Lariat Loop Scenic & Historic Byway

Art Bistro at the Red Rocks Country Club

2010-09-06T09:04:00.003-06:00

Be sure to come to the annual Art Bistro at the Red Rocks Country Club on October 17, 2010. Enjoy meeting 18 artists and purchase their art from 11am to 6pm. There will also be great food to purchase, a kid's station and plen aire artists creating art on site. The Art Bistro will showcase artists along Lariat Loop and benefit the Lariat Loop Heritage Alliance, the organization that manages the Lariat Loop National Scenic Byway. The Red Rocks Country Club is located on west Belleview Avenue, west of C470 approximately 1 mile. Information: Call Holly Tempel at 303-697-0160.

Katsinas in Clay at Hiwan

2010-05-10T16:30:00.003-06:00

“HOPI TILES 1882-PRESENT”
Exhibit at Hiwan Homestead Museum

Hiwan Homestead Museum is very pleased to announce its newest exhibit, Katsinas in Clay: Hopi Tiles 1882-Present. The exhibit consists of the third-largest collection of antique Hopi tiles in the world, as well as a smaller collection of contemporary tiles. The collections are on loan from Tad Anderman of Albuquerque, New Mexico. There are more than 160 antique tiles dating from 1882 until approximately 1910, and more than 20 tiles done by contemporary Hopi-Tewa artist Mark Tahbo between 2007 and 2009. “Katsinas in Clay” will be the first time that this private collection will be on display in a public forum.

The exhibit will be open to the public Tuesday, April 27 through Sunday, November 21, 2010, and can be seen during the Museum’s open hours. Hiwan Homestead Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 5 PM September through May, and 11 AM to 5 PM June through August. Please call 720-497-7650 for more information. Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to see this never-before-seen collection!

Hiwan Homestead Museum is a 17-room log mansion constructed in the Rustic style of architecture. It is located in Evergreen at 4208 S. Timbervale Drive and is a Jefferson County Open Space facility operated through a partnership with the Jefferson County Historical Society. The Museum was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Events--Coming Up Fast!

2010-05-06T13:15:00.003-06:00

Exhibit opening reception May 7th-- Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum

Friday, May 7 from 4-7pm --- Free and Open to the Public.

Exhibit will feature quilts from our most recent acquisition ranging from mid 1800s to Mennonite Quilts of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to rare baby quilts, to quilts of the roaring 20s. Come share in the celebration of our 20th birthday!

May 8th--Happy 20th to the Quilt Museum

The Colorado Railroad Museum and Foothills Art Center celebrate the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum's 20th Anniversary with an exciting joint fundraiser on May 8, from 5:30 - 8:00PM at the Colorado Railroad Museum

Enjoy a unique Golden, Colorado experience back in time...

Sip a choo-choo tini
Ride a 1930's vintage Galloping Goose,
Stroll the gallery of train themed quilts and art work by Colorado artists
Swing to the music of a Dixieland band
Savor southern-style food
Bid in a benefit auction of unique art, quilts and railroadiana.

Tickets are $50/person or $90/couple. Order online at the Depot General Store, but do it today!! Proceeds benefit programs at all three organizations.

Special exhibit --- Lost Heroes Art Quilt ---

First exhibit in Colorado as part of the National Tour will be at Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum from May 1 - May 10.

RMQM will be the first of three Colorado locations in the national tour for exhibiting this 15 foot quilt honoring America's fallen heroes in Iraq & Afghanistan. After it leaves RMQM it will go to the CO Capital and then to Fine Arts Museum in Co Springs (AFA unable to host event due to security --- so this is the closest off-sife venue for AFA). We are very excited to be hosting this magnificent quilt and honoring fallen heroes, especially those from Colorado. If you want more information, check this website!

National Byway Ribbon Cutting

2010-04-09T10:24:00.006-06:00

Lariat Loop National Byway! It's been official since last October, but we haven't celebrated yet! Join us for the ceremonies and party in recognition of Lariat Loop's designation as a National Byway!

Meet at 3 p.m. on May 3rd, 2010, at the Morrison Mural in downtown Morrison, where we'll enjoy ice cream cones and hoola hoops and brief speeches. The mural was a Lariat Loop project in 2007, and is the centerpiece of Morrison's downtown heritage hub, which includes the interpretive kiosk and Morrison's historic school bell.

Then, we'll adjourn to the Ship Rock Grille, at the Red Rocks Visitor Center, for finger foods and drinks (cash bar) until on into the evening.

The festivities offer a fun time for all, a great photo op, and a chance to kick off another terrific year of foothills heritage touring! Come celebrate with us!

Annual Meeting March 24th

2010-03-03T12:47:00.006-07:00

Lariat Loop Partners—

The Annual Meeting is scheduled for March 24th from noon to 2pm at the Bear Creek Tavern and Country Dining located at the east end of Kittredge adjacent to Bear Creek. Address if you want to Mapquest the restaurant: 25940 Hwy 74 (674-9929). Please RSVP to joe_tempel AT dinoridge DOT org, so he can let the restaurant know the number attending.

Highlights of 2009:

On October 16, 2009 Lariat Loop was designated a National Scenic Byway!

Ten Year Celebration: On April 2, 2009 we held our 2008 Annual Meeting and our 10-year Celebration at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum and Foothills Art Center; respectively. We had a great time and raised more than $1,000 at the silent auction. See earlier post for details.

Progress on the Buffalo Herd Overlook: Little was done to complete the final design of the Overlook because we were anticipating an additional $125,000 from CDOT's Byway Program. While we were not successful, Denver will be proceeding with a $300,000 project using existing Byway and Denver funds. Construction is expected to be underway in 2010, once the contract with CDOT is complete.

Participation in the National Scenic Byway Conference: About nine Loopers participated in the National Conference held in Denver at the end of August. We led four field trips along the Loop and received a great reception from the participants.

Progress on developing a Marketing Plan for the Loop: Holly Tempel is coordinating the development of a marketing plan for the Loop. The Marketing Committee is looking at our current brand and will be suggesting revisions to the full board. This brand will be incorporated into any of the collateral materials developed for the Loop. Terry Barnhart, a marketing professional with over 30 years experience in the Denver area and who lived on Lookout Mountain for 25 years, will meet with Marketing Committee and other members at the Lookout Mountain Nature Center on Monday, March 8th from 9am to 2pm to help work toward a marketing plan.

A Little Publicity

2009-04-09T08:14:00.002-06:00

Steve Knapp wrote a nice review of the Lariat Loop's 10th birthday and last week's party for the Canyon Courier. Check it out!

Thanks for the good words, Steve!

Report on Annual Meeting and Celebration

2009-04-06T07:27:00.012-06:00

From President Joe Tempel:

I just wanted to thank everyone for attending a successful Annual Meeting and 10 Year Celebration. Twenty-one people attended the Annual Meeting and about 60 people attended the Celebration. We raised almost $1,000 from the Silent Auction so congratulations to everyone— especially Holly Tempel for organizing it and Kathy Filgo for assisting.

We appreciate all those who donated the many auction items in an impressive display. The party food prepared by Betsy Martinson and Steve Friesen of the Buffalo Bill Museum was fantastic too! We hope to use them to cater future events! (Here's Steve, Joe, and Don in discussion before the meeting. Unfortunately our photographer failed to capture photos of the party!) (Click to enlarge any image.)

Thanks to Cyd Pougiales for designing and producing 50 Lariat Loop hats, some of which were handed out to paid-up members of the Lariat Loop Heritage Alliance. Here's Cyd cajoling partners to renew their memberships, and offering hats to those who do!

We want to thank the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum for hosting our Annual Meeting and the Foothills Art Center for hosting our Celebration. We especially thank Brenda Ohlschwager, the Director of the Quilt Museum, and Riley Sanborn, the Director of the Art Center. I think it was the most colorful setting ever for a Lariat Loop meeting because of all of the beautiful quilts surrounding us! We also got to be the first to experience the blockbuster of a show at the Foothills Art Center that opened to the general public the next evening. [Here's Joe discussing our new display panels.]

Awards: A framed photograph of Morrison and Red Rocks was presented to Sally Pearce for Enthusiastically supporting the Lariat Loop Scenic and Historic Byway. A Lariat Loop Lassie Award was presented to Susan Baird for supporting us from our beginning as a Heritage Area. Sally was there to receive her award, and we will hand-deliver Susan's award next week.

Sally Pearce also updated us on plan's for the National Byway Conference to be held in Denver in August. It will include four field trips to the Lariat Loop on August 24^th, so we need to start planning for those. They will be an excellent opportunity to show off the Loop to Byway enthusiasts from all over the United States.

Marketing and Image: We also focused our discussion on re-evaluating our current logo and tagline. Karen Meyer produced about 20 different logos for us to review and comment on. Each of us received 5 pins to push into the logo(s) we liked best. The logo that received the highest number of votes (18) was the one portraying the mountains (in three colors) with a road running up into the mountains.
The next highest number of votes (15) went to our existing logo. Finally, the logo portraying the mountains (in one color) with the roads running into and down from the mountains, conveying more of a “loop” received 6 votes. Eleven people liked one or more of the logos portraying the lariat prominently. I think we all agreed upon the idea that the Loop is the best thing going for tourists and residents in the Denver Metro Area wishing to experience the mountains and historic towns just west of Denver. I will ask Karen to further refine the logo(s) for our final approval with the following elements: The words “Lariat Loop” in a simple to read typeface; the mountains with a road; a lariat that wraps the logo.

There was no real consensus on the slogan or signature image, but we appreciate the feedback received. The historic postcards of the pillars at Morrison and at Golden, the Lariat Trail postcard used for the invitation, and the “Mountain Parks Girl” continue to be favorites of the group. One item under discussion is reprinting a few postcards in the future. (Click if you'd like to see a bigger image.)

Businesses along the Loop—and their customers— are interested in what we do and in supporting our efforts. We are developing free-standing brochure stands to display the Loop brochure at businesses and museums/visitor centers. We also hope to encourage people to use this blog to discuss ways to collaborate with each other and to post upcoming events and activities. We will be a stronger organization if we do.

The goal of all of this marketing discussion is to position ourselves to submit a grant application to the Colorado Tourism Board sometime in June to fund our marketing plan for the Loop. We will be scheduling additional meetings with anyone interested in helping finalize our marketing plan.

Again, thanks to all who helped make Thursday's events such a success. It was wonderful to see everyone and get together to discuss accomplishments and plans.

Annual Meeting and Anniversary Party April 2nd

2009-03-30T13:22:00.005-06:00

Help us Celebrate Ten Years of the Lariat Loop

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Annual Meeting
Members and potential new members are welcome
as we discuss the past,
look to the future, and enjoy a tour by our host.
April 2nd, 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum Gallery and Gift Shop
1213 Washington Street in Golden (new location)

10 Year Anniversary Celebration
Enjoy a preview of the “Colorado Art Open,”
bid on silent auction items,
revel in our accomplishments, and
reminisce over our old postcard collection.
April 2nd, 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Foothills Art Center
809 15th Street in Golden

Cocktails and hors d’ oeuvres will be served

RSVP to Holly Tempel by March 27, 2009
720-339-3419 or hjtempel@gmail.com

Evergreen Interpretive Plaza

2009-03-28T08:35:00.004-06:00

The new interpretive wall in downtown Evergreen, completed in 2008 with the cooperation of property owner Dean Dalvit and the support of funders (Federal Highway Administration, Dean Dalvit, Jeff Bradley, and Susan Bradley), gives Evergreen an attractive new display of its history in the plaza at the west end of downtown.

Before: The site connected two business buildings with a wooden walkway and stairs that were removed to make room for a plaza and the planned display area.

During: The old stairs were removed and the exhibit rock wall was built to house the interpretive panels.

After: On Saturday, June 21st at 2:30pm, the Lariat Loop Heritage Alliance dedicated the Interpretive Wall in Evergreen.

We thanked the people who funded the project along with the people who constructed the project and compiled information for the interpretive signs. Food, music and Model Ts celebrated our completed project.

EVERGREEN: The unique, the elaborate, the simple, and the outrageous

This signature phrase on the wall is courtesy of writer Vanita Cosper and Colorado Serenity magazine.

Here's a close-up of one of the six people profiles that are featured on the wall. Go to Evergreen to check out the rest of the panels!

Meetings Can Be Fun!

2008-11-20T08:09:00.000-07:00

The Lariat Loop Heritage Alliance's meeting Friday November 14th was well attended and a lot of fun! Thanks to Bill Carle at Pahaska Tepee for hosting—you can't go wrong with a meeting fueled by buffalo burgers and fries. (Click on photos for a better view!)

The cafe section was crowded with Loopers and spillover from the gift shop, but we rounded up some tables, ordered our lunches, and settled in for a long but informative meeting, which Joe Tempel (center, of Dinosaur Ridge) will call to order as soon as he's done tackling those onion rings as Jerry Smith (left, of Morrison) passes by. Cyd Pougiales (right), Loop founder and chief instigator, drove in from Steamboat Springs for the occasion. This meeting marked the group's 10th anniversary, but we'll be organizing events around our 11th next year. Steve Friesen (back center, of Buffalo Bill Museum) will be planning a major party to celebrate!

Project discussion for 2009 included the Buffalo Overlook (at Genesee, Exit 254), an application for designation as a National Scenic Byway, the upcoming National Scenic Byway conference in Denver next August, and new interpretive kiosks at I-70's Wooly Mammoth parking area and at the Red Rocks Welcome Center. Carole Lomond (right, of City & Mountain Views magazine) will be updating her Lariat Loop guidebook and seeks comments and corrections from LLHA partners. John Steinle (Hiwan Homestead Museum) is at the left in this photo.

Marketing to area residents (the "Staycation" concept) and merchandising were other topics at the meeting. We had an extended discussion of Waymarking as a method to encourage visitors to tour the Loop and enjoy its diverse attractions.

After the meeting wrapped up, several of us visited the Buffalo Bill Museum next door to see the new exhibit on fact and (mostly) fiction in how Colorado has been portrayed by Hollywood in western movies. Here Steve and Cyd try on the "photo op" as characters from an old movie.

Meeting notes will be emailed to partners and interested parties soon!

New Brochures Ready May 16

2008-05-15T07:40:00.000-06:00

The revised and updated Lariat Loop brochure should be available Friday, May 16th, reports LLHA president Joe Tempel. The cover of the new brochure features the "yellow car" image from our new Video Tour. The brochure also welcomes the following new partners to our circle tour:

Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum in Golden
The Fort Restaurant, near Morrison

Note that several partner sites have new phone numbers or web addresses. Please replace any remaining copies of the old brochure you may have displayed.

We will be distributing brochures to partner sites and other locations as soon as possible. Contact Joe (joe_tempel AT dinoridge.org) if you want to make arrangements to pick up a box.

Look for our "Tour the Lariat Loop" ad in the Summer issue of City & Mountain Views.

Check Out the New Video Tour

2008-05-01T07:25:00.000-06:00

Visit the Lariat Loop home page and click "Show Video Tour" (on the right under the picture) to view the new Lariat Loop video by LA productions. Len Aitken and Carole Lomond did a fabulous job on this, providing a very creative overview of the Loop tour. What a great way to preview the Loop's attractions! Thanks, Len and Carole!

Mural in Morrison is now complete

2007-10-29T08:29:00.000-06:00

The historic mural by Emanuel Martinez, commissioned by the Lariat Loop Heritage Alliance, is now finished. Last week, Emanuel put a few finishing touches on the early panels, including Morrison's famous dinosaurs shown here, and ended his work on the last two panels.

Noted performers from Red Rocks are a real attraction, with passersby often stopping to talk with Emanuel while he worked, as here. His image of Bono, of the band U2, is especially striking.

Later this fall, an interpretive panel identifying the characters and stories in the mural will be mounted on the wall at the lower right.

If you can't stop by to see the mural soon, you'll find more images in this article at Your Hub.

Lariat Loop on Explore Colorado

2007-09-30T09:03:00.000-06:00

This week, the Lariat Loop Scenic & Historic Byway will be featured on Channel 9's Explore Colorado program. Watch for features on their news programs and website all week. An interview with Steve Friesen (Buffalo Bill Museum) and John Steinle (Hiwan Homestead Museum) is scheduled for Friday morning's Colorado & Company program between 10 and 11 a.m.

In the meantime, here's an article that was posted at the 9 News website back in May.

Explore Colorado is partly funded by grants from the State Historical Fund to support heritage tourism.

Art and History on the Wall in Morrison

2007-09-27T09:29:00.000-06:00

Our mural in downtown Morrison has reached modern decades, 150 million years from its first panel. We'll have more "in-progress" photos up on the Lariat Loop website soon-- or stop in and take a look next time you're in Morrison! Click any photo for a closer view.

Artist Emanuel Martinez is now at work on the fifth panel, depicting stars from Red Rocks-- from Ella Fitzgerald to Jerry Garcia. The latter, he tells us, is attracting a lot of attention to the project. There's little doubt the concert panel will become the most popular of the six depictions of Morrison's history, from dinosaurs to rock 'n roll.

Back in August, just getting started: Dinosaurs and Indians take shape on the first two panels, as a sketchy George & Isabel Morrison wait in panel 3.

And yesterday, moving toward the present: Jerry Garcia and a CCC worker from 1930s Red Rocks keep a watchful eye while Emanuel works on Jimi Hendrix's afro.

This project is funded by grants from the Federal Highway Administration (Colorado Byways program), the Lariat Loop Heritage Alliance, Denver Theatres and Arenas, the Friends of Dinosaur Ridge, the Morrison Natural History Museum Foundation, Karin Bond, and Jeanne and Cy Esphahanian. An interpretive sign to be posted nearby will provide information on each of the mural's six historic scenes.

Tour the Loop!

2007-09-25T18:55:00.001-06:00

Get the scoop on the Loop with this 10-page spread in City & Mountain Views' latest issue, fall 2007. Follow Jim & Diana Vickery in their 1917 National as they tour the Lariat Loop, visiting many of our heritage treasures along the way.

You can recreate their tour with the Lariat Loop Audio Tour, now available at several member sites.

Photo courtesy City & Mountain Views, Views Publishing Company, Inc.

Website Updates in Progress

2007-09-18T12:06:00.000-06:00

Keep an eye on the Lariat Loop home page-- new material can be found there today-- and more changes are coming.

As of today, our new Stories Section is available to browsers. Do let us know if you have additional stories you'd like to see included.

We also have the beginnings of a Projects page to report on all the activities of recent years. President Joe Tempel has been actively fundraising, and the level of interpretation has been raised here, there, and all around the Loop-- with more to come! As the Projects page gets filled out, we'll be sharing details of each new installation or opportunity, so keep it on your favorites list. Better yet, go explore these great new interpretive sites in person!

Partnership Meeting September 21st

2007-09-16T11:50:00.000-06:00

Our next meeting will be Friday, September 21st, at 11:30am at the TnT restaurant in Morrison. Order lunch (on your own) if you like, we'll meet and discuss while we eat.

MEETING AGENDA

Introductions
City and Mountain Views feature article on Lariat Loop
Mural in Morrison
Audio tour
Interpretive Wall in Evergreen
Design of the Buffalo Herd Overlook
Revised brochure for Lariat Loop
Denver Mountain Parks Master Plan
Interview with Channel 9 for Explore Colorado

For those who missed the photo essay in the Canyon Courier August 22, here's a link to the article (sans photos).

Welcome!

2007-09-16T10:57:00.000-06:00

We're pleased to introduce this new feature for up-to-date information on the Lariat Loop Scenic & Historic Byway. Check here for the latest on projects, for meeting notices, and for links to what's going on at our primary website, LariatLoop.org.