Salida Chamber Calendar

Entry into Business After Hours is $7 and includes food, drinks, networking, and fun! Brought to you by the Vaqueros, your ambassadors of the Salida Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber Board of Directors. Members welcome. Please bring a guest.

Join GARNA for an hour-long event about the Piñon Jay. Lecture participants will explore Piñon Jay habitat and learn how this habitat is changing, affecting this unique bird and many other species over time, and even how we can help! Click HERE to get tickets.

It's Backcountry Day at Monarch Mountain! Join us as part of NSAA National Safety Month for backcountry education and activities. Check out backcountry merchandise vendors and take part in backcountry educational activities. Colorado Mtn College, Avalanche Science Program, https://coloradomtn.edu/programs/avalanche-science/, will conduct avi beacon demonstrations as well as leading a short backcountry tour. Participants taking part in uphill travel activities must sign an uphill waiver and purchase a $20.00 uphill pass. To View the Backcountry Day Agenda, visit: https://docs.google.com/.../18eGRmi4ugorc7CkQ1gzu.../edit...

In collaboration with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, CCPH has added another vaccination event for Saturday, January 23rd, 10am-4pm, by appointment only and only for healthcare workers, responders, and those who are 70 and older.  This event is dependent on having enough vaccine inventory in our county.  If you already have an appointment scheduled with CCPH, please keep it.  We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding.  If you know of someone who has barriers to accessing the online scheduler, please help them get registered on www.chaffeecounty.rsvpify.com.  Thank you!

Feeling challenged by Covid restrictions or cold days and long nights? Feeling stressed, isolated, lonely or anxious? Coping strategies seem frayed? NAMI is offering a free seminar on ways to improve your mood and strengthen your mental health in trying times.  This Zoom will focus on the beauty and restorative power of nature. Click HERE to learn more.

Dr. Eric Toner, Senior Scholar and Scientist at the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University, is the featured speaker at the January 28, 2021 Chaffee County League of Women Voters Zoom Drinks & Dialogue webinar. Click HERE to learn more.

Annual Chocolate Lover’s Fantasy Fundraiser, benefiting The Alliance, will take place on February 6 online from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Enjoy cooking demos featuring local “Celebrity Chefs” making chocolate treats. Make sure to check out the wonderful online silent auction full of fabulous items. All proceeds benefit survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Chaffee County. For additional information call 719-539-7374, email chocolatechaffee@gmail.com or visit the event’s Facebook listing.

This year CCCF has combined both the Town of Buena Vista and the City of Salida's Community Grants into a SINGLE application in order to allow you to focus more on your mission and less on grant writing! With a total budget of $80,000, this year's grant cycle is the biggest yet! So get your application submitted before Thursday, February 18th at 5pm. Click HERE  to learn more & apply.

Join the Chaffee County Office of Housing for our Virtual Dinner and a Movie event!
This will showcase personal stories of resilience from Chaffee County residents, including local youth voices. Registration is free and the first 100 registrants will receive a gift certificate for dinner from a local restaurant in Buena Vista or Salida, or can elect to donate the value of the dinner to the Chaffee County Community Foundation’s Emergency Response Fund. The event will also premiere the new We Are Chaffee storytelling initiative.

There is nothing quite like empowering young women through the outdoors, or a night in with family, friends, good wine, and tapas! Join us at the first ever Virtual Vino Event and get the best of both! Spend an hour with three Sommeliers and the elevateHER crew to learn, laugh, and drink wine. Tickets are $125 and include (3) bottles of wine, small plates and tapas to pair with, and an hour of trivia, wine facts, and some virtual community building. Space is limited to 30 participants for this event. That is 30 "screens"! Talk to your inner circle, split the price amount amongst you, and reserve your spot now. Information about the pre-event wine pick up in Buena Vista will be in your confirmation email, once registered for the event! All proceeds from this event will benefit the girls at elevateHER. Click HERE for the Zoom Registration Link.  

Salida Community Center’s will be holding a food distribution on Wednesday, March 3, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. at 305 F. Street at the Community Center. The Salida Community Center will be handling the TEFAP program administered by Care and Share out of Colorado Springs. TEFAP stands for The Emergency Food Assistance Program and is a federal program that provides people living on a low income with extra food each month at NO COST!! Due to Covid-19 you will not be asked to sign any papers. We will only ask name, address and number of people in your household. We are aware that at this time there are a large number of people that are not able to work due to Covid-19. Please take advantage of this food program. Click HERE to view the full document including TEFAP Income Eligibility

Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Legislation ZOOM

Sandy Long, Group Leader of the Chaffee County Citizen’ Climate Lobby, is the speaker for this League ZOOM meeting.

           Ms. Long’s presentation will focus on climate change impacts, current Colorado state regulations and actions that can be taken to help pass the bipartisan Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (H.R. 763 and S.3791) now before the U.S. Congress. 

            “Climate change affects everyone—Republicans, Democrats, and Independents,” Ms. Long notes. “Now is the time for bipartisan action…We can all see the impacts of warmer temperatures, such as the longer wildfire season, increased droughts, shorter ski seasons and shorter rafting seasons.”

The Salida Community Blood Drive will be held on Tuesday, March 9th from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Masonic Lodge located on 140 W. 3rd Street.  To schedule an appointment, contact the Vitalant Appointment Center at (800) 365-0006, ext. 2, or sign up online at Vitalant.org Click HERE to learn more about donating.  

The Creative Mixer is back...at least virtually!! Join Salida Council for the Arts for a Virtual Creative Mixer on March 11th with a live broadcast from the Paquette Gallery. The ethereal, magical paintings of artist Devyn Grundy will be featured throughout the evening, and Joan Lobeck will be our musical guest. Click HERE to learn more.

GARNA is excited to take the learning to the outdoor classroom. Chris Kassar and Ryan Kempfer from Elk Raven Photography, who led a Wildlife Wander Zoom Lecture, will be your hiking guides in local wildlife habitat. We will build on the information from the zoom lecture and attempt to see wildlife in their natural environment at dusk. This program may be postponed or it may be amazing (due to snow). Registrants are asked to be flexible! Click HERE to register!

Save the date for the next Salida circus Saint Patrick's Day Extravaganza! March 17th at 6 p.m. on the Salida Circus Outreach Facebook page don't miss it!!

Join GARNA and Arkansas River Watershed Collaborative Lead Forester Andy Lerch for an hour long event to learn more about the thinning efforts and fire mitigation on Monarch Pass. The lecture will focus on the recent fuels mitigation work visible across the valley from Monarch Mountain. Andy Lerch will discuss the spruce beetle that has caused widespread tree mortality and the innovative forestry work that ARWC and the US Forest Service are using to address this problem. Learn about how this collaborative work aims to reduce large scale wildfire in our community and protect our water resources. The Arkansas River Watershed Collaborative is a Salida based non-profit that serves the Arkansas River Basin communities by addressing locally-identified watershed issues for economic, ecological & social benefit. Learn more about what they do at www.arkcollaborative.org. Click HERE to register! This Zoom lecture will be followed up by a hike with ARWC lead forester, Andy Lerch on Saturday, April 17th.   Click HERE to sign up for the hike.

Marathon, half marathon, and a two mile fun run! Click HERE to learn details.

NAMI Family & Friends is a free 90-minute seminar that informs and supports people who have loved ones with a mental health condition.  Participants learn about diagnosis, treatment, recovery, communication strategies, crisis preparation, and NAMI resources.  Seminar leaders have personal experience with mental health conditions in their families. For more information, or to register, please contact info@namichaffee.org, or call 970-823-4751.

Help us celebrate National Doctor’s Day by telling your doctor why you appreciate them! After you fill out the doctor appreciation sheet, fax (719-530-0166) or email (tstutes@heartoftherockieshhh.com) this form to Heart of the Rockies Home Health & Hospice, and we will deliver it to your doctor. Click HERE for your APPRECIATION FORM!

Scholarship applications for the Brett Beasley Memorial Scholarship are due by March 31. GARNA will award one or more, $500 minimum, scholarship(s) in the spring of 2021 to those planning to start post high school education in the fall, pursuing a career in natural resources. The inspiration for the Memorial Scholarship is to honor Brett Beasley, who was a partner and friend to GARNA and employee of the US Forest Service – Salida Ranger District, who passed in January of 2017. One of Brett’s core values, as a steward of public lands, was to provide for a diversity of high quality education and volunteer experiences in the Upper Arkansas Valley. Apply here! Many thanks to all the generous donors who support the scholarship! Donate here.

In light of our state’s continued pandemic restrictions, The Royal Gorge Bridge & Park will hold its annual Easter Sunrise Service virtually on the park’s Facebook page at 6:30 am on Sunday, April 4th. For decades the park has opened its gates to hundreds each Easter Sunday and guests have enjoyed the beauty of the Royal Gorge sunrise. Please visit the Royal Gorge Facebook to watch. Click HERE to learn service details.  

League of Women Voters Hosts Drinks & Dialogue with Rural Utah Project On Wednesday, April 7th from 5:30 to 7:00 pm the Chaffee County League of Women Voters will host a Zoom Drinks and Dialogue with Ali Vallarta, Rural Utah Project Development Director. Click HERE to learn about the Rural Utah Project.   To register and obtain a link to the Zoom meeting visit lwvchaffeecounty.org

Last day Monarch lifts will be running.