Dancing on a pivot point by Katherine Nettles

Xavier Fané Trevor Bona Nathan Bilow

Trevor Bona

Crested Butte has always been a town in transition, but the last year brought an uptick in new neighbors, reluctant farewells, innovative ideas and spirited questions.

By Katherine Nettles

Trevor Bona

Xavier Fané

The words “this town is changing” have been rolling off people’s tongues for years, but the sentiment hit a fever pitch in the past 12 months as record numbers of visitors, home buyers and newly remote workers sought refuge in this valley. The numbers tell a story of growth and change, but how we are transforming might only be unveiled as we get to know our new neighbors.

Waves of change have been part of the Gunnison Valley’s story since fur trappers and gold miners began displacing the Utes in the 19th century. Some of those changes came in fits and starts, like coal mines replacing silver mines, more recent real estate booms and busts, and the tenures of various ski area owners.

In a way, the stories of our pandemic-era arrivals are similar to the stories of people who moved here before (take your choice: European-American explorers, fur trappers, miners, farmers, ranchers, hippies, ski bums, urban refugees…). Some had roots here; others had been looking for a place like this for years; still others didn’t know what they were seeking until they found it.

Recently the waves of change have felt more like a tsunami. For years, a steady stream of newcomers had been quitting the city life and joining the party here, but the pandemic turned that stream into a deluge. In the past year, the Town of Crested Butte and Gunnison County overall reported record high revenues from real estate transfer tax, lodging tax and sales tax, in contrast to some other mountain towns. A lot of property is changing hands. Realtors tell us Crested Butte is a better bargain than many other resort areas; perhaps buyers are seeing the potential here and want to be a part of the ride. This county, after a brief shutdown in spring 2020, also managed to stay relatively open and safe to visit through the pandemic, as people could spread out across our vast outdoors.

While many industries across the nation suffered in the last year, from tourism to manufacturing and construction, Crested Butte bucked the trend. Homes are going up faster than ever, as people have decided to stay a while – possibly forever.

Interestingly, student enrollment at the Crested Butte Community School (CBCS) has not peaked in any record-breaking way, even with a number of families who enrolled here for the 2020-2021 school year to participate in classroom learning while their home districts went virtual. CBCS secondary principal Stephanie Niemi said, “We have a few families that are here ‘weathering’ Covid, but our growth this year was very typical. The secondary (grades 6-12) has averaged a 6.8 percent increase per year over the last decade.” So maybe our children have made new friends, and a few will become pen pals as they return to city life.

Perhaps the pandemic simply accelerated a time of change, but its impacts will likely last beyond some people’s brief mountain-living experiment. Crested Butte native Roland Mason believes the past year will leave a legacy, as evidenced in Elk Avenue’s one-way summer traffic and on-street dining; the Town had contemplated the concept for years, but the public health crisis finally got it across the finish line.

Since Mason grew up in Crested Butte, served on the town council, and now serves as a county commissioner while running a building business, he has a fairly broad view. He thinks people recognize value in Crested Butte. “Crested Butte is one of the most affordable [mountain town] places to go to, and we have been much more open during the pandemic.

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The construction industries have been on lockdown in many other areas,” he said. Maybe the value attracts people seeking a place with room for new ideas, with room for the contributions and visions of newcomers. And while many locals feel protective of what they’ve worked hard to maintain – a wild, unconventional place of passion – maybe that sense has been attracting people here all along.

In tandem with the influx of people, a changing of the guard seems to be happening. “A lot of the folks who moved here in the ‘70s and ‘80s are getting ready to retire,” Mason pointed out. With the hot sellers’ market fanned by the pandemic, some long-time residents decided to sell their property and move to areas that were warmer or closer to specialized medical care.

“Of the people moving in behind them, many are younger families who can afford a $1.5 million home,” Mason said. Having been involved in politics for the past decade, he has taken note of a changing political climate as well. “There are more conservative people moving to Crested Butte…. I think you’re going to start to see that interaction within the town council, and we are seeing it in county commissioner races.”

Conversely, the city of Gunnison might become less conservative over time as development there persists and more Crested Buttians move south for the elbow room and lower prices. “There is all that land in Gunnison. I think you’re going to see growth there, and I hope they are ready for it,” said Mason. He points to a high rate of commercial and multi-family construction in Crested Butte South as well.

“The pandemic brought these changes faster, but I feel like the change is going to be permanent,” he said.

Mason has noticed locals tend to look at certain events as change markers. The pandemic will likely be one of those. “From someone who has grown up here and seen changes over the last 40 years, I think we’re at one of those pivot points, and it will not be what it was.”

What, then, will it be? To answer that, without the proverbial crystal ball, we can turn to those who are at our entrance. What drew them here? What do they have planned?

Eldy and Jarrod Deines moved here in December 2020 with their two elementaryaged children. Their path may sound familiar to many, with roots in Texas and more recently in the Front Range. Eldy Deines, 40, said Crested Butte was a foregone conclusion pre-pandemic, “but I think it helped nudge us.” The family first visited Crested Butte in March 2019. “We absolutely fell in love with it and came back that summer.” They were drawn here by the mountain biking, general access to recreation and the vibe and engagement of the community. They found

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“There’s a perspective in your life, too, when things happen and you want to be more present for your kids. I know that was the biggest driver for me,” said Deines. Her husband retired from the military after his last station in Colorado Springs, “and we wanted to find the place that we could call home.” Deines, an IT director for El Paso County, was at a professional crossroads: “Do I want to spend more time working, or take that time out of my day to spend with my family?” She stepped down from her position to a less demanding work schedule, but said that since moving here, “I want to slow down even more.” She feels that a calm has come over her since leaving Colorado Springs, where she felt she always had to work.

Deines has taken the virtual Gunnison Valley history seminars with local historian Duane Vandenbusche, and she senses that Crested Butte is “still trying to keep the spirit alive.” As she gets to know her new home, she’s now asking herself: “How do I become a part of this community?”

For all the talk of affluent young families or retirees moving in, the allure of our valley endures for young, discerning and free-spirited adults. Natalya Clasen, age 22, moved here in August from Fort Collins, where she grew up and attended college. Her boyfriend attends Western Colorado University, and she’d decided to move here eventually, but the pandemic accelerated the timeline. Clasen has made connections throughout the valley, mostly by joining local Facebook groups. “The valley heavily uses Facebook pages,” she noted. Clasen’s work takes her to Crested Butte, Crested Butte South and Mt. Crested Butte, often riding the bus from Gunnison. She observes life across several demographics: nannying for local families, babysitting for visitors at the resort, doing odd jobs and even tutoring retirementaged locals on how to Zoom or prepare a résumé to re-enter the workforce.

“There’s a lot of older folks asking for computer advice,” she said. “Being home and contending with all these new electronics and systems, they’re needing help.”

Clasen enjoys the social media connections and the insights they provide about what occupies people’s minds here (weather, pets, lost items, newcomers); through those channels she also finds opportunities for extra work. “I love that we are separated from major cities and major shopping districts,” she said. “It’s a different lifestyle here, and that has

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Clasen described a very real struggle for newcomers anywhere – and especially in a close-knit community like ours. Though she enjoys making connections and helping people, moving somewhere new during a pandemic was anything but easy. “I joined the Facebook groups because it felt very difficult when I first came to the town. I didn’t feel like I belonged; I felt like a complete outsider.”

Clasen has wrestled with aspects of the valley that differ from Fort Collins. “People hold themselves differently here,” she said. People make less eye contact with others they don’t know and seem more guarded at first. “It feels difficult to make any actual solid relationships with people outside of work.”

That newcomer syndrome can be somewhat universal. Dawne Belloise, one of several long-time locals who relocated last year, is experiencing it in Paonia. She spoke fondly of Paonia’s more temperate weather and said she doesn’t miss shoveling snow off the steep roof of her former Crested Butte alley house. But as she celebrated her 69th birthday, she reflected that while living in Crested Butte, “I had a community that would check up on me; there was a support system there.” She admitted she didn’t really want to leave, and she might even come back. “I’ve been trying to get Deli [Mayor Jim Schmidt] to start making plans for a senior home in Crested Butte for all of us geezers,” she quipped. “He wants to name it Fossil Ridge.”

The Deines, Clasen and several other new arrivals agreed that this place holds some amazing people, once you get a chance to know them. Though our valley is getting more diverse, we still have one thing in common: we have chosen to be here, and by no mere accident. As things get busier, staying closeknit means learning the names of new people and welcoming them to the party.

Clasen offered one other insight about living in the valley: “The best thing is it really physically puts you in an environment where you are…contending with yourself all the time. I didn’t like it at first, but now I’ve gotten more used to it.”

We are a community of people who each came to the end of a road, where Paradise Divide stands firmly between us and the next stretch of lights and pavement. And rather than seeing that as a limitation, we’ve seen possibility. Here’s to contending with ourselves, and each other, in the same spirit. b