Colorado Seen 01/2017
FESTIVAL ITALIANO ALSO n NUCLA LIBRARY
Colorado... as seen by LEICA
From the Editor
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t’s January again, and ColoradoSeen begins its eighth year portraying the scenes and stories of our state. This issue, we return to our ongoing project documenting the smallest public libraries in Colorado, with a look at one in Nucla, on Colorado’s far Western Slope. We also visit the annual Festival Italiano in the western Denver suburb of Lakewood. Coming up for 2017, we have several projects already underway: • The Drop - which follows the wanderings and effects of one drop of water, on its path from the lip of St. Mary’s Glacier at over 10,000 feet, to the Nebraska border. • Colorado’s Energy Cities - which will explore the economies of Colorado’s varied energy resources, from oil and gas, to wind, coal and solar. And you just never know what else we may see — we’ll try to keep it interesting.
Colorado Seen An internet image magazine Editor & Publisher Andrew Piper We welcome comments and letters. Submit them to: coloradoseen@comcast.net To submit work or story ideas for consideration, send an e-mail to: coloradoseen@comcast.net If you would like to advertise in ColoradoSeen, send an e-mail to coloradoseen@comcast.net for information on rates and interactive links. Copyright © 2017 ColoradoSeen
On the cover: A flag-thrower from Figline Valdarno, Italy, gets wrapped up in his performance before the crowd at the Festival Italiano, in Lakewood’s Belmar shopping district.
Colorado Seen
Flag-throwers, or sbandieratori, from Figline Valdarno, Italy, demonstrate their art to the sound of trumpets and drums at Lakewood’s Festival Italiano.
Under a September sun, Lakewood’s Belmar development celebrates
ALL THINGS ITALIAN
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he click and clack of colliding bocce balls. The sweet fennel scent of grilling sausage. The slosh of flowing wine (and the squish
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of grapes underfoot). This is the end of summer in Lakewood’s Belmar shopping and residential development. It is the Festival Italiano, the development’s annual celebration of Italian culture in all its forms.
Under a September sun, seven blocks of the suburban Denver shopping district become a Tuscan piazza for a weekend, full of games, art, food and drink. And every few hours, the streets echo to the solemn sound-
ing of trumpets and roll of drums - echoed with cheers and applause - as the Sbandieratori dei Borghi i Sestieri Fiorentini marches to the center of the plaza and demonstrates the Renaissance performance art of flag-throwing.
Pride in Italian heritage is the byword at the festival, where booths (above) serve up pasta, sandwiches, and desserts, and the wines — naturally — flow like water.
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Dressed as Renaissance courtiers, flag-throwers (sbandieratori) from Figline Valdarno near Florence dance and weave around each other, to the roll of drums and fanfares of trumpets.
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Giovanni Urbani is the master of ceremonies for Sbandieratori die Borghi i Sestieri Fiorentini. Above, he leads the parade to the performance area, and at left, he jokes with Tina Liedle of the Chalet Dancers group. Liedle wears traditional Tyrolean mountain clothes, while Urbani is dressed in medieval chain mail.
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A young festival-goer poses with the drummers who beat out the rhythm for the flag-throwing team.
Dancers practice traditional footwork to the strains of accordion and tambourine under the trees of Belmar’s central plaza.
Bocce is the Italian version of lawn bowling, and the annual festival includes both a tournament among organized bowling clubs, and time for pickup matches at Belmar’s permanent outdoor bowling venue.
In a game of inches, a referee measures the distance between bocce balls to determine who gets the next turn, during the Festival’s Bocce tournament.
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occe bowling is another fixture at the Festival Italiano — so much so that there are now permanent outdoor bowling greens at Belmar.
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In a tent sponsored by Colorado winery Balistreri, children can stomp grapes for wine — a special vintage called “Little Feet Merlot,” which parents can purchase to support Denver’s Children’s Hospital. The arts, with
an Italian flavor, are also wellrepresented at the Festival. There are stage performances of music and dance — but the crowd can join the fun in the plaza, as well. The visual arts also get their due. Chalk artists show off their
technique and their work at many locations along Belmar’s sidewalks. And the classical sculptures and paintings of the Italian renaissance come to life, portrayed by actors in a living diorama (see following pages).
Martin Calomino’s sidewalk chalk drawing depicts the pressing of wine grapes by foot —from the grapes’ point of view. In a nearby tent sponsored by Denver winery Balistreri, kids get to stomp the real thing.
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Italian art comes alive as models portray a weathered bronze fountain and the Mona Lisa for a rapt audience. n
Beneath a wall map of Colorado, high school student Jean Denham does internet research on a computer in the Nucla Public Library.
Colorado’s Smallest Libraries: Nucla
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ucla, Colorado, lies isolated to the west of the Uncompahgre Plateau, closer to Utah than to the nearest larger Colorado towns of Montrose or Grand Junction. So one of its key links to the outside world is the small public library at 544
Main Street. Children below the age of 19 made up 28 percent of the population of Nucla, Colorado in 2010. That’s 201 kids out of a total population of 711. Therefore, it’s no surprise to find they help run the town’s library. On any given weekday after school, a halfdozen or so can be found volun-
FOR THE KIDS,
BY THE KIDS
teering: stacking and organizing books, checking computer databases, sorting newspapers, tracking interlibrary loans. As well as using it: for brows-
ing the internet, reading, and borrowing CDs and DVDs. Nucla gets its name from its socialist founders, who hoped it would become a nucleus of culture
and learning for the region. But the name now also references the radioactive nuclear minerals found and processed in the area. n
In the library’s new addition, Nucla Public Library director Kathryn Redd assigns work to volunteers Eric Galarza and Amanda White, left, as Stephen Squires examines part of the collection. The volunteers are students from Nucla Junior/Senior High School.
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High school student Stephen Squires carries a stack of CDs to a new shelf as a part of his volunteer class assignment at Nucla Public Library.
Client visits and checkedout volumes are tallied on Kathryn Redd’s desk calendar every day.
High school student Brent Dobbs studies a web page on a computer at the Nucla Public Library after school. The library is a key link to the world for residents isolated from larger towns by the sprawling Uncompahgre Plateau on Colorado’s Western Slope.
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Student volunteers Stephen Squires, Eric Galarza and Caleb Salazar scan the database of Nucla Public Library for missing information. The seniors from Nucla Junior/Senior High School put in a 45-minute class period helping manage the town’s library.
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Amanda White, another volunteer from the local high school, organizes books in the children’s section.
Assistant librarian Sandy Berg puts books back on the shelf near closing time at Nucla Public Library. n
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