Longmont Insider 2023

THE PLACE TO BE is Fall & Winter

NIWOT OUT & ABOUT DAY

September 23rd

NIWOT OKTOBERFEST

September 30th

PUMPKIN WALK

October, All Month Long

NIWOT TROT

October 1st

FIRST FRIDAY ART WALK

October 6th

GREAT PUMPKIN PARTY

October 28th

FIRST FRIDAY ART WALK

November 3rd

NIWOT HONORS VETERANS

November 11th

WINC 1940S FILM & DINNER

November 11th

ENCHANTED EVENING

November 24th

HOLIDAY PARADE

November 25th

SMALL BIZ SATURDAY

November 25th

NIWOT NICKEL LAUNCH

November 25th

FIRST FRIDAY ART WALK

December 1st

HOLIDAY MARKETS

December 2nd

HOLIDAY MARKETS

December 9th

APRES SKI DAY

January 27th, 2024

LET’S WINE ABOUT WINTER

February 24th, 2024

LUCKY NIWOT DAY

March 9th, 2024

THE 2023 LONGMONT INSIDER

August 24, 2023

PUBLISHER: Fran Zankowski

EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Caitlin Rockett

ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR: Jezy J. Gray

GENERAL ASSIGNMENT REPORTER:

Kaylee Harter and Will Matuska

FOOD EDITOR: John Lehndorff

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:

Emily Moore, Toni Tresca, Gabby Vermeire

SALES AND MARKETING

MARKET DEVELOPMENT MANAGER:

Kellie Robinson

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE:

Matthew Fischer

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE: Chris Allred

SPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGER:

Carter Ferryman

MRS. BOULDER WEEKLY: Mari Nevar

PRODUCTION

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Erik Wogen

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Mark Goodman

CIRCULATION MANAGER: Cal Winn

CIRCULATION TEAM: Sue Butcher, Ken Rott, Chris Bauer

BUSINESS OFFICE

BOOKKEEPER: Emily Weinberg

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-holdsbarred 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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2023 LONGMONT

READER, WELCOME TO LONGMONT

Longmont isn’t just some bedroom community for Boulder. No, this booming city has a personality all its own, well worth your time and exploration. Longmont offers so much to do, whether in the heart of downtown along Main Street or on the quiet, rural city limits.

Looking for a weekend to remember? “Boom Town” is a two-day guide for all budgets and interests. Got a sweet tooth to satisfy? Boulder County has two baklava makers, one of whom calls Longmont home, sending her products far and wide across the state. Itching to see some art? Longmont Museum pairs Boulder County farms with artists for agriCULTURE, an exhibit that can’t be missed. Searching for some local tunes to build out your playlist? We’ve written about the Longmont artists you need to hear. And for those interested in having a drink and seeing a show, we’ve curated a number of establishments where you can kick back with a cold one while taking in a show. We could go on and on, but it might be best if you cracked open this year’s edition of Longmont Insider for yourself.

Cheers, from you friends at Boulder Weekly

08 BOOM TOWN: Your guide to a perfect weekend in Boulder County’s eastern hub

13 LONGMONT MUSIC: The local music artists you need to know

16 EARTHWORKS: Collaborative exhibition brings ‘art inspired by the land’ to Boulder County farms

19 A TASTE OF THE OLD WORLD: The king and queen of Boulder County baklava

22 DRINK SOMETHING, DO SOMETHING: Get refreshed and catch a show at these Longmont locations

BOOM TOWN

Your guide to a perfect weekend in Boulder County’s eastern hub

BY CARTER FERRYMAN AND GABBY VERMEIRE

Longmont continues to boom. The oncesleepy East County town is still as charming as ever, but its population eclipsed the 100,000 mark between the 2010 and 2020 census counts; and if that upward trend is any indication, the total number of residents will likely soon meet or surpass Boulder (if it hasn’t already). The latter is seldom a feasible financial option for many, leading more and more to give Longmont a second look.

ALL-OUT ON MAIN STREET

But when it’s time to let loose on the weekend, Boulder or Denver are typically the first options that come to most people’s minds. So it’s time to put some respect on Longmont’s name: Whether you’re looking to go all out, or trying to keep it cheap, there’s something for you in this fast-growing BoCo hotspot. Need help searching? Here’s the perfect two-day itinerary to start you off.

START YOUR DAY AT HIDDEN CAFE

829 Main St., Unit 5

Perhaps your Friday or Saturday night was a little longer (and more expensive) than expected. This cozy breakfast nook, quietly tucked away on Main Street, has you covered. Walk in and grab a booth with friends at the familyowned Hidden Cafe — the welcoming atmosphere will calm that hangxiety you may be harboring, and your order will cure it.

You can’t go wrong with a steaming cup of coffee and any of their menu options, but the Lindy Deluxe might be the winner here: a ginormous biscuit, fried potatoes, bacon, green chili and two eggs, all hanging out together in a gorgeous heap. Polish your plate, pay your (extremely reasonable) bill, leave rejuvenated, and finish your first stop of the day with a deep breath of crisp, foothills-adjacent air.

FOLLOW THE MUSIC AT ABSOLUTE VINYL

819 Main St.

If you’re a longtime vinyl collector or a newbie catching the wave, you’ve probably heard of Absolute Vinyl, and the absolute legend who runs it, Doug Gaddy. Enter through the front and take in the nostalgic musk of linoleum-lined shelves before swan diving into a world of music.

Not so confident in your discovery skills? Allow Gaddy or one of his music wizard employees to be your sonic guide. And don’t be intimidated — we know record store employees can be pretentious, but the Absolute Vinyl crew is the opposite of that. They might steer you toward the early works of Jethro Tull, or the smooth sounds of Eric Dolphy, or perhaps a left turn you never saw coming. Whether you didn’t find what you were looking for (unlikely), or you’re walking out with an armful of your new favorite LPs, you’ll want to throw Absolute Vinyl a follow on Instagram (new drops are posted all the time) before heading on to your next spot.

ROOT FOR THE HOME TEAM AT PUMPHOUSE BREWERY

540 Main St.

It’s midday by now, which probably means the Broncos or Buffs are kicking off (depending on when you’re reading this). Last year was a vile offering from both parties — perhaps the worst showing by either team since their inception. But this year fosters unlimited hope, courtesy of two glorious coaching hires: Sean Payton and Deion Sanders. And when you walk through the doors at Pumphouse Brewery, you’ll be greeted by what seems like hundreds of hi-def versions of their faces gazing back approvingly at you — almost as if they’re affirming the halfway mark of your successful day in Longmont.

Once you’re seated with a menu in hand, you’ll find so much to choose from. But bars like this are for sharing, and if you’re with friends or family, the AsiagoArtichoke Dip is the must-have, featuring one of the dip world’s greatest pairings, and sundried tomatoes for some extra punch. Did your team win? Great! You and your stomach are both happy. Did they lose? Let’s take a walk and blow off some steam.

PUMPHOUSE BREWERY: COLLECTIVE EFFORTS

When Conrad Legendy’s company won the bid for The Pumphouse Brewery just a year ago, he knew there were colossal shoes to fill. Longmont’s foremost sports bar, opened in the spring of 1995 at 6th and Main Street, helped spur the craft beer revolution on the backs of co-founders Craig Taylor, Dennis Coombs, Dave D’Epagnier, Tom Charles and Ross Hagen. They pumped out award-winning beers before it was commonplace in Colorado, while serving generous portions in a family-friendly environment. Knowing all this, Legendy — who serves as president of Teamshares, a company that con-

verts small businesses into employee-owned operations — got right to work.

“The day the transaction closed, Teamshares granted 10% of the company’s shares to Pumphouse’s loyal employees at no extra cost,” Legendy says. “Over the next 20 years, through the growth of the business, the company will become 80% employee owned.”

What’s changing about the establishment itself? “Not a lot,” says Legendy. The Pumphouse has maintained a high standard for service and quality of beer and food. The main change, according to the bar’s new president, comes down to ownership structure.

“Every employee is now an employee-owner,” Legendy says. He sees it as a simple equation: When you’re earning a direct share of the profits, succeeding becomes vital. Over the past several months, Legendy says he has seen more involvement from employees.

“‘Blonde, James Blonde’ was a blonde ale name proposed by one of our servers, and ‘La Sombra’ Mexican dark lager was proposed by one of our cooks,” Legendy says. They’re even designing new drinks: The night the Nuggets took home the NBA Championship, the Pumphouse’s top-selling drink was a special invented by one of the bartenders.

As president of The Pumphouse, Legendy says he is accountable to the employee owners as his shareholders. They have access to detailed financial information, plus benefits like a 401(k) retirement plan with a 4% match, along with health and dental coverage. And since the staff got a stake in the business free of charge, they can cash dividend checks as profits are shared.

The Pumphouse Brewery turned 27 last month, and Legendy is hopeful about what the coming years have in store for this Longmont icon. “Like any successful 27-year-old,” Legendy says, “we feel very optimistic about the future.”

BALLIN’ ON A BUDGET

Part of the appeal of leaving “the bubble” is that things are generally more, let’s just say it, affordable. No matter if you’re re-discovering the Longmont of your backyard or need a break from the Boulder bougie, you can find yourself a cute-n-crunchy day on a budget if you know where to look.

REFLECT AND COLLECT AT RABBIT MOUNTAIN OPEN SPACE

15140 N. 55th St.

You’ve eaten a lot of great food so far today, so you may be weighed down and, depending on how your favorite team performed, questioning your life choices at-large. Let Ron Stewart Preserve at Rabbit Mountain Open Spaces’ 5,000 acres of silent bliss calm your mind. Depending on when you’re going, it may be green, orange, red or a combination of the three. It’s open from sunup to sundown, and there are numerous short, scenic hikes that’ll be your winding road to inner peace.

You’re calm and composed, but life’s short, and there are two top-tier destinations awaiting you for the final stop of this perfect day in Longmont.

END YOUR DAY WITH A DYNAMIC DUO: ROSALEE’S PIZZERIA AND COPPER SKY DISTILLERY

461 Main St. and 110 Emery St., Suite C

Cap off your all-out Saturday with two homegrown, highly acclaimed spots: one whose specialty is high-quality spirits, and the other square and circle-shaped pies. Stop at Rosalee’s Pizzeria first, and don’t hold back. Their garlic knots are enough to bring a grown man to his knees, but the knockout punch has to be the House Sausage Pie: plum tomato sauce, in-house ground and seasoned Italian sausage, whole milk mozzarella and Pecorino Romano.

Finally, head over to South Main Station for a neat glass of heaven at Copper Sky Distillery. Go for gold with a couple fingers of their Wheated Whiskey, which won the USA Spirit Ratings Best Whiskey in Show in 2022. And if you don’t drink, don’t fret: Their new tasting room, opened just a year ago, can be your home base to wind down the night with friends over succulent non-alcoholic libations whipped up by Copper Sky mixologists.

ERASE LAST NIGHT’S SINS AT THE LONGMONT FARMERS MARKET

9595 Nelson Road

Just because you went hard at Copper Sky Distillery last night, there’s no need to sentence yourself to a miserably virtuous day of wellness to cancel out those whiskey shots. Enter a magical place where you don’t have to choose between indulgence and nourishment: the Longmont Farmers Market

Nothing hits harder when your blood sugar and dopamine receptors are gasping for air than the perfect balance of macros in a pupusa from Papusas Familia, which, combined with coffee from the Longmontcrafted FairIsle Coffee, will having you feeling like a locavore market god(dess) in no time. While those familiar with the Boulder Farmers Market will recognize reliable favorites like Amaizing Corn Tamales and Hazel Dell Mushrooms, at the Saturday morning Longmont market you’ll also reap the benefits of being smack-dab in farm country, visiting Longmont-only vendors like Westcliffe Cheese Company (hint: it’s goat cheese) and Left Hand Wool Company, your one-stop shop for grass-fed lamb and home-grown yarn.

GET SMART AT JACK’S SOLAR GARDEN

8102 N. 95th St.

While you’re free to luxuriously dilly dally at the market, if you’re able to rally by 10 a.m., you can tour Jack’s Solar Garden, a combination produce farm, pollinator habitat, educational resource and cutting-edge research site located right in east Boulder County. Every Saturday morning, the Colorado Agrovoltaics Learning Center runs public tours where you can see a single system of agricultural and solar production, in action. The tours, which are provided free of charge to government policymakers and high school field trips, showcase the more than 3,000 single-axis solar panels that create shaded microclimates offering relief from the mid-day sun to plants and gardener babes alike. And since Jack’s is also a produce farm through its partnership with Sprout City Gardens, you can purchase the CSA veggies you didn’t have time for at the market.

FEAST YOUR EYES ON SOME LOCALLY-GROWN ART AT THE FIREHOUSE ART CENTER

667 4th Ave.

So you’ve gone to your local farmer’s market and toured a local farm (excuse me, a solar farm). It can’t get any more local-Colorado-cute than this, right? Wrong.

Hello, Firehouse Art Center!

If you visit this free-admission community hub in summer 2023, you’ll be able to see works by current resident artist Makenzie Davis. Hailing from Lyons, the otherartsy-L-town, she makes art combining 2D painted elements with 3D textures to reflect the geological and cultural contours of the land. For her summer residence at Firehouse, Davis invites Front Range residents to get in on the artistic conversation during workshops and add their own paper detritus (i.e., waste-but-make-itART) to her 2D works. The result is a tactile reflection on how people and rocks alike layer this semi-arid landscape in a tapestry of cultural and geographic history. Or at least that’s what you can remark to your gallery partner with an intellectual cock of your head.

JACK’S SOLAR GARDEN: KEEP ON THE SUNNY SIDE

When Byron Kominek moved to his grandfather’s farm in 2016, he saw a seemingly inherent problem in the production of solar energy. Traditional ground-level solar panels are in competition with the plants around them, potentially lowering energy production by keeping sunlight from reaching the panels. This has led to solar energy producers removing and spraying plant life around solar panels, degrading the soil in the process.

So Byron, now owner and manager of his grandpa’s namesake Jack’s Solar Garden, set out to solve this conundrum by constructing raised solar panels that allowed crops to grow beneath and between them. Not only did this eliminate the competition issue, but it also led to more benefits both for solar production and agricultural production: The shade from the solar panels protect plants from all-day direct sunlight, leading to increased photosynthesis and agricultural production. At the same time, the plants used less water as they cooled the solar panels from the bottom, bringing higher efficiency in solar energy capture and production of electricity.

From the beginning, Jack’s has been above all an experiment in partnerships. It’s been studied since its inception by researchers at University of Colorado, Colorado State University, the University of Arizona and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Audubon Rockies maintains pollinator habitats around the solar panels. Jaime Hispa, Jack’s 2023 Artist on the Farm, teaches plein air paint workshops. And local notable weed purveyors like Terrapin Care Station and In the Flow Boutique Cannabis use some of the energy produced at Jack’s. On top of all that, the fact that the largest commercial agrovoltaics site in the country is also an accessible produce farm in Longmont seems like another metaphor for the hidden goldmine that is Boulder’s eastern backyard.

LONGMONT SHORTLIST

The local music artists you need to know

BY BOULDER WEEKLY STAFF

WHILE ITS NEIGHBORING COUNTY-SEAT SIBLING often gets the lion’s share of the glory, there’s lots to love about the Longmont music scene. From blues-tinged funk to rugged Americana and tender folk ballads, you’ll find a song for every season in this East County hub. Wherever your taste falls, here are just a few of the standout artists making this up-and-coming cultural community worth a second look.

THE BLUE SHOES: OUTGROWING THE KIDS’ TABLE

From backyard barbecues to international showcases, it’s been a long strange trip for the teenage musicians of The Blue Shoes since their debut at Greeley Blues Jam in the summer of 2021. But if you ask the young blues-rock quartet what it’s like to shoot for the stars onstage during your high-school years, you’ll get a mixed response.

“It’s almost a blessing and a curse,” says 17-year-old frontman Brody Mundt, who sings and plays guitar alongside bandmates Ben Egan on bass and saxophone, Dylan Luther on drums and Simon Von Hatten on keys. “On one hand, people will be like, ‘Oh, they’re so good for their age!’ But then on the other hand, they still think of us as kids, and they don’t really take us seriously.”

But after the band’s strong showing at last year’s International Blues Challenge in Memphis, it’s hard to dismiss The Blue Shoes as your average high school garage band. For evidence, just listen to the tracks recorded by the

group at the city’s fabled Sun Studios, offering a mix of high-energy originals and elevated covers that boast a musical maturity beyond their years. “I definitely had the spirits of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Howlin’ Wolf running through me,” Mundt says with a laugh.

As far as what’s next for these young Longmonsters, the band is currently working on their debut full-length LP, expected to drop by the end of the year. Things are less clear after that, with the quartet on the brink of dispersal after high school. But Mundt isn’t worried about what that might mean for the future of the band.

“We shouldn’t have to think of college as the apocalypse. Countless musicians still record remotely with their bandmates — it doesn’t necessarily matter if we’re all in the same area,” he says. “I’d still love for there to be a creative identity associated with our band, even if everything’s different. I don’t just want to have one release and say, ‘That’s what I did back then.’ I want to keep it going in whatever way it can.”

The sounds of Philly soul and Sam Cooke rang through the childhood home of Angel Corsi. But when the Longmont singer-songwriter is asked about the biggest influence on his music today, marked by a penchant for storytelling and tender folk sensibility, he points to what might seem an unlikely combination.

“I say it’s like Springsteen on Broadway if he grew up with Ice Cube and KRS-One,” Corsi says. “I use hiphop elements in my music, so there are lots of textures that are new palettes for many people in the folk scene … I like to tell people it’s not your mama’s folk music.”

Corsi moved to Longmont last sum-

mer from the U.S.-Mexico border town of Harlingen, Texas, where he says a heady mix of reactionary politics and rich Latino culture helped develop an appreciation for nuance and complexity in his songwriting. You’ll hear as much in the textured stories and characters populating his six-track EP, Fabula, and its upcoming companion Wild Blood due later this year.

“I’m writing about people who are living inside the gray area, where they’re not always good and they’re not always bad. It’s a complex thing. We need to stop thinking about people in black and white terms,” Corsi says. “My job is to activate your empathy.”

ANGEL CORSI: ‘NOT YOUR MAMA’S FOLK MUSIC’

Courtesy: The Blue Shoes

Credit: Nazvil Photography

MOJOMAMA: SCENE QUEEN

When it comes to local music in Longmont, few acts are as time-tested as Mojomama. For more than two decades, these homegrown funk purveyors have been a fixture on city stages — from packed festivals to intimate listening rooms and points in between. And to hear vocalist Jessica Rogalski tell it, the band’s mainstay status has offered a front row seat to the many changes the community has seen since her band’s first show in the early 2000s.

“The music scene has developed a real vibe of its own, because I think we’ve had an influx of artistic and musician types in the Longmont community — because, of course, affording the actual town of Boulder is out of reach for most musicians,” Rogalski says. “We’re all still working at the same pay rate we’ve been

paid for 20 years, so we all have to find ways to make a living and have a consistent footprint musically.”

A big part of maintaining that footprint comes from the band’s highenergy live show, which earned a semi-finalist slot at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis two years in a row. It also comes from Rogalski’s day job with husband and bandmate Paul as proprietors of Mojo’s Music Academy in Longmont. But she says it would all be for nothing without the fans who have helped make their “funked-up blues” project a true local institution.

“As musicians on stage, you want to have that exchange of energy. Without the listener, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do,” Rogalski says. “So it’s really meaningful when you look out there and people are singing your songs. It’s just the best feeling ever.”

Courtesy: Mojomama

ANTONIO LOPEZ: A BAND APART

Like most musicians, singersongwriter Antonio Lopez says the last few years have had their fair share of setbacks. But with the “post”-pandemic world returning to something that looks a little more like normal, the Longmont staple sees plenty worth celebrating.

“The camaraderie and kinship between [my band] has really strengthened,” the artist said in his first interview with Boulder Weekly since the height of the pandemic in 2020. “We’ve got an in-house team that we feel really strong about.”

And that’s no small detail for the artist whose Boulder County roots run deep. While Lopez’s guiding creative vision is the force behind the songs, he says the real magic happens in the interplay between drummer Christopher Scott Wright, bassist Chad E. Mathis and percussionist Jonathan Sadler.

“While I am a singer-songwriter, my band is very much a band. We have that ethos. It’s not really like a frontman with a backing band. We’re

a unit together, and what each of us brings to the table is unique,” he says. “We get along really well, and we put the music above everything else. I’m just really proud, especially as we’re moving into this next chapter.”

That chapter began earlier this spring, when Lopez and his bandmates launched their “doubles” series of singles, harkening back to the days of A and B sides on 45 RPM vinyl releases. The project continues with another pair of songs this month, culminating with an album release in November. Until then, the artist says he’s finding plenty of inspiration in the local music community he calls home.

“[The music scene] is competitive, but it also is supportive. There is something to the ethic of making do, and there are artists rising out of this local scene that are making a splash nationally and even internationally,” Lopez says. “That’s the trajectory my band and I are trying to make happen.”

Credit: Lauren Wright

EARTHWORKS

There’s a lot more than food growing on the farms of Boulder County. Just ask the folks at the Longmont Museum and Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA), who paired more than 15 artists with local farmers to explore the relationship between the land, the people who tend it and the communities who rely on it.

Together, the two cultural institutions developed site-specific visual installations on display at five locations in Boulder County, including three farms. Through a range of artistic mediums — ceramics, cyanotypes, digital media, fiber art, photo weavings and more — the joint venture aims to shed light on the connections between agriculture and issues like climate change and water rights.

“All the artists were given the same prompt, but they took it in such different directions and really pulled out different themes,” says Jared Thompson, Longmont Museum curator. “We have art that tells a story about ancestral lands, about food access, about its environmental impact and kind of just all these different stories about what goes into the production of food and farming.”

The ongoing exhibition, agriCULTURE: Art Inspired by the Land, is based on the lived experiences of farmers who collaborated with artists to tell the story of their farms. It invites attend-

BY TONI TRESCA

ees to use all five senses to explore the work of dozens of artists who linked up with 15 farms to create pieces on display now at BMoCA, Longmont Museum, Ollin Farms, Milk and Honey Farm at the Boulder JCC and the Agricultural Heritage Center.

“We approached [it] almost like dating profiles: We asked the artists and farmers to fill out information about themselves so that we could pair them with someone who would be a good match,” Thompson says. “It was all about getting artists to understand farmers’ concerns, challenges and celebrations, and then translating their stories into a visual format.”

‘FAITH IN THE PROCESS’

This multi-venue exhibition invites visitors to explore their own connections to the land and natural world through artistic depictions of farm life. David Dadone, director of BMoCA, first proposed the concept for agriCULTURE more than four years ago. Early on in the process, Dadone approached the Longmont Museum as a potential collaborator and to generate ideas.

After formally deciding to collaborate on the project, the museums asked

Boulder Library’s program and events manager, Jaime Kopke, to act as the lead curator and oversee the overall aesthetic coherence. She was ultimately responsible for the individual curation of the three farm sites, in addition to working on pieces with Jane Burke at BMoCA and representatives from the Longmont Museum.

In the artwork on display in the gallery of the Longmont Museum, Thompson aimed to emphasize the extensive, labor-intensive nature of farm life.

“I was interested in featuring a large, immersive piece that mirrors the largescale nature of agriculture,” he says.

“Normally, we do family-friendly exhibitions during this time slot; so, in addition to the six artists’ work that is part of the show, the museum staff created this kids’ section with hands-on farm activities to give younger museum goers something to do.”

Elsewhere visitors will experience eye-catching installations by Nicole Banowetz (Esoterra Culinary Garden), Libby Barbee (The Golden Hoof Farm), Margarita Cabrera (Ollin Farms), Patrick Marold (Bateman Farms), Sarah Sense (The Black Cat), and Sam Van Aken (Boulder Apple Tree Project) throughout the museum.

“This project has been highly experimental for us,” says Joan Harrold, Longmont Museum’s marketing manager. “Until three weeks before the exhibition opened, we had no idea what it was going to look like inside the museum.”

While the six artists had been given space in the gallery and communicated an idea of what they were going to be doing, it was hard to conceptualize without seeing the work installed.

“The pieces are somewhat abstract, so it was tricky trying to imagine what the staging was going to look like until we actually got the stuff here,” Thompson says. “But it’s about having faith in the process, the artists and the farmer. I’m really happy with the way each piece came out. Even though we didn’t give any requirements, they all have a similar color palette and tell a fascinating story about Boulder County’s rich farming heritage.”

‘WHY WE DO THIS WORK’

Based on their conversations with farmers throughout the seasons, each piece tells a unique, real-life story. Marold’s

Patrick Marold’s ‘Corn Stalk Screen’ on opening night of agriCULTURE at the Longmont Museum. Photo courtesy Longmont Museum.

Collaborative exhibition brings ‘art inspired by the land’ to Boulder County farms

A snapshot of mounted works in agriCULTURE. Photo courtesy Longmont Museum.

work Scale is a massive corn stalk screen that covers the height and width of a wall inside the gallery. He wanted to create something that “would consider broad-scale practices and the potential of working with a farmer that supplies the industry that feeds the majority of the population.”

Through conversations with Keith Batemen, a fifth-generation farmer, Marold developed the piece to represent how much energy it takes to bring food to the table.

“These stalks were visual evidence of a process that we are so easily detached from, even when some of us drive past this field every day,” Marold says. “[The piece] grew out of this dialogue, the physical field where they were collected from, and a sense of

urban and rural communities,” Barbee says. “I think that it is really important that people understand how their food is grown, both from an environmental standpoint as well as from a social and cultural standpoint.”

Paired with The Golden Hoof Farm, she met with the owner, Alice Maritz Starek, and toured the facility multiple times. Throughout the year, she photographed the farmland as well as her own backyard. Barbee then used these images to create a composition of the landscapes as they change throughout the season, which can be viewed through the window of a large-scale grain silo.

“I was initially interested in exploring soil health, and Alice’s whole farming process is geared towards building the

are simply a thread in this greater tapestry … For us, the agriCULTURE exhibit was a meaningful time for reflection on how and why we do this work.”

More than 300 people attended the gallery’s opening reception at the Longmont Museum. “Many of them were people who were involved in the exhibit, from one of the farms or related to an artist,” Harrod says. “It really demonstrated what a massive collaboration agriCULTURE is and how many community members, who may have never been involved in art-making before, contributed to the installation.”

Because there are so many moving parts in this exhibition, Thompson says it is probably the most difficult project he has ever worked on. He says it is also one of the most satisfying.

“This has been challenging, but I am very proud of the outcome and feel like I have made a lot of really great friends in the community,” he says. “It is really great to highlight Boulder County farms and raise public awareness of them. … agriCULTURE brings awareness to what we have going on in Boulder County, and will hopefully get more people thinking about buying locally to support our farmers.”

ON VIEW: agriCULTUREArt Inspired by the Land. Through Jan. 7, 2024, various locations including Longmont Museum and BMoCA. More info at bit.ly/AgricultureBW

scale that I wanted to express to the viewer.”

For environmental sculptor Libby Barbee, who was raised in a southern Colorado farming community and now resides in Denver, this project was an opportunity to get back in touch with her roots.

“As I have gotten older and spent more time living in urban areas, I have become more interested in creating work that addresses the gap in knowledge that exists in many urban communities about our food and where it comes from, as well as the cultural divide that has developed between

soil on their farm,” Barbee says. “I was especially interested in the cyclical process of growth and decomposition on the farm.”

Farmer Eric Skokan, owner of Black Cat Farm, was partnered with weaver Sarah Sense, whose work reflects her Chitimacha and Choctaw ancestry while incorporating images of the farm. He says this project was a fun opportunity to interact with the community.

“Beyond our family, our greatest treasure is to be a part of this wonderful community,” Skokan says. “We see our farm as one of the many threads that hold our community together. We

Nicole Banowetz’s ‘Biophillic Regeneration Series: The Terra Module.’ Courtesy Longmont Museum

Milk and Honey Farm is an educational agriculture site at Boulder JCC. Photo by Toni Tresca

‘Ode to a Prairie (Part 2),’ by Amanda McCavour. Courtesy Longmont Museum.

A TASTE OF THE OLD WORLD

The king and queen of Boulder County baklava

On a scorching July afternoon, Donald Vukovic stands half in, half out of his booth at the Erie Farmers Market.

With Greek folk music playing from a portable speaker, The Baklava Guy booth rarely goes unnoticed. More often than not, curiosity wins over pass-

BY EMILY MOORE

ersby who can’t help but ask questions about the pastry while making their purchases. Vukovic is more than happy to oblige.

Baklava is the product of cultural exchange over millennia, a recipe born from regionally available ingredients and shaped by ancient trade routes that served wealthy empires and their rulers.

The flaky dessert originated with a simple recipe from the 8th century B.C., where the Assyrians — located in modern-day Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria — layered nuts and honey over coarse, unleavened bread. The ingredients were costly, and only the upper echelons of Assyrian society were afforded this luxury.

The Assyrian Empire eventually cascaded into Neo-Babylonian rule, then to Persian control until the Macedonians of ancient Greece conquered Asia Minor. Amid the many cycles of cultural imperialism that stamped out regional traditions to consolidate a new empire’s power, baklava endured — and evolved.

Baklava was likely available for purchase along various points of the Silk Road. A network of routes spanning from northern China over the Karakoram and Hindu Kush mountains and across the Taklamakan desert opened trade relationships with Mediterranean, Mesopotamian and Persian societies. This network likely influenced the cultural variations of baklava, from rosewater-scented pastry to varying nut blends and spices that reflect regional tastes.

According to Vukovic, the nutty delicacy’s storied history means the question of who may lay claim to the cultural heritage of baklava is complicated.

“Greek people will claim they invented baklava. But the truth is it came from Turkey first,” he says. “The original

Turkish version of baklava was simpler. The Greeks did invent phyllo, so you can say that they made their own version of baklava, which is the kind most of us recognize today.”

The primary difference is the nut base: Turkish-style baklava uses pistachios, while the Greek version uses walnuts. Vukovic makes both — plus almond and pecan versions — but current pistachio prices prevent him from producing the classic Turkish version.

“The Turks have a saying: ‘I’m not rich enough to eat baklava every day,’” he says.

Vukovic’s walnut baklava is elegant, thanks to a refined simplicity: crispy, buttered phyllo pastry, local clover honey and fresh, hand-spiced walnuts. It’s sweet but not too sweet, with just a quarter-cup of honey in an entire tray, allowing the blend of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves to shine.

The recipe came from his father, a Serbian immigrant (back when the nation was known as Yugoslavia), who taught Vukovic and his brother how to prepare dishes from the Old World from a young age. After Vukovic served in the U.S. Air Force, he settled in Colorado to pursue an engineering career. At that point, baklava was little more than a childhood memory.

The business idea came to Vukovic when he joined the Boulder International Folk Dancers (BIFD) in the 1980s, which gathered weekly at the Avalon Ballroom. Together, dancers learned and performed Greek, Croatian, Serbian, Turkish, Israeli, Bulgarian,

Donald Vukovic and Donlyn Arbuthnot at the Erie Farmers Market. Photo by Emily Moore.

Romanian, Hungarian and Russian dances. Vukovic met his partner, Donlyn Arbuthnot, through BIFD in 2002. A local historian, her grandfather was the sheriff of Gold Hill and Haystack Mountain in 1859.

“Everyone knows that when Donald’s cooking, it’s going to be good,” Arbuthnot says.

When the BIFD troupe gathered for meals and holiday celebrations, or after their travels abroad to learn new folk dances, Vukovic unearthed his father’s baklava recipe. After making a few tweaks, he started contributing a tray or two to the events. Soon, he was asked by fellow dancers to prepare additional trays for family gatherings, weddings, baptisms and showers.

In 1995, Vukovic officially founded The Baklava Guy and set his operation up in a commercial kitchen.

When the Colorado Cottage Foods Act passed in 2012, allowing small vendors to sell shelf-stable food products directly to consumers without licensing or inspections, he was able to give up his costly commercial kitchen lease.

Baking from home allows Vukovic to keep his costs low, so he can afford his booth space at the Erie Farmers Market and offer

his baklava at an affordable price. He also uses an online system for custom orders delivered directly.

For most marketgoers, $4 for two

pieces of baklava is not a hard sell. “Baklava is how he shows his love,” Arbuthnot says, as Vukovic attends to an eager line of customers.

THE QUEEN OF BAKLAVA

Across the county, Janet Heath’s Longmont-based baklava business has served customers from Montana to New Mexico.

In 2010, Heath moved to Colorado from Arkansas. As a newcomer starting fresh, she sought community at the Saints Peter & Paul Greek Orthodox Church on Jay Road.

“They’re welcoming of everybody who wants to be a part of that community,” Heath says.

Soon after joining the congregation, she and her husband, Alan, started contributing to the Northern Colorado Greek Festival. Together, they baked baklava and spanakopita and pitched in when other congregants needed help prepping their booths.

After pitching in at the festival for several years, Heath began fielding requests for baklava from fellow churchgoers. At this point, she had been away from her professional field — information technology — for several years and realized she didn’t want to return to her former role. Instead, she decided to go all in on a baklava business. Heath incorporated Baklava Unlimited in 2012.

“We started out the original recipe with three nuts: almonds, pecans and walnuts,” Heath says. Today, her recipe uses a 100% almond base spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg and layered between sticky-sweet, chewy, buttered phyllo. Heath uses clover honey from the Colorado Honey Company in Loveland because “local honey is good for the immune system.”

Although the holidays are her busiest season, Heath says baklava is a year-round treat. While it tastes best right out of the oven, baklava is shelf stable for up to two months if stored in an airtight container.

Heath bakes 12 to 16 trays weekly through a commercial kitchen lease with the Longmont Bakery. Her largest client, Whole Foods Market, sells Baklava Unlimited in nearly every location across the Rocky Mountain region. Her products are also sold in Natural Grocers along the Front Range.

Janet Heath incorporated Longmont-based Baklava Unlimited in 2012. Photos (above) by Emily Moore.

DRINK SOMETHING, DO SOMETHING

Get refreshed and catch a show at these Longmont locations

BY CARTER FERRYMAN

Going out for a drink before a show is one of life’s simple pleasures. Lucky for you, Longmont offers lots of options (even more if you’re able to scoot a few miles up to Lyons). Whether it’s IPAs and bluegrass bands or margaritas and wrestling matches, everyone can find a watering hole and an event that suits their tastes.

LEFT HAND BREWING

1245 Boston Ave., Longmont

It seems there’s nothing Left Hand Brewing Company won’t host in its beer garden, and for that, we thank them. There’s never a dull moment: RC car competitions, mandala classes, drag trivia, summer markets, bounce houses, and, in the coming months, the brewery will celebrate 30 years of keeping Longmont refreshed with a month of OG releases, like the hop-heavy Jackman’s Pale Ale on Sept. 5, or the fan favorite Polestar Pilsner on Sept. 19, a true pilsner that, according to Left Hand, will make you “see the light.” Sept. 21 is Left Hand’s official anniversary, and the staff will roll out a bourbon barrel aged-stout for the occasion.

ON TAP:

OKTOBERFEST 2023.

Fri.-Sat., Sept. 29-30

DINER BAR

160 Main St., Lyons

Diner Bar is 1960s meets neo-traditional meets mountain hideout meets latenight dive, all tucked into the coolest building on Main Street in Lyons. This summer, Diner Bar featured a plethora of concerts on the patio, and this fall will surely play host to lots more, as well as fun events, like the Wednesday Night Tease burlesque show, or weekly karaoke. Pair your experience with one of Diner Bar’s off-kilter takes on old classics. The Kimchee Fries are a savory treat, and since you’re already in uncharted territory, give the Cotton Candy Martini a whirl. More of a bloody mary fan? They’ve got five varieties of ’em.

ON STAGE:

WEDNESDAY NIGHT TEASE (21+ EVENT). 10 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 30

300 SUNS BREWING

335 1st Ave., Unit C, Longmont

The folks behind 300 Suns Brewing are so into Colorado sunshine they named their business after it. This summer, the taphouse on 1st Avenue shone bright with live music, like Colorado bluegrass group Weld County Ramblers, or singersongwriter Gii Astorga. This fall, 300 Suns has a number of performers swinging by the space; round out your listening experience with the newly tapped Three Archers Belgian-style Tripel, a mildly sweet, citrus-forward sip that you wouldn’t believe is nearly 10% ABV. Pair it with the best spicy chicken sandwich in Colorado — seriously, the Nashville Hot Fried Chicken Sandwich took first in the Denver Post’s annual food challenge bracket — and you’ve got a winner.

ON THE BILL:

SAM PACE. 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9

VALERIE BHAT. 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14

SUMMIT TACOS

237 Collyer St., Longmont

If you’re not paying close attention, you might miss Summit Tacos’ cozy location, tucked into a row of homes just off Main Street. But do not be fooled — inside the gate is a world of local excitement, and an unlimited stash of a supplement they call “Vitamin T”: tacos and tequila. The house margarita checks every box: It’s sweet and salty, with a bit of a kick, all while staying refreshing. But the star of the show is Summit’s selection of authentic street tacos, like the can’t-miss Cochinita: Yucatan-style pulled pork with achiote, topped with pickled red onions that really tie the taco together. Every other Wednesday there’s a Queer & Nerdy Game Night. Music with Wolf is a recurring one-man band offering Celtic tunes, and Aug. 26 has a treat in store: Rocky Mountain Pro is setting up a ring for high-flying wrestling.

ON THE BILL:

ROCKY MOUNTAIN PRO. 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 26

NATIONAL TACO DAY. 11 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 4

BOOTSTRAP BREWING COMPANY

142 Pratt St., Longmont

Bootstrap Brewing Company keeps its schedule full. On any given day, odds are the brewery is hosting a musician, a game night or a local food truck. Every first Thursday, Denny Driscoll invites strangers to make music with him on stage, and on Fridays, there’s surely an act stopping by for a jam. The main event, however, is the beer, and our favorite right now is the Medal AF Mosaic IPA. For grub, there’s a constant rotation of mouth-watering options, but Pork Hub, which is there every Friday this fall, features a reuben sandwich piled high with a half-pound of thinly shaved housemade black angus pastrami.

ON THE BILL:

WARM BEFORE THE STORM. 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 31

DENNY DRISCOLL PLAYS WITH STRANGERS. 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7

STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS. 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 22

THE SPEAKEASY

301 Main St., Longmont

There’s always something going on inside Main Street’s Prohibitionthemed party. On Mondays, The Blues Cats fill the room with soulful jams, and on Tuesdays up-and-comers can showcase their wares during open mic. Wednesdays and Thursdays are all about karaoke, Friday is an all-out dance party, and Saturday rounds things off with a slate of live performers, like Mothatung, who’ll be returning to The Speakeasy on Aug. 26 for a night of funk rock and hip-hop. The Speakeasy’s drink menu is classic. The Planters Punch, a simple trio of Kraken rum, housemade simple syrup and fresh squeezed lime, is sweet with a little bite. And every speakeasy needs an old-fashioned, so try this Main Street staple’s take with chocolate bitters.

ON THE BILL:

MOTHATUNG. 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 26

ABBOTT & WALLACE DISTILLING

350 Terry St., Suite 120, Longmont

Every last Wednesday of the month at Abbott & Wallace’s gorgeous open air space, the crew plugs in the controllers and breaks out various consoles for game night. Wallace’s Malt Whiskey is as good as it gets, so pair your Mario Kart skills with a Mile Highball, combining whiskey with amaro arancia, house bitters and soda water for a relaxing sip. Looking for a spread? The wild game sausage platter is tough to beat, featuring a weekly selection of sausages and a whiskey pairing for five extra bucks. Just make sure you wipe your fingers before hopping into the Smash Bros tournament.

ON THE BILL:

GAME NIGHT. 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 30

MOJAZZ. 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 1

DANNY SHAFER. 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9

TOM PEVEAR. 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16

OSKAR BLUES TAPROOM & BREWERY

1640 S. Sunset St., Longmont

Oskar Blues’ original taproom on Sunset Street is the place to be. On Tuesdays there’s trivia, on Thursdays there’s live music, on Fridays you can enjoy music on vinyl, and six-pack Sundays are sure to help you beat the scaries before the work week begins — every six-pack is $6. The on-tap selections are diverse, with a few must-haves: the Mas Lima is an American light beer that’s about as refreshing as it gets, and if you’re looking to expand your beer palette, take a step into “Juice’s Lab” and sip on the Won’t You Pale Ale, a New England hazy brewed with Mandarina hops, giving the pour a full, citrusy taste full of orange flavor.

ON THE BILL:

VINYL FRIDAYS. 4 p.m.

SIX PACK SUNDAY. All day.