John LaConte/jlaconte@vaildaily.com
VAIL The Fourth of July fell on a Sunday this year, and in Vail, that meant both the Independence Day exhibitions and the regular Sunday farmers market were combined into one enormous party.
Crowds spanned from Vail Village to Lionshead, enjoying pocket patriotism displays throughout.
Visiting from Texas, U.S. Military veteran Chuck Utzman and his wife, Jan, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in Vail on Sunday, walking the village and posing for pictures with the stilt-wearing Uncle Sam and Betsy Ross characters.
Utzman, who claimed a birthday of May 15, 1929, on his first military registration card so he could go to Japan with the U.S. Army in 1947, went on to fight in both the Vietnam War and the Korean War, as well. He took part in a winter training in Camp Hale in the 1950s, and returned to Eagle County a little more than a decade later to try out the skiing at Vail.