February 2018 Castle Rock Magazine

S E A R C H

CASTLEROCK

CASTLE ROCK’S PREMIER MONTHLY COMMUNITY MAGAZINE SINCE 2004

In This Month’s Issue

Denver, CO

Prsrt Std U.S. Postage

Plus much more!

PAID Permit 5377

Hey Alexa, What’s Going on in Douglas County

ECRWSS

Sagewood 80’s Night l The Bookends

POSTAL PATRON

Castle Rock Events Calendar

12760 Stroh Ranch Way, Suite 202 Parker, CO 80134 303-805-9455

DATE NIGHT

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S E A R C H

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Castle Rock Events Calendar See what’s happening around town!

Date Night Great ideas for your next date night in, and around, Castle Rock

Page 5

A Date Night in Castle Rock

Back to the 80s Help Sagewood Middle School at this fun 80s themed FUNdraiser Alexa, What’s Going On in DougCo Douglas County is now a skill on Amazon Alexa The Bookends & Local Author Spotlight

FEBRUARY 2018 VOLUME 14 ISSUE 2 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

February Scavenger Hunt Contest

How would you like to win a gift certificate from local Castle Rock restaurants? Well, here is your chance. We have gift certificates from many locally owned restaurants and want to give you one. To win, all you have to do is go online to CastlerockMagazine.com and enter our February Scavenger Hunt contest. You will need this copy of Search Castle Rock to enter...so head over to our website today and you could win! Good Luck!

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Search Castle Rock 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 Castle Rock Magazine is available online at www.CastleRockMagazine. com. Search Castle Rock 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 Castle Rock Magazine. Copyright 2018 Search Castle Rock Magazine - All rights Reserved.

CASTLEROCKEVENTS

Visit CastleRockMagazine.com for our expanded calendar

February 2018 FEBRUARY 7

Castle Rock Water Open House Castle Rock Water requires public input on several 2018 water plans – Water Use Management Plan, Drought Mitigation Plan, Source Water Protection Plan & Landscape and Irrigation Criteria Manual 1929 Liggett Road 5:00pm-7:30pm crgov.com

FEBRUARY 9

Coffee with a Cop McDonald’s – 955 Park Street 8:00am-9:00am crgov.com

FEBRUARY 9

Daddy Daughter Ball – A Night in Paris Douglas County Events Center 6:30pm-8:30pm For tickets, go to crgov.com/2007/DaddyDaughter-Ball

FEBRUARY 14

Valentine’s Flamenco Fire with Rene’ Heredia & His Flameno Fantasy Dancers Cherokee Ranch and Castle 7:15pm cherokeeranch.org

FEBRUARY 17

Burning Love – ELVIS Live! Tribute Cherokee Ranch and Castle 7:00pm cherokeeranch.org

FEBRUARY 18

Denver Chinese School-Jasmine Flower Dance Academy and the Denver Shaolin Kung Fu Academy Performance of dragon dances and traditional folk dances Outlets at Castle Rock 1:00pm www.outletsatcastlerock.com

Do you have a community event you’d like listed here? If so, email details to Tiffany@WaidPublishing.com for consideration.

FEBRUARY 21

Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting The Millhouse 5:00pm-8:00pm crgov.com

FEBRUARY 25

Brunch at the Castle Cherokee Ranch and Castle 10:00am cherokeeranch.org

FEBRUARY 25

Castle Rock Water Commission Meeting Castle Rock Water O&M Building 6:00pm-9:00pm crgov.com

FEBRUARY 28

Colorado Bluebird Project Open House Volunteers are needed for weekly monitoring of nest boxes and breeding activity beginning April 1 continuing through midAugust. This program is suitable for families and volunteers of all ages looking for a rewarding, fun and educational way to interact with local wildlife.

The Millhouse 7:00pm-8:00pm crgov.com

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DATE NIGHT

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ebruary is typically the month of hearts and flowers, chocolate and cupids and many times grand gestures of wining and dining and day-long outings with intricately planned details. Most of you reading may agree, sometimes less is more and grand gestures, although appreciated, aren’t always what we’re looking for; sometimes we’re just looking for a little something different for a fun night out. If you’re looking to plan a date night or just a night out with friends, there’s lots of options you may not have realized are available for consideration whether you’re looking for a new culinary experience, something a bit adventurous, a little art and culture or something completely different - check out what might be your next night out.

If a night out is a rarity and you’d just assume a great meal or a nicely poured ale, you could check out local favorites like VistaVino Modern Grill, Castle Cafe or the Old Stone Church, Maddie’s Biergarten (maddiesbg.com), 105 West Brewery (105westbrewing.com) or Castle Rock Beer Co. (www.castlerockbeerco.com). The Breweries often have special events and visiting food trucks, so be sure to check out their websites before heading out to plan your evening accordingly.

Feeling a bit daring? Take a trip on the Castle Rock Zip Line! Philip S. Miller Park offers Denver’s #1

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Zip Line Tour on over a mile and a half of cables, where you can reach speeds of up to 50 mph! (www. castlerockziplinetours.com) You might consider exploring the Denver area a little differently with BigCity Hunt (www.scavengerhunt.com) See some of the best sites through photo challenges and fun activities to do with a group of friends. Maybe take a drive around town or even to the mountains, but in your DREAM car (denverluxurycarrental.com or exoticdrivesdenver.com) Perhaps you’d like to do something out of the ordinary, but make it a night in?

Check out www.nightofmystery.com for a variety of Murder Mystery party plots and ideas.

Those looking for a sportier night out may want to try some fun straight out of the pages of gym class.

The MAC (Miller Activity Complex) offers batting cages and a golf simulator. The Rink at the Rock is still open for the season through February 19th, so there’s still time to get some skating in this year.

Maybe drive a few miles out of town and try your hand at any one of the activities at Family Sports Center (laser tag, climbing wall, ice arena, or the two-tiered, heated driving range) www.ssprd.org/ Family-Sports-Center. Instead of a battle on the turf, maybe a battle of wits is in order - try your luck (or show your skills) at Epic Escape Room. See if you can beat the clock against games like Happy

Campers, Lab Disaster, or Rogue Agent. (www. epicescapegame.com) Looking to up the arts factor? Castle Rock is home to one of the most unique venues around, the Theater of Dreams; offering amazing magic acts and variety shows all year long. (www.amazingshows.com) You could also take the arts into your own hands, literally, by checking out local Paint Nite events. You’ve most likely seen those, paint a picture with friends while enjoying an adult beverage establishments; this is a traveling version of that concept. Check out their calendar of events at local bars and restaurants near you (www.paintnite.com) If the idea of painting has you making other plans, check out Plant Nite - instead of painting, plant beautiful succulents in beautiful terrariums and planters, go green, and go home with new decor! For tickets to events in bars and restaurants near you, go to www.plantnite.com.

Plants or paint, brews or wine tasting, exploring the city or staying close to home. The next time you get a date night on the calendar or you’re able to get the guys/girls together, think outside the box a bit and try something new on for size. Don’t save the original ideas for once a year on Valentine’s - make every night out a new adventure!

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Sagewood Middle School Goes

BACK

TO THE Rubix Cubes, walkmans, Trapper Keepers, the painstaking effort of creating the perfect mixtape and the intricate art of note folding - all things that our kids will never truly appreciate but were iconic mile markers of those that grew up in the 80’s. That neon hued era comes alive when Sagewood Middle School’s PTO presents Saagewood’s Back to the 80’s Auction/Dinner/Casino annual fundraising event, held this year on Saturday, March 3rd at Heritage Eagle Bend Golf Club. Since the event’s inception a few years ago, the night has continued to grow into the signature evening for the Sagewood community and a wonderful way to support the school, and wonderful things the students and staff at Sagewood are doing.

With all the amazing things that are happening at Sagewood, it’s incredible to think of what’s to come, making it all that more important to continue to support them in their endeavors.

The 80’s Auction/Dinner/Casino night will commence with an open bar and silent auction with rows and rows of tempting luxuries up for bid, and that’s just the start of the evening! Once the dinner hour begins and the silent auction closes, Mayor Mike Waid will serve as the master of ceremonies as the evening’s enjoyment continues though dinner with several raffle games, the highly anticipated live auction and the always amusing dessert dash. Last year’s live auction included numerous amazing items up for bid, including a South African Safari!

Sagewood Middle School,very proudly, is the only DCSD Middle School that: •

•

• •

offers a mandatory Innovation and Design Lab class that focuses on challenging students to critically think, problem solve, be resilient learners, and use industry-level technology and tools. offers Student Government as a class and AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), a nationally recognized program for college readiness. is an Ambassador School for Lockheed Martin. is Common Sense Media Certified; actively educating students on online media safety, utilizing online resources, and promoting digital citizenship.

Sagewood is also the only DCSD Middle School and only Middle School in the State of Colorado that is RAMP certified by the American School Counselor Association, a preventative, comprehensive counseling program. Additionally, they are one of two DCSD Middle Schools that are a One-to-One device school and Sagewood is also a multiple grant recipient of Century Link, Groove Automotive, Lockheed Martin, and, DCEF.

Back to the 80’s

At the conclusion of the live auction and dessert, attendees are invited to adjourn to the gaming tables (sponsored by local businesses) to try their luck at poker, blackjack, roulette and craps. If you’re not feeling overly lucky, you can always just hit the dance floor to totally awesome 80’s music!

Proceeds from this super rad night out directly benefit Sagewood Middle School in their efforts to repair and resurface Sagewood’s track. It is currently completely “grody to the max” and in such disrepair that student athletes have to be bussed to Ponderosa High School for home Track and Field competitions.

The entire community is invited to stack up their bangles and bust out those shoulder pads (80’s dress is encouraged but not required) and join Sagewood families, faculty and staff for a, like, totally gnarly night out. Tickets can be purchased until about a week prior to the event at www.sgmsauction.org. Tickets include entrance to the event, $100 in gaming chips, a drink ticket and your dinner.

Saturday, March 3rd 5:00pm-11:00pm Heritage Eagle Bend Golf Club Get Your Tickets Now www.sgmsauction.org

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Alexa,

What’s Going on in Douglas County?

“Alexa, what’s the weather like today?”

“Alexa, what are the movie times for Friday night?”

“Alexa, find a recipe for spaghetti bolognese.”

In this day and age, you may be asking Alexa all kinds of questions on a daily basis, maybe even trying out the funny commands like, “Alexa, what is the first rule of fight club?” or “Alexa, fire the photon torpedoes.”

If you aren’t altogether sure as to what “Alexa” is exactly, Alexa is Amazon’s cloud-based voice service. It (“she”) connects to the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Show and other Alexa-enabled devices such as Fire TV, Amazon Tap, Fire Tablets, and more. Alexa is a virtual personal assistant that can do things like adjust the volume on your speakers, set a timer, update your calendar and more, all activated by simply saying, “Alexa.”

Now, Douglas County residents can add a whole new list of commands to their Alexa repertoire. Douglas County is adding a new skill for Amazon Alexa called Ask Douglas County, enabling citizens to access information about events and services as well as answer their questions. This innovation is the first government skill in the state of Colorado to leverage the latest technology from Amazon’s Alexa voice service. This new Douglas County skill for Alexa will enable citizens to engage and connect with local government in a whole new, interactive way. To activate the skill, users simply say, “Alexa, enable Douglas County” on their Amazon device or access it through the Alexa app.

Once activated, a variety of information can be accessed by asking questions such as: “Alexa, Ask Douglas County what’s new” to access news in the area.

“Alexa, Ask Douglas County if there are any road closures this week” “Alexa, Ask Douglas County what local events are happening this month” “Alexa, Ask Douglas County how I pay my property tax.”

More questions are being added based on citizen inquiries, and a complete list of questions can be found on the Douglas County open data site, DougCodata.org.

What are you waiting for? Activate the new Ask Douglas County skill and start finding out everything that is happening in your neighborhood - and maybe that recipe for spaghetti bolognese too!

Amazon Echo image courtesy of Amazon.com

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THEBOOKENDS

with Pam & Becky

Finding Gobi

Passports and Plum Blossoms

By Dion Leonard

This is a nonfiction story about Dion Leonard an accomplished ultra marathon runner. While competing in a 155 mile race in China he meets and falls in love with an unexpected running companion. His wife is not upset, as his new love is a scruffy little dog that is a mighty runner. She is named Gobi for the Gobi Desert and becomes a celebrity as she follows Dion during a good part of this race. Dion quickly decides to bring Gobi home to the UK but things don’t go as planned.

This little stray will take Dion on a course that will be hardthan an ultra marathon as he battles foreign language barriers and government regulations.

BECKY This is our first non-fiction story in quite awhile. I saw the cover of this book and thought it would be a fun read. I had no idea that this was a popular story. Were you already familiar with Dion and Gobi’s story?

PAM I was so excited to read this book! I had recently seen a small piece about this story on a running website. This book mixes two of my favorite things: dogs and running. Before Dion met Gobi, I had struggled to connect with him. Did you find his voice a little brusque at the beginning of the story?

BECKY He does seem like a very serious, matter of

fact, kind of man and that did impact the beginning of the story. However, during the book he shares some of his past and that helped me to connect to him. What I found amazing is that he hasn’t been running very long. He started running in his late 30’s and was competing in extreme running competitions soon after that. You are an avid runner so did this story connect to you on an athletic level when he spoke of the terrain or conditions of racing?

PAM I was also interested in his success after com-

ing into the sport in his late 30’s. This type of story always amazes me, because I can’t imagine having the ability to run these extreme distances! I found his descriptions of his preparation for and execution of his races intriguing. His determination and drive to compete made his connection with Gobi even more special. Were you surprised that such a little dog could keep up with Dion during his ultra in China?

BECKY Absolutely! I have two dogs about the

same size and there is no way they could keep up with even an average runner. Animals, dogs in particular, in China do not have the elevated social status like an American pet would. This dog did not seem to come from a home where he was fed well and took daily walks so it’s all the more amazing that he was so strong and healthy. There is a point in the book where Gobi and Dion are separated. A local group searched tirelessly for him and a Crowdfunder account (similar to Go Fund Me) was well funded by people from all over the world. Were you amazed at how many strangers were willing to help Dion find his companion?

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PAM I was completely amazed and thrilled by the help he received by complete strangers! The lengths FEBRUARY 2018 search castle rock magazine

by Barbara Oliverio

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that Dion, his wife, and so many others went to in order to locate Gobi and get the little dog to a new home were amazing. Dion’s wife, who is also an ultrarunner, was very supportive in his quest to bring Gobi home. Were you surprised by her level of understanding and patience?

BECKY Absolutely! He went to great lengths and

expense to locate and then move Gobi to the UK. I don’t think that many partners would be as supportive. Have you watched any Youtube videos or interviews with Dion and Gobi? Read the book first but you can lose a whole afternoon if you start watching news clips about these two. There is something really special about the two of them and it’s easy to see why the world fell in love with their story. Did you hear that it might be made into a movie?

PAM I had not heard that, but I think the story would make a great movie (especially for runners and dog lovers!). I have not watched any Youtube videos about Gobi, but plan to after your suggestion! As I was reading this book, one of my students sent me a link to a video about a very similar story. This video is amazing, as the story is incredibly touching and the video clips, music, and interviews are wonderful. The video is about a dog named Arthur and the Swedish adventure racing team that found him while in the middle of the world championships in Ecuador. The heartwarming story can be found on ESPN.com: SC Featured: A dog’s remarkable journey to find a home.

While Arthur was able to get to his new home with much less trouble than Gobi, there are many parallels to these stories. Becky, do you think these strong immediate connections with Gobi and Arthur are uncommon and unique?

BECKY What a great video, and another amazing

story. This month is the first time that I’ve heard of stories like this. It’s possible that there are a hundred more like it but I would imagine that it is an uncommon occurrence. I find it interesting that such devoted and focused competitors are distracted from their goal by a stray dog that they hardly know.

The connections were made quickly and the men were fiercely committed to adopt and save these dogs . Both are wonderful stories for animal lovers. Pam, please tell us what we will be reading for March.

PAM Next month we will discuss the Underground

River by: Martha Conway.

LOCAL AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT

Annalise Fontana is feeling blue with no job, no boyfriend, and packed among her childhood memories in her parents’ home.

What could be more enticing than the opportunity to serve as a companion to her elderly Auntie Lil on a senior citizens’ tour of China (with a side trip to Singapore?.

She digs out her passport and packs her bags and assumes that she’s in for a tranquil Jane Austenesque journey.

For more information visit barbaraoliverio.com

Beyond Flight or Fight

by Sunny Weber

Rich true-life stories of saved dogs combine with the author’s sensitive insight and specialized easy to understand, step-by-step practical advice on how to live with a fearful dog. Understand dog fear and see the human world through your dog’s eyes and mind. Discover what every dog needs and how to individualize your problem-solving approaches. Learn to establish trust, leave human ego behind, and focus on what really works with frightened, undersocialized, rejected pups of all ages and histories.

For more information visit sunnyweber.com

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