LOCAL

Actors and fi lm crews center suspense fi lm in quaint neighborhood

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Something horrifying is underway in a quaint neighborhood in Brighton.

“I watched over 300 horror movies during the pandemic to keep myself focused on the craft and the genre,” said Justin Adcock, executive producer, screenwriter and an actor in the new horror fi lm centered in Brighton.

The title of the fi lm is “Locust Rising.”

“It’s an unknown threat terrorizing a suburban neighborhood and its neighbors. So, people have to be very cautious from stepping outside. It could mean the ultimate demise due to this unknown threat, and it’s all about survival,” said director Bill Jack Myers.

Sparrow Street Films- American Film and Television Studio specializes in horror fi lms and is the brainchild of Adcock and Myers.

“We started Sparrow Street Films Production Co. and are excited to bring the fi lm to Colorado and to bring the spotlight here, to shine bright, and enjoy the experience of the fi lm,” said Myers.

Their fi lm draws upon the sense of isolation that became so common during the pandemic.

“The residents of the neighborhood are trying to fi gure out how to survive, and there is hardly any food,” Adcock said. “It has a lot at play with relationships and with everything we went through over this past year in a half with the pandemic and being isolated and trapped. There are a lot of parts into play and the unknown threats terrorizing a suburban neighborhood. There is something eating the neighbors.”

Sparrow takes fl ight

Adcock also cast himself in his fi lms. Sparrow Street Films have eight fi lms slated for pre-production and another to go out this year and later on.

Adcock’s passion for movies started at a young age, growing up on a farm in Arizona where there was not much to do. He grew up living in the middle of nowhere and 17 miles from the nearest town.

“So when VHS came to be, it was my recreation to rent movies, because we did not have cable where I grew up,” said Adcock.

Adcock rented movies -- about three or four a week. He’s especially fond of Hitchcock but liked watching Siskel and Ebert’s “At the Movies” to learn criticism

“It was just a hobby growing up in the absence of a lot of other things to out there,” Adcock said.

Adcock began as a professional writer, actor and producer and also did theater and fi lm working in Colorado for a while, before taking a hiatus to work in education with the public schools as a special ED teacher. He now works in administration.

At a previous school, he met a teacher with some experience in fi lm history and she said her husband, who turned out to be Myers, also was interested in working on fi lms.

“We got connected. I thought, ‘I’m not getting any younger and I might as well dust off my old talents and skills and bring them to life with Billy’s visions,’” said Adcock.

That was a few years ago. Each has similar interests and ideas of what they wanted to do. Myers had worked on other fi lm sets with friends.

“My wife said, ‘I think you should talk to Justin,’ and so we connected and the rest is history,” Myers said. “It’s my fi rst time as a director, and it’s my debut.”

Bill Jack Myers is originally from Missouri and lived in Philadelphia for a while. He has lived in Colorado for more than 10 years. His story is similar to Adcock’s on how he got involved with the fi lm.

“I’ve just always had a love and a passion for fi lm, and I grew up in the country as well watching lots of VHS movies, and any chance we got, we would go to the theater and watch the big screen,” said Myers.

Sparrow Films joined the Colorado Film and Video Association. Through that network, Adcock and Myers met numerous people and were able to put a crew together.

2022 release?

The goal was to try to wrap up the fi lming by July 18 and then begin post-production. That is when the footage is edited, visual effects are created and added, music is composed and the titles are fi nalized.

“It could take from three months to six months unless things come up before it’s released, so it could be by the end of the year or early next year, “ said Myers. “It’s about timing once it is fi nished. We want to spend quality time in post to make sure get everything in line. It’s where the magic happens.”

Film and production crew

Some of the fi lm crew members are well-seasoned and have worked on more than 30 feature fi lms. Others on the crew are working on the fi lm for the fi rst time.

Myers said, “We’ve been blessed to have that opportunity to work with such a talented cast and crew.”

Actor Isaac Stackonis is playing the role of Nash in the fi lm, a psychotic sociopathic teenager who worms his way into the main family’s lives during the crazy event.

Actor Yvon Crighton plays the role of Hebres, the pregnant wife of Adcock’s character, Cecil . Armand Piecuch is the cinemaphotographer, Dean Hughart is the sound mixer, Emily Hack and Sara Wiechman are production assistants, and Katherine Houston is the art director.

Meg Chamberlain is the line producer, production management and in charge of public relations.

“I want to give a shout out to the city of Brighton. They have been gracious. We notifi ed the police, the fi re department and all the emergency services that we are working on a fi lm in the neighborhood,” Chamberlain said.

“They said, ‘No worries. You guys are so contained, and we’ll make sure on the days when you’re not inside the house, we will drive by and give the neighbors a sense of security that people aren’t actually dying, “ said Chamberlain, humorously.

The scene: actor Sabastian Reef was thrilled to fi nd a grocery store, but it will be the death of him. Left, David McGurie, second director, and Laurie Polisky, second director of photography, on roller skates fi lming the scene.

The scene: actor Hannah Finnegan is sacrifi cing herself so others may live. Left, David McGurie, second director, and Laurie Polisky, second director of photography, on roller skates fi lming the scene. PHOTOS BY ANNALISE STONE

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The trail extends biking, walking trail into St. Vrain State park

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Weld County celebrated the opening of a new recreational trail, the Weld Legacy Trail July 17, according to a press release.

“I’m excited for the opening of the Weld Legacy Trail and even more excited for the public to enjoy it,” Weld County Commissioner Scott James said. “The fact that this trail is Weld County’s fi rst multi-use trail and that it extends into St. Vrain State Park makes it even more unique and adds to the recreational opportunities available to our residents.

The trail starts behind the South West Service Complex at 4209 Weld County Road 24½ in Firestone, and it extends into St. Vrain State Park. It’s a paved trail for biking, running, or walking with lush foliage, fl owers and rolling hills.

It took years of planning the landscape by the Weld County Department of Public Works with months of design work and improvement to create the trail to be resistant to fl ooding. It’s also user-friendly with directional signs for residents and visitors, according to a statement. A new addition is an 802-foot section of the trail that was moved away from a nearby spillway which includes an 82-foot long pedestrian bridge.

“Weld County is widely known for agriculture and oil and gas. But there are also plenty of recreational opportunities in our county, with St. Vrain State Park and the Pawnee National Grassland in our boundary,” said Weld County Commissioner Lori Saine in the statement. “The improvements made to this trail provide an additional option for people looking to experience Weld County in a new way, which is exciting.”

According to offi cials, the trail was designed along the Front Range to connect surrounding communities. In early 2000, the property was closed to the public fbecause the land was being used as an active gravel mine. Then Central Colorado Water Conservancy District purchased the land in 2017 for iwater storage. The county held its right-of-way agreement to build the gravel pits for its water storage as well as continue to design the recreational trail.

“This trail personifi es the 20-plus year partnership between CCWCD and Weld County in this location,” said Randy Ray, executive director of CCWCD, in the statement. “We are excited to participate as a partner with Weld County to provide public access to this new recreational feature in the county.”

St. Vrain State Park has been involved in the progress of the trail and also opened the trail in 2018 and 2019 for “Bike to Work Day,” according to Weld County offi cials.

The new Weld County Legacy Trail that starts in Firestone and extends into St. Vrain State Park.

PHOTO BY BELEN WARD

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Hotter, drier climate infl uences how and when fi res ignite

BY THELMA GRIMES TGRIMES@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

State climate experts and local fi re offi cials along the Front Range say wildfi re season no longer has an end as heat, low moisture and other factors have created a year-round problem.

Russ Schumacher, the Colorado state climatologist, and director of the Colorado Climate Center, said 2020 was the worst year on record for wildfi res, rewriting record books on what kind of fi res can happen and when.

In the past, wildfi re season was generally contained to the hottest part of summer in July and into August. Now, Inter-Canyon Fire Protection District Chief Daniel Hatlestad said, wildfi res are a 12-month priority. The Inter-Canyon Fire District covers 52 square miles in Jefferson County.

“We are seeing these fi res spread, and spread quickly every month of the year,” Hatlestad said. “The fuel load across the Front Range has created more intense, frequent and longer-burning fi res. There is no longer a change of approach to prepare for wildfi re season because there is no season.”

Schumacher said it is not just Colorado, Western states have had year-round fi re problems since 2002 as average temperatures have crept up and annual precipitation levels have decreased.

Schumacher said the increased temperatures are here to stay and the impact on the atmosphere is real.

“In the mountains and western Colorado, the increasing temperatures puts more stress on vegetation and soil,” he said. “When the air is hotter, it is thirstier for water. The atmosphere then wants to pull the moisture out of the soils and crops. Even if you have a normal amount of precipitation, it does not go as far.”

Along the Front Range, Schumacher said, 2021 has been a good year for snowfall and precipitation, but the effects of 2020 carry over.

In years like 2020, Schumacher said, the exceedingly hot temperatures with a lower-than-average level of snow and rainfall become the perfect setting for wildfi res.

In 2020, an estimated 700,000 acres burned in the state as the Cameron Peak Fire, East Troublesome Fire and the Pine Gulch Fire blazed through Colorado lands.

So far in 2021, the incident information system, InciWeb, estimates more than 25,000 acres have burned in seven different wildfi res reported throughout the state.

Daniel Beveridge, a wildfi re mitigation specialist for the Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS), said climate change has created a new

Firefi ghters from South Metro Fire Rescue Brush 33, based in Centennial, push back against the Cameron Peak Fire in the Arapahoe and Roosevelt national forests

in northern Colorado on Aug. 24. COURTESY PHOTO

A photo taken by fi refi ghters on the scene of the Cameron Peak Fire near Fort Collins in 2020. COURTESY OF ARVADA FIRE

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BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Chainsaw carvers from across the country returned to compete against each other to win the grand prize for best sculpture carved out a tree log at the Chainsaws and Chuckwagons event in Frederick July 14 through July 17. Included was live entertainment and food vendors (chuckwagons) at Centennial Park in Frederick.

Trevor Rogers from Fort Collins, a selftaught carver for about a year. He carved a giant a lemon tree. Matt Ounsworth from Fort Collins he has been carving for fi ve years. Humorously, Ounsworth said he was inspired for his love of chainsaws. He is craving a group of bears to add to the bear bench he’s creating with a nature scene of animals surrounding it.

PHOTOS BY BELEN WARD

Kajemyou Dhil from Africa and has been a carver since 2006. He was inspired by sculpting with clay since he was a little boy growing up in Africa creating little clay fi gures. He is carving landing eagles. Michael Koeppel from Wittenberg, WI has an art degree in industrial design and has been carving for four years. He is sculpting a mammoth that will have little birds looking him from top of its trunk and fl owers around the base. He got the idea visiting a mammoth sink hole in South Dakota on the way to Frederick.