Notified — Chile and Frijoles Fest grows, more rural broadband vows & marijuana tourism
September 23, 2016
Ah, you can smell it in the air.
It’s officially Pueblo Chile season.
This weekend local farmers will be roasting up the county’s favorite crop at the Chile and Frijoles Festival on Union Ave. A big event for Pueblo especially because the Pueblo Chile has become the county’s biggest marketing effort.
Last year a whole plan was made to take the chile to the top and surpass the popularity of the Hatch Chile, with the help of $140,000 in grant money. Pueblo economic officials see the Pueblo chile as a bit more refined than Hatch, and even wants you to question whether the chile you’re consuming is really Pueblo Chile.
But you don’t have to worry about that this weekend. It’s definitely Pueblo Chile. We called up the event planners, the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce, to get the scoop on how this event is growing.
That story first in Notified this week.
Pueblo Chile and Frijoles Festival to be biggest yet
Last year it was a record year for attendance at the annual Chile and Frijoles Festival in downtown Pueblo, and expectations are similar for this year’s turnout. The event itself will also be bigger.
“I’ve had so many calls from people from outside of Pueblo, from outside the state,” said Pueblo Chamber of Commerce president Rod Slyhoff. “We’ll probably see numbers close to last year, maybe a little higher. It depends on the weather.
Last year the event attracted 140,000 visitors, and according to numbers provided by the chamber there has been consistent attendance growth the last five years.
Slyhoff told PULP the event will feature a fifth entertainment tent this year, plus several more vendors.
The increase in cost has meant an increase in the budget, around 9 percent, Slyhoff said.
“Growth is good,” Slyhoff said. “But that does mean the cost goes up.”
No city money goes toward putting on the event. The festival is put on entirely with chamber dollars, and if there’s a profit, that money goes to help market the city, which does receive a cut of the lodging tax each year.
Pueblo DA elected to state DA council
Pueblo District Attorney Jeff Chostner was elected to serve a one-year term as president of the Colorado District Attorney’s Council, a statewide council that represents and promotes favorable policy change for DAs in Colorado.
CDAC also helps facilitate a rural DA fellowship program, which places recent Colorado law graduates in rural DA offices. Pueblo falls into that program and received a fellow this year.
Pueblo city councilman challenges Chieftain over ‘misleading’ headline
Pueblo City Council and the Pueblo West Metro Board held a joint session this week and there was some talk over extending sewer lines to Pueblo West. According to a Chieftain headline, Pueblo West endured some ‘scolding’ from council.
But officials on both sides apparently saw the joint discussion a little bit differently.
A Tweet from Chris Nicoll asked if he was at the same meeting as Chieftain reporter Peter Roper because the headline for the article was “misleading.”
The like and Retweet? That was from Pueblo West District Manager Darrin Tangeman.
PWMD also commented on the article, but made no mention of the publication’s choice of wording:
ICYMI: Pueblo RTA economic impact gets a little complicated
The Pueblo Urban Development Authority recently commissioned a study to see what kind of economic impact the city’s convention center (as it stands now) has on Pueblo.
Despite plans to expand the convention center, there was no baseline numbers. But as PULP dug through the report and the numbers one thing became clear: The convention center expansion and RTA project as a whole gets really complicated when you start talking about money.
A 2010 study of the projected impact of the convention expansion showed that total spending would be $13 million once the facility hits the stabilized year of operation, which is expected to be four years after marketing and long-term bookings occur.
The projected spending numbers have already been realized with the current Pueblo Convention Center facility, which has been deemed too small to catch the attention of conventions and trade shows.
What makes it all so complicated? For one, there are a lot of moving parts still, and we have that story for you in this month’s print edition.
You can also read it here:
State looks to expand broadband to rural schools
This week Gov. John Hickenlooper announced a new program, Kids Link Colorado, that aims to put high-speed Internet in schools that don’t have access to broadband.
Kids Link Colorado is a partnership between the Office of the Governor, the Governor’s Office of Information Technology and EducationSuperHighway, a nonprofit focused on upgrading Internet access in public schools across the country.
“A student in Crested Butte should have access to the same online resources as a student in downtown Denver,” Hickenlooper said in a news release.
Historically, it has been a big challenge to get broadband to rural areas. Even with some legislation signed by the governor to increase access, the issue always ends up back in the promises of elected officials who claim education and health care would be better in rural Colorado if Internet access were better.
The governor’s new program is in very early stages. Starting this month the partners will be identifying where need is greatest in Colorado.
Partake: Colorado won’t market marijuana tourism
Colorado has lots of great qualities, but the tourism office won’t be promoting weed just yet.
Cathy Ritter, director of the Colorado Tourism Office, said federal law restricts what the state can do. She also said it’s not a major attraction for visitors.
“I do believe we need to make it clear to our travelers what to expect when they come to a state where marijuana is legal,” she said.
The full story here:
What we’re reading: Chasing the colors at Sawatch
This Salida Mountain Mail article may have the most poetic headline ever: “Sawatch Range bursts into oranges and golds as summer drifts off into memories.”
The piece is an excellent guide of where to catch the perfect glimpses of fall colors, and it has us loving Colorado even more.
Twin Lakes is always an attention-getter as the mountains rise from the edge of the lakes on one side and the aspens and cottonwoods above reflect in the water of the lake.
We made several stops while traveling up the pass, including a stop above Snyder Falls. The water is always pale green here, and it contrasts with the color of the rocks and the logs, deadfall that gets trapped in the current.
At the base of the pass we turned around as the color begins to fall away with the absence of aspen. At a meadow a short distance from the turnaround, a beaver has dammed the river and mahogany red willows line the water.
Read the entire (dreamy) recount here:
