Came for the Winter and Stayed for the Summer

Three Breck visitors dish on how they became fulltime locals.

Teague Holmes

Ski instructor and owner of TSH Tree Service Teague Holmes will tell you he came here for the winter and stayed for the summer in the grander sense, that this this area, our home, has so much more to offer than just the winter. With that being said, “I love that we are buried in winter here six months out of the year,” Holmes says.

The ski mountaineering and skimo racer drove his van from Lake Placid, New York to Breckenridge in the spring of 1998 to teach skiing and climb mountains. Years following, he split time between Vermont and Breck and then Estes Park and Breck until putting down yearround roots in the summer of 2003.

“I saw Breckenridge as a small mountain town right actually in the mountains. With very long winters, easy access to the alpine, an incredible summer trail network, a very healthy and growing economy and a central location to travel for climbing and skiing. It became a good fit. And after a few more years, the local friends and relationships have made it hard to leave,” Holmes says.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT BRECK LOCALS?

How or when does one become a local? I don't recall if or when that may have happened. Long ago, an older gentleman told me you are not a local until you are here for 30 years. Ok, but that is still an arbitrary number relative to one's own arrival. Nearly all of us moved here from somewhere. I think if someone desires to be a 'local' or calls themselves a local they are likely still visiting to some degree. We are all visitors and we all tour and travel. I feel it is unimportant whether we are local, weekend visitors, second homeowners or year-round county residents. What matters is our approach to the towns, people, wildlife and landscapes. And knowing that those who have been before and built this kingdom showed care, forethought and respect.

FAVORITE HANGOUTS?

The Breckenridge Brewery, South Ridge Seafood, Cool River, La Francaise French Bakery, Giampietro

WHERE CAN YOU BE FOUND ON YOUR DAYS OFF?

I find myself using trails to get established above treeline. From there, I run the ridges and summits surrounding the town.

MEG LASS

Feature: Came for the Winter and Stayed for the Summer

Meg Lass remembers when Main Street Breckenridge was a modest mélange of wood planked sidewalks, hippies and ski bums. That was 1960-something, when she and her husband David came to ski Breckenridge for the first time.

During the Vietnam war, the couple sold everything and traveled around the world for a year on $10-a-dayeach budget. They ran out of money somewhere around Scandinavia and David connected with an old legal aid colleague from Denver who offered him a job in Breckenridge. They landed here in 1973.

Neither had lived in a small town before; she being from Grand Rapids, Michigan; he from Chicago. “The beauty and the quiet were something to get used to, coming from the city,” she says. A few years in, Meg started a career with the Breckenridge Resort Association stuffing mailers to potential vacationers, later becoming director and instituting beloved traditions that include the Breckenridge Film Festival. Meg later went on to found Breckenridge-based marketing agency Wilson Lass.

DESCRIBE YOUR PERFECT BRECKENRIDGE DAY?

A mid-morning hike and then go into town and hit Amazing Grace, see people, chat. We also like to hangout at Ridge Street Wine.

WHAT ARE YOUR GO-TO TRAILS?

We’re big hikers. There are great trails near our home in Blue River off of Hoosier Pass, McCullough Gulch and Red Mountain. Secret trails we found a long time ago.

FAVORITE HANGOUTS?

Amazing Grace. We have hung out there for years. It’s a place where a lot of old locals still go. We also like Fatty’s, Ember and Relish.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE COMMUNITY VIBE?

What I love about this community is I find it to be really inclusive. You can be yourself and be accepted here. Everyone is really generous with their time, their expertise, their charity. And our leaders have always been forward thinkers. I love that.

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ERic Mamula

Breckenridge Mayor Eric Mamula moved around a lot as a kid. His father’s pharmaceutical job meant a new state every year. After graduating from Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, he helped his parents move to Breckenridge to retire. The plan was to attend law school in Vermont. But Mamula decided to stay for a year and help his dad open Café Breckenridge. (His father wasn’t a sit-still kind of guy and also wound up serving as mayor of Breckenridge from 2000 to 2004.)

“One thing led to another,” Mamula says. “One year led to two, led to 10, led to 30.” His father’s footsteps laid an admirable path and Mamula opened popular pizzeria and pub Downstairs at Eric’s in 1989 and began his own mayoral term in 2016 after eight years on town council.

“I have this distinct memory of driving back to Breck after a year in the Air Force,” Mamula says. “I came around the corner on Highway 9, saw the whole mountain range in front of me. And that was it for me. I said this is home.”

FAVORITE HANGOUTS?

The Crown, Mountain Flying Fish, Aurum.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT OTHER LOCALS?

The amount of time that people give to this community, all of the nonprofit volunteers, all of those people who donate their time to Breck Music, the Breckenridge Tourism Office, FIRC Family & Intercultural Resource Center (FIRC), and so many others.

WHAT MAKES BRECK STAND OUT?

The great sense of community here. I really like the fact that there are people who visit for two weeks a year that feel at home in Breckenridge.

And the citizen-driven push for sustainability. We have a memorandum with Excel Energy; we’re the first in the country to have a deal with a major energy provider to switch from coal to solar. We hired a sustainability director. We’re increasing recycling efforts. Restaurant composting is my next push. (Mamula’s restaurant diverted 13 tons of compost from landfills in just three months last winter.)

YOUR DREAM BRECKENRIDGE DAY?

Coffee and breakfast with my wife and kid, Sarah and Quinn. Sarah goes for a run, I go for a good long mountain bike ride and then hangout on the deck at home with the family. We’ll walk the dogs together—the Wellington Trail is right out our back door. If there’s an event going on—I love Town Party, Fourth of July, Oktoberfest—we’ll hit that.

Feature: Came for the Winter and Stayed for the Summer

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