Kaya Williams/The Snowmass Sun
A sense of place is fundamental to the artist community at Anderson Ranch Arts Center.
“We are so much about place, we are so much about this space and inviting people in,” said Artistic Director of Painting, Drawing and Printmaking Liz Ferrill, who also oversees the artists-in-program at the campus. “We have been kind of clinging to that from the very beginning.”
So in the months after the pandemic hit last March, the wheels were already turning among ranch staff to figure out how to maintain that energy within the parameters of COVID-19 restrictions and public health guidelines.
The RFTA shuttle at the Maroon Bells will resume service for the 2021 season via reservations. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
Providing vital public transportation to Maroon Lake this year is expected to require less of a public subsidy.
The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority estimates its bus service will be about $73,000 in the red this summer. Last year, the service required an estimated subsidy of $187,748.
RFTA and its partners anticipate providing bus service over a longer period, creating some new fares and selling more tickets because of an adjustment on bus capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the projected subsidy would be smaller.
But manager Jim Morrison canât say why, exactly.
âOf course our business is down,â he told the News&Guide. âItâs just too difficult to say how much is purely affidavit driven, COVID driven, or snow driven. Itâs pretty evident that people are willing to risk traveling in COVID environments, even at a high risk level.â
Why hotels in the Roaring Fork Valley are seeing so much less traffic than those in resort towns like Jackson Hole is a central question in an ongoing debate in Pitkin County. Health officials there have reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic in two ways that health officials in Teton County have not: by requiring visitors to fill out a form confirming theyâve tested negative before arriving in Aspen and shutting down indoor dining when cases peaked in early January.
Negative test no longer required to visit Aspen as board alters traveler program aspentimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from aspentimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Candidates for the March 2 Aspen City Council election answered questions about business-related matters in a forum hosted by the Aspen Resort Chamber Association.