderUniversity Theatre Building (261). $22

Experience the art of movement as emerging choreographers from CU Boulder’s BFA dance program explore personal themes through a multisensory fusion of genres. This annual CU Presents showcase at Charlotte York Irey Theatre is your chance to be moved by the next generation of dance artists before they make it big.

10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 8 to 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9, Boulder County Fairgrounds Exhibit Building, 9595 Nelson Road, Longmont. $15-$20

It’s a weekend of full-contact entertainment as the teams of Boulder County Roller Derby and Rocky Mountain Roller Derby face off. Catch the High Peak Howlers, Amethyst Assassins, Sapphire Sirens, Boulder Creek Krakens, St. Vrain Swamp Monsters and Purple People Eaters in action. Enjoy tasty grub from Georgia Boys BBQ food truck Saturday and Nacho Mama on Sunday.

GROSSEN BART BREWERY CHILI COOK OFF

2-4:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, Großen Bart Brewery, 1025 Delaware Ave., Longmont. $15

Come with an appetite to support nonprofit Annie and Millie’s Place on their mission to keep people experiencing homelessness together with their fur babies. For $25, enter your bean, beef and veggie emulsion to win a prize, or just fill up on the tasty fruits of others’ labors.

8

ST. VRAIN ANGLERS TROUT UNLIMITED - FLY TYING EXPO!

12:30-5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, Laughing Grizzly Fly Shop, 315 S. Bowen St., Longmont. $20

Hang that gone fishin’ sign on your front door and head down stream to this annual exposition. Talk shop and learn first hand from more than 30 of Colorado’s finest fly tying experts to make sure you’re reeling in some certified trophy trout on your next big fishing trip. Got a junior fisherman in the family? Not to worry, kids 15 and under get in free.

8

LET’S WINE ABOUT WINTER IN NIWOT 2025

1-5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, Downtown Niwot, 2nd Ave. & Cottonwood Square. $35

Grab a glass and stroll through the piles of snow in historic Niwot, stopping at local businesses for your fill of over 30 different wines, beers and culinary delights. Tickets include a mug and a $10 voucher, good at all participating businesses. All proceeds go to improvements at Whistlestop and Children’s Park.

9

VALENTINE’S POP-UP SALE

11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9, Trident Booksellers and Cafe, 940 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

Up your V-Day game at this pop-up shop featuring goodies and gifts for your loved ones. Each purchase of handcrafted items like huggable heart pillows and made-to-order chocolate covered strawberries supports Mindful Works, “a social enterprise dedicated to empowering individuals in recovery from mental health challenges through meaningful employment and craftsmanship.”

10

FULL MOON RESTORATIVE YOGA AND SOUND HEALING

7:15-8:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10, Yoga Pearl, 900 Pearl Street, Unit 4, Boulder. Free for Yoga Pearl members, $32 for nonmembers

Slip into savasana accompanied by the sweet sounds of singing bowls, gongs and other sacred instruments. This restorative yoga practice honoring the full moon is open to all levels and is sure to leave you reeling relaxed and rejuvenated. Pre-registration recommended.

10

MAKER MONDAY DROP-IN: GLOWFORGE SCRAP-APALOOZA

1:30-3:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10, Lafayette Public Library Makerspace, upper level, 775 W. Baseline Road. Free

Harness the power of lasers and help the makerspace get rid of wood and acrylic scraps during this drop-in session. Use the Glowforge Laser Cutter to craft keychains, earrings, magnets and other small items. All you’ll need is a valid Lafayette library card and a completed waiver form: bit.ly/Maker MondayBW.

10

FREE BIKE MAINTENANCE CLASSES

5:30-7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10 and Wednesday, Feb. 12. Community Cycles, 2601 Spruce St. Unit B, Boulder. Free

Ready for Winter Bike to Work Week?

You will be after these free classes from Community Cycles. On Monday, learn how to ride and what to carry for a safe and warm winter commute. On Wednesday, finally figure out how to fix a flat so you’ll never be caught walkin’ again.

11

SMARTY PARTY TRIVIA

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, Avanti Food and Beverage, 1401 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

The Smarty Party isn’t just for eggheads. Everyone is welcome to their weekly trivia game hosted by Avanti’s own Greg Studley. Test your knowledge to win great prizes, mediocre prizes and “prizes that don’t feel like prizes at all.”

12

BREAK SHIT + FULL MOON PRIMAL SCREAM

Noon to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12 . 9140 West 100th Ave., Broomfield. $65

State of the world making you want to scream your fucking head off? This event in honor of the full moon for ages 13 and up is the one for you. On top of the primal shrieking, you’ll throw glass bottles filled with paint at the wall and do holotropic somatic breathwork, “an intense guided journey to access and release stored emotions, trauma and tension.”

13

GALENTINE’S DAY

6-11 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, Avanti F&B, 1401 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

Grab your gals and head to Avanti for a love letter to the girlies. This Galentine’s celebration features all night happy hour, specialty cocktails, chick flicks and food specials for the ultimate girl dinner. Permanent jewelry — aka adult friendship bracelets — will be on deck starting at 8 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC

THURSDAY, FEB. 6

ANDY EPPLER 6 p.m. Bricks on Main, 471 Main St., Longmont. Free

DENNY DRISCOLL AND FRIENDS 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free

BOULDER OLD-TIME JAM 6 p.m. Trident Cafe, 940 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

THE GOODIES 7:30 p.m. Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. $15

JESSE COOK 7:30 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St., Boulder. $32

RILEY J BAND WITH KAITLYN WILLIAMS AND SOMETHING SLIGHT 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $20

JESSICA AUDIFFRED WITH IZZY CADIM, THRASHA AND PNTHR. 8 p.m. Ogden Theatre, 935 E Colfax Ave., Denver. $40

SATURDAY, FEB. 8

REGGAE FEST. 2 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free

SUGAR BRITCHES. 5:30 p.m. Left Hand Brewing, 1265 Boston Ave., Longmont. Free

JEREMY MOHNEY BAND. 6 p.m. Spirit Hound Tasting Room, 4196 Ute Highway, Lyons. Free

JAZZETRY WITH VON DISCO. 6 p.m. Trident Cafe, 940 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

FRIDAY, FEB. 7

MIKE FINDERS 5:30 p.m. Left Hand Brewing, 1265 Boston Ave., Longmont. Free

DINO DANCE PARTY. 6 p.m. Bounce Empire, 1380 S. Public Road, Lafayette. $29

BLADDERFISH. 6 p.m. Bricks on Main, 471 Main St., Longmont. Free

LAURIE D. 6 p.m. Ironwood Bar and Grille, 5706 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder. Free

STEVE AND THE CRUISERS. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free

UNICORN HITS. 6 p.m. Trident Cafe, 940 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

STICKS N’ THORNS. 7 p.m. eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. $25

GIANNI SCHICCHI AND IL TABBARO BY PUCCINI 7 p.m. Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. $25

ANDY FRASCO & THE U.N. WITH THE MAIN SQUEEZE AND SQUEAKY FEET 7:30 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. $53

THOM LAFOND 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. $22

THE RESPONDERS OLDIES BAND 6 p.m. Bricks on Main, 471 Main St., Longmont. Free

ALEXA WILDISH 7 p.m. Juniper Goods, 659 4th Ave., Longmont. $28

PETTY FOOLS: TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS TRIBUTE 7 p.m. Dickens Opera House, 300 Main St., Longmont. $18

DRUNKEN HEARTS WITH DAN HOCHMAN 7 p.m. eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. $25

DISCO BISCUITS 7:30 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. $56

SHADY OAKS WITH RONJO V 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. $16

DONNY BENÉT WITH DJ MATTY SCHELLING. 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $35

GOOD LOOKS WITH A PLACE FOR OWLS AND INNS. 8 p.m. Globe Hall, 4483 Logan St., Denver. $22

WAVE DECAY WITH PALE SUN, PINKKU AND PYRAMYD. 7 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway Denver. $15

SUNDAY, FEB. 9

LOCO UKULELE JAM 2 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free

LIVE MUSIC

ON THE BILL

Boulder-born songwriting duo Carly Ricks Smith and Laura Paige Stratton bring their beloved altAmericana project Foxfeather to the Velvet Elk Lounge for a special Galentine’s Day performance on Feb. 12. The band performs on the heels of their latest album, The Nature of Things, recorded across Boulder’s PS Audio Studios, Animal Lane Studios in Lyons and The Barn in Longmont. Hit the QR code for a Boulder Weekly feature on Foxfeather before you go. See listing for details

ROB PATE AND FRIENDS 3 p.m. Spirit Hound Tasting Room, 4196 Ute Highway, Lyons. Free

LAURIE D 6 p.m. The Old Mine, 500 Briggs St., Erie. Free

MONDAY, FEB. 10

YOUR STAGE. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free

THE GRINNS WITH THE HAPPY RETURN AND GESTALT 7 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $18

TUESDAY, FEB. 11

HOWARD JONES WITH RICHARD BLADE 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. $95

KARAOKE WITH NIC. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free

ENJAMBRE 8 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. $62

DAVE HONIG 6 p.m. Rosetta Hall, 1109 Walnut St., Boulder. Free

DOUG WALTER 7:30 p.m. Grusin Music Hall, 1020 18th St., Boulder. Free

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 12

GALENTINE’S DAY WITH MUSIC BY FOXFEATHER. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. $19 BW PICK OF THE WEEK

THE CBDS. 6 p.m. Rosalee’s Pizzeria, 461 Main St., Longmont. Free

HOWARD JONES WITH RICHARD BLADE. 7 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. $95

SAVAGE LOVE

BY DAN SAVAGE

I am a 30-year-old cishet woman. I have been dating this guy for about six months. and he is perfect. We have great sex. The caveat is that I have never had an orgasm during sex with him.

I have always had a very challenging time achieving orgasm with partners, whether male or female. The thing my partner loves most about sex is when his partner starts getting loud right before or during her orgasm. So, I started faking orgasms when we first started dating and hoped that things would change as we got to know each other’s bodies.

Six months later, I’m still not having orgasms. The few times where I haven’t faked it, he can still cum, but he really ruminates on it.

Having an orgasm isn’t the goal for myself during sex. What I love is the physical intimacy, feeling close to my partner and providing pleasure to someone I deeply care about. However, the lie is weighing on me. I can see myself marrying this guy, but am I going to be faking orgasms for 40 years?

– Future About Keeping Everything Real

What your boyfriend needs is not your orgasms, FAKER, it’s your copulatory vocalizations: the noises female primates tend to make during sex. And this is where gay porn comes in.

I’ve encouraged opposite-sex couples who wanna have simultaneous orgasms during PIV to watch gay porn and pay close attention to what the bottoms are doing in scenes where the top and bottom cum at the same time. But what I want you and your partner to watch for are scenes where the top cum but the bottom doesn’t.

If watching gay PIB turns you off — there are a lot of closeups and anal isn’t for everybody — you can close your eyes and listen, FAKER, because it’s actually what you’re gonna hear that’s important: bottoms getting loud and staying loud even when they don’t cum There’s nothing the least bit insincere about their copulatory vocalizations.

The only way to avoid having to fake orgasms for the next 40 years is by getting your boyfriend to understand that your copulatory vocalizations — even in the absence of an orgasm — are signals

of your sexual pleasure and (sigh) his sexual prowess.

Your boyfriend should be able to wrap his head around the fact that you’re already giving him everything he needs in the runup to his orgasm. Even if he can’t make you come during PIV, he can make you howl.

I’m a middle-aged gay man who has been out for 20 years. A couple months ago, a gay mate of mine messaged me on Grindr because he saw my profile. My friend sent me a screenshot of the account: It’s a picture of my twin brother, who is married to a woman and has three kids.

Is he cheating on his wife? Is he gay? Is his marriage a sham? Is he bi and only out to his wife and has her consent to meet up with guys? Do I ask him what’s going on?

– Outing Unwitting Twin Sibling

The answer to your first four questions is: He could be! The answer to your fifth

Do you ask your brother what’s going on? — you should! To walk into a gay bar is to out yourself. Same goes for posting face pics to Grindr.

If you and your brother were estranged, OUTS, or if your brother was a ranting, raving homophobe and you had cause to fear a violent reaction, I would advise you against asking. But seeing as you two have a good relationship, and seeing as we aren’t required to internalize or mirror other people’s shame about being gay (it’s a question, not an insult), I think you should tell your brother a friend spotted him on Grindr and ask him what’s up.

The fact that you and your brother share the exact same DNA — and hence the exact same face — gives you more grounds to ask the dreaded direct question. I’m guessing it’s not a problem

when your face appears on Grindr, as you’re in an open relationship and presumably allowed to post face (and other) pics to hookup apps, but the gay world is small. It was inevitable that someone you knew would see your brother’s photos on Grindr and assume they were yours and it would get back to you. If your brother didn’t know that before he uploaded photos of the face you share to Grindr, he’s about to find out.

I’m 36-year-old cis woman, and I’ve been with my boyfriend for just over 15 years. We’ve generally happy and we have a great and very active sex life. We’ve never gotten married.

I made it clear at different points in our relationship that I was open to it, but he’s always been against it. Lately I’ve been feeling more and more like the fact that we haven’t gotten married yet is an indicator that something is deeply wrong with our relationship.

I’ve got no interest in giving him an ultimatum. What do I do? — Relationship Isn’t Nearing Goal

If you wanna marry this man, stop waiting for him to pop the question and pop it yourself already.

While a person can fake wanting to fuck you and/or spend time with you, a person can only fake that shit for so long. Based on your description of your relationship, RING, I’d say your boyfriend genuinely loves you. There’s always a risk, of course, that a reluctant-to-marry or doesn’t-see-the-point type partner will end the relationship, but if he can’t have you without marrying you, RING, suddenly marriage has a point. And if he refuses to marry you, you have the option of backing down.

Email your question for the column to mailbox@savage.love or record your question for the Savage Lovecast at savage.love/ askdan. Podcasts, columns, merch and more at Savage.Love

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): The world’s largest mirror isn’t an actual mirror. It’s Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni salt flat, a vast area that’s almost perfectly flat. After a rain, a thin layer of calm water transforms the surface into a perfect reflector that can be used to calibrate observation satellites. In these conditions, it may be almost impossible to tell where the earth begins and the sky ends. I foresee metaphorically similar developments for you during the coming weeks. Boundaries between different aspects of your world — professional and personal, spiritual and practical — might blur in interesting ways. A temporary dissolution of the usual limits may offer you surprising insights and unexpected opportunities for realignment. Be alert for helpful clues about how to adjust the way you see things.

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): From day to day, glaciers appear static. But they are actually slow-moving rivers of ice that have tremendous creative power. They can make or reshape valleys, moving tons of dirt and rock. They pulverize, grind and topple trees, hills and even mountains. New lakes may emerge in the course of their activity. I invite you to imagine yourself as a glacier in the coming months, Taurus. Exult in your steady transformative power. Notice and keep track of your slow but sure progress. Trust that your persistence will ultimately accomplish wonders and marvels.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): In recent weeks, have you stirred up any dynamic fantasies about exotic sanctuaries or faraway places or mercurial wild cards? Have you delivered enticing messages to inspiring beauties or brave freedom-fighters or vibrant networkers? Have you been monitoring the activities of longshots or future helpers or unification adepts who might be useful to you sooner than you imagine? Finally, Gemini, have you noticed I’m suggesting that everything important will arise in threes — except when they come in twos, in which case you should hunt for the missing third? P.S. When the wild things call to you, respond promptly.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): Archaeologists found two 43,000-year-old flutes in Germany. Constructed of mammoth ivory and bird bone, they still produce clear notes with perfect pitch. They were located in a cave that contains ancient examples of figurative art. Some genius way back then regarded art and music as a pleasurable pairing! I propose we make these instruments your power symbols for the coming weeks, Cancerian. May they inspire you to resuscitate the value of your past accomplishments. May you call on the help of melodies and memories that still resonate — and that can inspire your future adventures! Your words of power are regeneration, revival and reanimation.

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): It’s your unbirthday season, Leo — the holiday that’s halfway between your last birthday and your next. During this interlude, you could benefit from clarifying what you don’t want, don’t believe and don’t like. You may generate good fortune for yourself by going on a quest to discover rich potentials and stirring possibilities that are as-yet hidden or unexpressed. I hope you will be bold enough to scan the frontiers for sources of beauty and truth that you have been missing. During your unbirthday season, you will be wise to gather the rest of the information you will need to make a smart gamble or daring change.

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): Austrian playwright Elfriede Jelinek won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004, and RomanianGerman author Herta Müller earned it in 2009. But garnering the world’s most prestigious award for writers did not provide a big boost to their book sales. In some markets, their famous works are now out of print. In 2025, I hope you Virgos do in your own spheres what they only half-accomplished in theirs. I would love for you to gather more appreciation and attention while simultaneously raising your income. According to my reading of the astrological omens, this is a reasonable expectation.

ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): By day, Libraborn Forrest Bess (1911–1977) worked as a commercial fisherman in Texas. By night, he created visionary paintings inspired by symbols that appeared to him in states between sleeping and waking. Other influences in his art came from alchemy, the psychological philosophy of Carl Jung and Indigenous Australian rituals. His life was living proof that mystical exploration and mundane work could coexist. I’m hoping he might serve you as an inspirational role model. You are in a phase when you have the power to blend and synergize seemingly opposing aspects of your world. You would be wise to meditate on how to find common ground between practical necessity and spiritual aspiration. Are there ways you can unite the desires of your head and heart? Of your need for safety and your longing for adventure? Of your craving for beauty and your fondness for usefulness?

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, arranged for himself to be buried after death with an army of 8,000 soldiers made from terracotta, a clay ceramic. Joining the gang below the earth’s surface were 770 horses and 130 chariots. For over 2,000 years, this assemblage was lost and forgotten. But in 1974, farmers digging a new well found it accidentally. In this spirit, I am predicting that sometime in the next five months, you will make interesting discoveries while looking for something other than what you find. They won’t be as spectacular as the terracotta army, but I bet they will be fun and life changing.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): Author Zora Neale Hurston said, “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” I will adjust that counsel for your use, Sagittarius. According to my astrological analysis, the first half of 2025 will ask questions and the second half will answer them. For best results, I invite you to gather and polish your best questions in the next five months, carefully defining and refining them. When July begins, tell life you are ready to receive replies to your carefully wrought inquiries.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): Hemoglobin is an iron-bearing protein that’s crucial to most life. It enables the transportation of oxygen in the blood. But one species, the icefish of the Antarctic seas, lacks hemoglobin. They evolved other ways to obtain and circulate enough oxygen in the frozen depths, including larger hearts and blood vessels. The system they’ve developed works well. They are examples of how to adjust to an apparent problem in ways that lead to fine evolutionary innovations. I suspect you’re now in the midst of your own personal version of a comparable adaptation. Keep up the good work!

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Born under the sign of Aquarius, Clyde Tombaugh discovered the heavenly body known as Pluto in 1930. This was years before he earned advanced degrees in astronomy. His early education was primarily self-directed. The telescopes he used to learn the sky were built from tractor parts and old car components from his father’s farm. During the coming months, I surmise there will be elements of your life resembling Tombaugh’s story. Your intuition and instincts will bring you insights that may seem unearned or premature. (They’re not!) You will garner breakthroughs that seem to be arriving from the future.

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): One of the world’s deepest caves is Veryovkina in the nation of Georgia. At its lowest, it’s 7,257 feet down. There are creatures living there that are found nowhere else on earth. I propose we make it your symbolic power spot for now. In my astrological opinion, you will be wise to dive further into the unknown depths than you have in quite some time. Fascinating mysteries and useful secrets await you. Your motto: “Go deeper and deeper and deeper.” Tuesday, February 25th 6 - 8pm

PHO FOR ALL

Bright flavors, satisfying fare marks debut of Boulder’s first vegan Vietnamese cafe

BY JOHN LEHNDORFF

Boulder has loved Vietnamese cuisine for a half-century. The first Southeast Asian eatery, New Saigon Restaurant, opened in the early 1980s on North Broadway. Locals were introduced to spring rolls, lettucewrapped treats, pho and vermicelli bowls.

Since then, dozens of Vietnamese and pan-Asian eateries have come and gone. Saigon-born Thuy Le opened Chez Thuy in 1992; it’s still dishing on 28th Street.

While vegetarians and those avoiding gluten have generally found multiple items to order at Vietnamese eateries, vegans have been shut out from enjoying some favorites.

Yes, there was always tofu, but no shrimp-lined spring rolls, grilled beeftopped noodles, chicken curry and especially, the soup that has come to define Southeast Asian cuisine in the U.S.

Pho — pronounced “fuh” — starts with animal or fish bones and parts being simmered for hours, if not days. The noodle-packed soup is often topped with meaty cuts ranging from raw steak slices and meatballs to brisket and tendon.

Boulder’s Thuy Steward and her husband, both vegan, felt left out.

“It was hard to find any vegan Vietnamese food locally that we liked, so I decided to open a place,” Steward says. Lotus Moon quietly debuted in late 2024 in the former Black Pepper Pho space at 2770 Pearl St. Steward grew up in a Vietnamese household in California and Texas. “I loved looking at recipes and watching cooking shows, and then I started trying to make dishes,” Steward says. She operated a Boulder catering service for two years.

Lotus Moon’s lineup of appetizers, noodle bowls, entrees and pho is avail-

able with a choice of plant-based proteins in addition to wok-cooked or fried tofu. They add the chew — the textural satisfaction — missing from some vegan cuisine.

Starters include cool, rice-paperwrapped summer rolls packed with lettuce, cucumber, noodles, peanut sauce and “shrimp” that replicates the yumminess of the crustacean. “Chicken” drumsticks on sugar cane sticks are served with plum sauce.

In a nod to fusion fare, Lotus Moon “calamari” rings are served with marinara. Entrees include a vermicelli noodle bowl, Hainan “chicken” with jasmine rice, creamy vegetable curry with noodles or rice and a traditional banh mi sandwich.

A large toasted roll is layered with “ham,” vegetables, herbs and a knockout umami-rich vegan pate Steward’s husband has whipped up.

Lotus Moon’s meal enders range from boba smoothies and mango sticky rice to amazing dark chocolate brownies (made with black beans) that pair perfectly with oat milk Vietnamese coffee.

The menu’s best-seller so far are giant, steaming bowls of vegan pho.

“We simmer vegetables, mushrooms and spices every day to make the broth,” Steward says.

This golden liquid is rich, complex and deeply seasoned and jammed with slurpable noodles and tender carrots, daikon radish, broccoli and shitake mushrooms, plus a drizzle of truffle oil for extra umami.

I ordered pho topped with slices of toothsome five spice-flavored “beef” and chewy fried tofu. On the side was a plate of Thai basil, jalapeno and mung sprouts plus hoisin and chile sauces for an

added boost. I asked for a little more of that broth to finish out a thoroughly satisfying bowl that was missing nothing.

THANK YOU MAMA AND PAPA WANG

Dumpling joints are popping up all over the metro area, including in Boulder. Back in the early 2000s, they were a rare find. Honestly, the first time I ventured into Lao Wang Noodle House, I was a dumpling virgin.

The front window of the small stripmall space on S. Federal Boulevard had a sign in the front window reading, “The best potstickers in Denver.”

As a professional dining critic, I was dubious, but I had only tasted a few faux potstickers at that time. I knew nothing about the larger world of dumplings and Taiwanese food.

Lao Wang’s potstickers were mouthfuls of bliss surrounded by crunch with a simple soy dipping sauce. When I bit into my first soup-filled dumpling, I managed to squirt myself in the face with scalding liquid.

I was head-over-heels hooked. I also soon learned the oddly strict Lao Wang dining ground rules. You had to order everything at once. You were also on Lao Wang time: The food came when it came. Nagging only delayed delivery. There were no second rounds or split checks.

Disobeying meant getting a scolding from the owners, “Papa” Tse-Ming and “Mama” Chun-Ming Wang. They were two of the crankiest, tantrumprone people I’ve ever encountered in a restaurant that I loved so much.

The glowing review I wrote about Lao Wang Noodle House for the Rocky Mountain News proudly occupied a wall near the front door starting in the early 2000s. It will hang there until the shop closes for good on Feb. 15.

Papa Wang passed away three years ago, and Mama Wang — who makes all the dumplings by hand — is approaching 85.

I just want to say a heartfelt “thank you” for the education.

Vegan spring rolls and pho served at Lotus Moon in Boulder. Credit: John Lehndorff

Left: Soup dumplings served at Lao Wang Noodle House in Denver. Credit: Lao Wang. Right: A vermicelli noodle bowl from Lotus Moon. Credit: John Lehndorff

Tse-Ming and Chun-Ming Wang. Credit: John Lehndorff

LOCAL FOOD NEWS: R.I.P. BLUE PARROT SAUCE

From the time Louisville’s Blue Parrot Restaurant opened in 1919 until closing in 2017, the eatery topped their fat noodles and meatballs with a classic tomato sauce. Blue Parrot Spaghetti Sauce was also very familiar to several generations of students as it was served in Boulder Valley School District cafeterias. Until recently, the sauce was also sold at local supermarkets, but production of Blue Parrot Spaghetti Sauce was recently discontinued.

Duets Bistro and Deli, a deli, bistro and craft cocktail bar, is open at 600 S. Airport Road in Longmont.

Coming soon: In-N-Out Burger, 735 Harvest Moon Drive, Longmont which will have a drive-thru that can accommodate 29 vehicles simultaneously.

CULINARY CALENDAR: COOL COMMUNITY POTLUCK

The BoCo Seasonal Supper Club is a unique new community potluck event centered around locally produced ingredients. Grains will be featured at the first meal Feb. 13 at the Altona Grange (9386 N. 39th St., Longmont). Guests bring a dish large enough to share. Proceeds benefit Boulder County Farmers Markets. Tickets: bit.ly/3CJBeAu

Plan ahead: The Taste of Pearl walking tour of downtown Boulder is April 6. boulderdowntown.com/taste-of-pearl

WORDS TO CHEW ON: ‘AUTHENTIC’ CUISINE?

“Just about every cuisine in the world is already a fusion cuisine: Wars, invasions, colonialism and immigration patterns have played key roles in the evolution of most food cultures around the globe.”

– Salma Abdelnour

John Lehndorff hosts Radio Nibbles 8:20 a.m. Thursdays on KGNU, 88.5 FM and streaming at kgnu.org. Comments: nibbles@kgnu.org

Blue Parrot Spaghetti Sauce. Credit: John Lehndorff

ON DRUGS

SMOKING LOUNGES COULD BE COMING TO LONGMONT

Council OKs onsite cannabis use with 4-3 vote

BY SHAY CASTLE

Longmont will become the first city in Boulder County to allow on-site use of cannabis after city council voted 4-3 to start licensing hospitality businesses, paving the way for eventual smoking lounges or spas.

Council discussed the issue five times throughout 2024, with a final vote and public hearing on Jan. 28. Another vote will be required to amend Longmont’s code to allow indoor smoking of cannabis, according to staff notes, along with changes to the city’s marijuana regulations. The city’s planning director will decide how to zone hospitality businesses, which will determine possible locations.

On-site consumption has been permitted under state law since 2019, but very few municipalities have adopted their own regulations. There are fewer than 20 such licenses in the state, concentrated in Denver and Aurora, and not all of those businesses are operable.

“It’s not broadly allowed,” Longmont City Clerk Dawn Quintana said.

Boulder’s Cannabis Licensing and Advisory Board in 2023 recommended allowing on-site consumption, but council decided not to discuss the issue.

Two people have expressed interest in

setting up cannabis hospitality businesses in Longmont, according to notes shared with council members. One of them, Jordan Person, spoke at the Jan. 28 public hearing. She hopes to start a spa using topical cannabis products such as lotions and massage oils.

“Please vote yes to move this forward so we can have a spa in Longmont,” she said.

Person was one of three speakers at the hearing. She and Ben Owens were in favor of the ordinance which, as Owens put it, “doesn’t ruffle too many feathers but also moves the city forward in a progressive way.”

Terry Medearis and Steve Altschuler — whom Mayor Joan Peck allowed to speak although they had not signed up for the public hearing — were opposed, citing conversations with Longmont police officers concerned about drug use generally.

“I do not want to encourage anything that promotes any sort of drug use,” Medearis said.

Longmont will allow only four hospitality businesses, echoing its cap on the number of retail establishments. Though, as Peck noted, the city also has dispensaries in county enclaves.

“Why I’m opposed to that is this is adding the ability to get four more” cannabis businesses in Longmont, she said. “I just think that’s too many for our city.”

Diane Crist and newly appointed council member Matthew Popkin joined Peck in voting against allowing hospitality licenses.

Based on past council feedback, local applicants will be given preference, but staff cautioned that Longmont could not require license holders to be residents of the city.

Hospitality businesses can be open later than dispensaries, operating from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. (Dispensaries must close at 10 p.m.) Outdoor consumption will not be allowed, and hospitality establishments can’t co-locate with restaurants, according to city regulation.

Longmont is not allowing mobile hospitality businesses, such as party buses. Two types of businesses will be allowed by the license: those selling cannabis to be consumed on site and those that allow patrons to bring their own.

During discussion, Popkin asked if staff or council had studied “any fiscal impacts from this on the city in terms of code enforcement, law enforcement [and] public safety resources.”

“We did reach out to our counterparts in other departments to get their feedback,” Quintana said, “and didn’t get any decisively negative feedback.”

Denver’s newest smoking lounge, Cirrus Social Club, is set to open in March. There are already 5,000 people on the waiting list, owners told The Denver Post.