The Estes Edit by Patti Brown

I am thankful for so many things, but I want to reflect on several things about life in Estes Park. It is said that a picture is worth 1,000 words and Dick Mulhern’s cartoon today captures a sentiment that so many of us who call the Estes Valley home can relate to.

We are blessed to live in a gorgeous, picture-postcard mountain town that millions of people want to travel to every year just to experience a few days of our day-to-day backdrop. We may complain about the lines at Safeway during the high tourist season but how many grocery store parking lots have views of the Front Range?

Sometimes we have to pause and put it all in perspective.

I am grateful for the people of the Estes Valley who have encouraged and supported the founding of the Estes Valley Voice.

In early “what if” discussions over chips and margaritas in March at Ed’s Cantina while watching Caitlin Clark play basketball, photojournalist Dawn Wilson helped to pick the name for a new, hyperlocal, independent, journalist-led news publication. We kicked around a list of options, but “voice” captured a vision for the publication as a vehicle to record the community’s stories.

We also talked about the format – should the EVV be a print or digital publication? For many reasons, it was decided that printing on paper is the past and publishing in pixels online is the future.

More than 80% of people read their news online today. Putting resources into printing on newsprint is not an efficient way to spend resources. By the time the news is written, then laid out for press, then printed, and then distributed it is history not news.

From the get-go, Jana Sanchez got on board as a business consultant, and she brought in graphic designer Christopher Ratliff to provide branding guidance. After more than a dozen iterations, we landed on stylized images of the mountains and the Big Thompson for our logo. Thank you Jana and Chris.

We met with several others for consultation and guidance and before filling with the Secretary of State as a public benefit corporation, I wrote a purpose, mission, and values statement. Journalistic ethics are important in the media, and I wanted to build the Estes Valley Voice on a clear, articulated foundation.

We needed some computer and platform help and Jim Jensen with A through Z computing solved many under-the-hood hiccups and the team from Newspack – Megan and Steve my assigned onboarding people – held my hand as I learned all the whistles and bells of publishing on a state-of-the-art platform. Thank you.

Early on Suzy Blackhurst wanted to get on board. Suzy has a professional background as a copy editor, news reporter, editor, and also a background in advertising and marketing. We clicked as friends and also as colleagues.

Barb Boyer Buck also expressed early interest in the endeavor. She has a strong background as a news reporter, writer, and features editor. She has a passion for the Estes Valley and her writing covers civic affairs, environment, and community stories. After the holidays she will be doing some stories about immigration for the EVV – what are the issues and concerns for people in our area who are here both with and without documentation, what are their rights, what should businesses, landlords, and schools do should the authorities show up with and without a warrant? Barb’s recent story about a spate of car thefts resulted in the generous offer of a car to a group of seven immigrants from Ukraine who depended on one of the vehicles which was stolen.

Both Suzy and Barb bring a passion for storytelling to our publication. Thank you.

Read full story here:

https://estesvalleyvoice.com/2024/11/28/from-grateful-heart-thank-you-to-the-estes-valley-community/