THE LAST WORD by Rob McKinley
Rocky Mountain High IS THERE ANYTHING better than the art of the Western Welcome? Historically, it’s been more than a greeting: it’s the tip of a hat, a dinner invitation to all and any passerby and a sharing of some of the most majestic outdoor spaces in America. In the words of Steamboat’s first permanent white settler, James Crawford, “there is room for us all” and all are seeming to act on that. But expanded access to those spaces from more visitors and more residents creates a challenge for Rocky Mountain escapes like Steamboat: how to balance a strong, dynamic local culture with a growing influx of money and wealthy homeowners. That dinner invitation is now a tad more expensive and the cost of housing, accommodation and sharing the landscape more and more costly. Will the result be a two-tiered society with modernization replacing heritage and access replacing authenticity? All this begs the question, how do we keep our warm Western Welcome?
Steamboat is dancers on horseback, ranchers working from sunup ‘til sundown providing the freshest food to eat; Steamboat is Olympic athletes and rodeos, Opera, concerts and theater; Steamboat is helping one another out even when you think you have nothing left to give. Steamboat is a smile, a wave, patience when the light turns green and the person in front of you hasn’t moved for five seconds; Steamboat is alpen glow on the mountains, aspen leaves tinkling from their branches; Steamboat is bears being free to be bears and people keeping them wild. Steamboat is “howdy, friend” and blue jeans and billionaires next to coal miners at the bar with people not knowing who is who. Steamboat has been and needs to continue to be that mountain town that treats locals and visitors alike. STEAMBOAT IS THE ULTIMATE ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH. LET’S KEEP THAT ‘HI’ IN HIGH. RM
Photo courtesy of Dimnitar Donovski