October 2017 South Aurora Magazine

S E A R C H

SOUTHAURORA SOUTH AURORA’S PREMIER MONTHLY COMMUNITY MAGAZINE SINCE 2009

In This Month’s Issue l Punkin Chunkin l Trick or Treat Trail l Local Haunts of Colorado l The Bookends l Dia De Los Muertos Fundraiser

Plus much more!

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S E A R C H

SOUTHAURORA OCTOBER 2017

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Dia De Los Muertos Inspire Creative Theater’s fundraiser Punkin Chunkin

Local Haunts in Colorado Day trip to some scary fun places The Bookends In a dark, dark wood

By Ruth Ware Trick or Treat Trail at Southlands

TABLE OF CONTENTS

South Aurora

Magazine

OCTOBER 2017 VOLUME 9 ISSUE 10 PUBLISHER MIKE WAID

mike.waid@waidpublishing.com 303-805-9455 xt 700

SALES DIRECTOR KAYCE ARTHUR

kayce@waidpublishing.com 303-805-9455 xt 706

EDITORIAL TIFFANY GRIZZLE

tiffany@waidpublishing.com

DON’T MISS THIS EVENT

Dia de los Muertos Fundraiser for Inspire Creative’s educational programs. See Page 11 for details

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Search South Aurora Magazine is published 12 times per year by Waid Publishing (www.

WaidPublishing.com), a division of Mike Waid & Associates, Inc. (www.MikeWaid. com), 12760 Stroh Ranch Way, Suite 202, Parker, CO 80134, 303-805-9455. Search South Aurora Magazine is available online at www.SouthAuroraMagazine.com. Search South Aurora Magazines is a trademark of Waid Publishing. All rights reserved. The views, opinions and/or statements made or expressed by individuals and/or entities, are not necessarily reflective of the views and opinions of Waid Publishing. No part of this publication may be reproduced without explicit permission from Search South Aurora Magazine. Copyright 2017 Search South Aurora Magazine - All rights Reserved.

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Inspire Creative Theatre Company’s Día De Los Muertos Event Saturday, October 21st 6:00pm – 1:00am Studio @ Mainstreet - 19604 E. Mainstreet - Downtown Parker www.Inspirecreative.org - 303.790.0875

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Celebrating its 10th year of operation, Inspire Creative Theatre Company (ICTC) is an artist directed, local theatre company bringing the best of big time theatre to the heart of our Parker community.

Since its beginning, ICTC has performed over 100 fully produced stage musicals and provided teaching and training in the performing arts for all ages. Casting both professional and amateur actors from around the nation, they continue to be a local favorite, reaching audiences of over 200,000 in their 10 years of operation. They have provided over 2,000 students opportunities to receive training in musical theatre, dance, singing, and acting. For the last three years, they have been the co-producing theatre company for the Town of Parker. If you’ve seen any of the recent musicals at the PACE, including Hairspray, Beauty and the Beast, and Spamalot, then you are familiar with Inspire Creative’s incredible work. This fall, Inspire Creative brings Rogers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific to what will likely be another round of sold out audiences at the PACE Center.

Located in the old Action Auto Service location, this converted service garage will be an intimate and unique venue for this year’s fundraiser. Guests will enjoy delicious catered food and drinks, and be entertained by a selection of musicians, comedians, and performers. Party goers can dress up in their favorite Día De Los Muertos costume and face painting will be available to perfectly finish the look for the evening.

Additionally, guests will be invited to bid on live and silent auction items including custom “Día De Los Muertos” sugar skulls painted by celebrity artists.

Tickets for the Inspire Creative Theatre Company’s Día De Los Muertos event are available for just $25.00/ per person or $45.00/per person for VIP packages. For more information, or to purchase tickets, please visit www.

Inspirecreative.org or call 303-790-0875.

Each year, Inspire Creative Theatre Company hosts a themed event to raise much needed funds for their education programs, performance season, and company expansion. This year’s theme is Día De Los Muertos and is sure to be an extravagant and delightfully perfect October evening.

The Día De Los Muertos event will be hosted at Parker’s newest event space – the Studio@Mainstreet at 19640 E. Mainstreet. southauroramagazine.com OCTOBER 2017

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What goes up must come down – but what goes up and flies furthest wins!

This insanely popular annual event kicks off with a concert by country music duo The Swon Brothers, who were famously finalists in the fourth season of “The Voice.” The concert gets the party started on Friday night at 6pm, with gates opening at 5pm.

Concert tickets not only get you in to see the Swon Brothers live in concert, but will also get you free admission to the Punkin Chunkin competition and festival throughout weekend, Saturday and Sunday, October 7th and 8th. You can also buy tickets for daily admission to the festival, which runs Saturday from 10am5pm and Sunday from 10am-3pm.

Punkin Chunkin Colorado is one of only five such events that is sanctioned by the World Championship Punkin Chunkin organization and is the signature fall event presented by the City of Aurora and Chambers Wine & Liquor. Last year’s event was

the biggest to date, with 14 adult teams and 4 youth teams all “chunkin” for bragging rights along with the estimated 30,000 festival goers in attendance. In addition to the actual Punkin Chunkin competition, the festival boasts live music, face painting, pony rides, crafts, a pumpkin patch, blow-up corn maze and the 2017 Open Car-Truck/4x4 – Motorcycle Show, hosted by the Central Colorado Corvette Club. The Car Show will be held Saturday from 10am-2pm. Vendors will also be on hand to quench your thirst and tempt your taste buds throughout the weekend.

Tickets to the event are required for festival goers 5 and older.

Again, tickets can be purchased for single day admission to the Punkin Chunkin Festival or Friday night concert admission and admission to the festival throughout the weekend. Tickets can be purchased online, aurorapunkinchunkin.ticketspice.com/punkin-chunkin-colorado. On-site parking is free.

Make plans to get in on all the Chunkin’ fun and head out to the Arapahoe Park Race Track for an experience that really gets fall kicked off with a bang (and then a SPLAT!)

Punkin Chunkin Colorado October 6th, 7th & 8th Arapahoe Park Race Track - 26000 E Quincy Avenue For more information, go to www.auroragov.org

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Local

Haunts ~of~

Colorado

Come Trick or Treat season, people start scoping out where to find the best corn mazes, pumpkin patches and, if they enjoy a bit of a thrill, the best haunted houses. You don’t have to wait until Halloween to find some great haunts; turns out, Colorado has some great destinations that will add a little spooky to your next weekend day trip.

The Molly Brown House Museum (Denver)

The “Unsinkable” Molly Brown was a one-time local who famously survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. She once lived in this Victorian Denver home, built in 1889. Since then, it’s served as a private residence, an apartment for young men, and a home for wayward girls. It’s also a place associated with numerous eerie tales, including tales of hauntings by Molly herself. Today, in addition to frequent visitors by paranormal investigators, it serves as an educational outlet and offers historical tours. www.mollybrown.org

Museum of Colorado Prisons (Canon City)

Royal Gorge is not the only thing to check out while you’re in town. “Stop by and do time” at the museum, which shares a stone wall and armed towers with the prison that has been in continuous operation since 1871. Explore over 140 years of history including the two story cell house, with 30 inmate cells on the upper level and archival storage, the original kitchen and isolation cells on the lower level. Documentation of famous riots and exhibits of famous inmates, including Alfred Packer (convicted cannibal) and Antone Woode (convicted 12 year old murderer) are just some of the creepy artifacts on display. With all that happened within those prison walls over the last couple hundred years, the spookiness level is definitely high. Prisonmuseum.org

Hotel Colorado (Glenwood Springs)

The Hotel Colorado was built in 1891 and hosted such famous guests as Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, Molly Brown, Al Capone and even notorious gambler Doc Holiday (although his visits to the Hot Springs preceded the existing hotel, his presence forever links him with the beginnings of the Hotel Colorado.) It was converted to a hospital in WWII, hosting as many as 500 injured military personnel. The giant ovens in the basement, rumored to have been used as crematoriums. There are still 131 of the original rooms available to guests, but visitors to the hotel

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aren’t limited to paying guests. Guests and staff alike have reported lots of activity, especially in the pre-dawn hours. Elevators moving floor to floor without passengers, wafting smells of cigar smoke and perfume in the lobby and sounds of dishes being moved in the Devereaux Dining Room have all been reported. A young girl in Victorian clothing has reportedly been seen playing ball on the grounds as well. Check in and see what you might see at the Hotel Colorado. hotelcolorado.com

Central City Masonic Cemetery and Creepy Crawl (Central City) Nothing says creepy weekend haunt like an old cemetery. Just above the mining towns of Central City lies this graveyard that was started in the early 1860’s. Rumor has it that every year around November 1st, the ghost of a woman dressed in black appears to visit the grave of John Edward Cameron. There’s also stories of the ghost of a young boy that may follow you around the grounds. As they say, there’s safety in numbers, so if you chose, you can visit the cemetery with the Gilpin Historical Society during the Creepy Crawls around the city each October and take in Paranormal Night at the Museum. www.gilpinhistory.org

Hotel Jerome (Aspen)

Aspen is known for being a luxury ski resort destination, but this particular hotel has quite a different reputation. Jerome B. Wheeler built the hotel in 1889, less than a decade after the mining town of Aspen was established. The town and the hotel were booming until Aspen’s “quiet years” with the mines beginning to close.

At that time, people paid $10 for a month of residence at the hotel, including meals, and the Hotel Jerome became the social center of town. Hauntings at the Jerome are rumored to include visits from the ghost of a little boy who tragically drowned in the swimming pool as well as a maid who fell ill and died after falling into an ice-cold pond. Brave enough to book your stay? Hoteljerome.aubergeresorts.com

Stanley Hotel (Estes Park)

The Stanley, arguable the best known spooky Rocky Mountain destination, is famous for being the inspiration for Stephen King’s The Shining. The hotel is home to endless ghost stories, including those of no less than 4 spirits regularly roaming the halls, most notably, Lucy, Paul, Eddie, and Elizabeth. In the concert hall, lights have been known to flicker, laughter and footsteps echo off the walls and unexplainable, chilly drafts greet guests from time to time. During the spookiest of seasons the Stanley offers more than just their famous Evening Tour; join them for Murder Mystery Dinners, The Shining Ball on October 21st, and Halloween Masquerade Party on October 28th. Book your stay with the Spirit Adventure Package for tickets to the spirited night tour, a Stanley “squishy” ghost, REDRUM mug and accommodations of the most infamous 4th floor. stanleyhotel.com

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THEBOOKENDS

with Pam & Becky

in a dark, dark wood

By Ruth Ware

Twenty-six year old Nora receives an unexpected invitation to an old friend’s hen do ( a British bachelorette party). Nora hasn’t spoken to Clare in ten years so ignores the email for a few days. Why would Claire, a childhood friend include Nora in her prenuptial party? Nina, a mutual friend is the only other familiar name on the list and the two make a pact to attend this event together. After hours of driving to the countryside, they arrive at a modern glass walled house in a dark wooded area. The cell reception is poor, there is no internet or landline and the other guests seem to feel equally uncomfortable. Forty-eight hours later Nora wakes up in a hospital bed. Badly bruised and bloody, with no memory of what happened.

BECKY Reese Witherspoon is developing this book into a movie.

How do you think this story will play out on the big screen?

PAM I had not heard about this becoming a movie! With the

quirky characters and the dark twists and turns, this could be great on the big screen. When Nora makes the decision to attend the hen, she leaves her quiet and orderly life behind and delves back into the drama that she left many years ago. She hopes to determine why Clare would want her to attend the hen when she has not been invited to the wedding. Nora is nervous about seeing her old friends and meeting new people and struggles with her past. Were you able to relate to Nora as the author introduced the reader to her?

BECKY Nora was an interesting character. From the beginning

we see that she is a bit of a recluse and prefers her quiet lifestyle.

There is also a hint that she has some baggage from the past. As interesting as this sounds I didn’t connect to her quickly. I think that this will play out much better in the theater with an actress to give us some visual connection to this character. However, as the story progresses I found myself connecting to her and caring about her story. Yet I couldn’t understanding her desire to go away for the weekend to celebrate with someone she hasn’t spoken to in ten years? Maybe a lunch but a whole weekend! The story slowly unfolds as we meet a curious group of ‘friends’ that share this weekend celebration. Do you feel like all the characters were developed well or was it just the top few?

PAM I completely agree, Becky! I felt that it wasn’t very plausible

that a recluse like Nora that had put her past behind her would agree to this weekend with new and old acquaintances in a place she had never been. There was not as much character development as I typically like in a story, especially for a couple of the new acquaintances. Do you think the author did this purposefully to try to create a feeling of unease and mystery for this suspenseful story?

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BECKY It’s possible that was the author’s intent but it missed

the mark for me. I enjoyed the book but I did not find it to be a scary story, as Reese Witherspoon suggests. It was a good mystery and once again, I think that with the right acting it could play out very well in the theater. The first chapter starts out with Nora in the hospital with no recollection of the weekend. Did the beginning pull you into the story?

PAM I was quickly pulled into the mystery, although I struggled

to connect to Nora and felt that parts of the story weren’t very plausible. I still found that I wanted to unravel the story and discover what really happened that night. I agree with you, Becky. I would not call this a scary story, but a mysterious one. Did you feel that the beginning, with Nora unable to remember, added to the air of mystery?

BECKY I like that we didn’t go through a few chapters of fluff

to lead up to the inevitable discovery of a murder mystery.

However, with that style of writing we miss out on some character development. It could have been accomplished in the alternate chapters that focus on the past but the characters stay one dimensional. It is a good, quick read but it didn’t keep me up at night to finish the last few pages like The Black-Eyed Susans, by Julia Heaberlin. Ruth Ware has a book that is recently released, would you consider reading this author again?

PAM I would consider reading another work by this author if the

story line grabbed me, but with the understanding that I probably wouldn’t be seriously invested in the characters. We will explore another mystery next month, but one that is sure to take us on a very different journey. Jillian Cantor takes us back to 1938 and 1989, as we unravel the mystery of an old love letter that connects generations in her book, “The Lost Letter.”

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Trick or Treat Trail at Southlands

Chances are, your little ones have been plotting and planning the perfect costume for Halloween for weeks. It’s a safe bet that they’ve changed their minds a few times, and then changed them back again, but come the week of Halloween, they’re ready to take those costumes out for a spin and fill up those goodie bags with all kinds of treats. Get the most out of those carefully chosen costumes and come out to the Trick or Treat Trail at Southlands Mall, just a couple of days before Halloween.

Saturday, October 28th, from 10am-12pm, Town Square transforms into a treat-filled “spooktakular” with retailers ready to fill those trick-or-treat bags a few days early. In addition to the Main Street and Power Center retailers adding bulk to those bags, Town Square will have games, bounce houses and more to enjoy.

Make a day of it at Southlands and after you’ve trekked the Trick or Treat Trail, visit one of the over 30 restaurants for a lunch with the family, or maybe take in a movie at the AMC Red Kitchen Dine In Theater. If you haven’t already checked out The Local at Southlands, put that on your to do list as well. The Local is a new retail location that houses a unique mix of products, ranging from local food to handmade artisan products, all under one roof !

In addition to all the fantastic shops at Southlands, The Local is a great place for one-of-a kind gifts (and as crazy as it seems, after Trick or Treat Trail, there’s only 9 Saturdays until the end of December!)

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In addition to great events like Trick or Treat Trail, Southlands offers monthly events for kids through their “Cub Club” program.

After signing up for this free program, kids 3-10 will receive a monthly Club newsletter and a special birthday treat during the month of their big day. Cub Club members will also be in the loop for monthly events and activities as well as discounts at numerous retailers.

With the restaurants, stores for every interest and great events like the Trick or Treat Trail, Southlands is a great place to shop, dine and play!

Trick or Treat Trail at Southlands is on Saturday, October 28th from 10am-12pm. For more information visit www.shopsouthlands.com

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