The Colorado State Open Thread is for meaningful, substantial discussion on a variety of topics concerning the state of Colorado, the state of the nation, the state of the world, the Solar System, the Milky Way galaxy, the Universe and, of course, your own navel. Please contribute whatever questions, topics or thoughts you might wish below — it is, of course, whatever you wish to talk about.
Today’s list of topics is going to be rather short — we had various issues crop up at our “Bar and Grill” over the last week and today was the day to get them taken care of. Hopefully, they’re all resolved now and we can go back to the important things, like Daily Kos and synchronized swimming (see the photo above). I didn’t even get to the MLKJr parade in Denver, and I don’t know whether they even had it this year.
One thing that cropped up last Thursday. In speaking with the town’s Mr. and Mrs. Claus at dinner, they said they had decided to evenly split the various engagements Santa would have next holiday season with me — if I was willing. I replied that I would be delighted and honored to do them. I see how big the eyes are as the kids get to meet “Santa” and how much fun everyone seems to have when they engage with Santa and Mrs. Claus.
The two also said that I could choose which of the two big events I would like to do. The two big events are the town’s Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony to kick off the holiday season and then, one week later, there’s the town’s “Catch The Glow” Christmas parade down the main street where Santa and Mrs. Claus are on the final float, in the tradition of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. The parade this year had some 30 groups — most were their own float with many having been built or designed by a person who has been doing this for many years. They represented many local businesses and service organizations like Shriners and from the Masonic Lodge. There were also some vehicles like a fire truck, old and new police cars, a ranger vehicle from the National Park and some groups just marching along and waving.
Both events are big deals — the tree lighting has kids from newborns to senior citizens coming and telling Santa what they want for Christmas, as well as taking pictures with him. The parade doesn’t get you right next to the kids, but I’d have my own trip just like in Miracle on 34th Street. I’ve seen the parade in New York City and it really doesn’t get any bigger than that. The parade in Estes Park travels more than a mile and the sidewalks are full on both sides with up to about 20,000 kids of all ages. You can find videos of this last year’s parade at www.estesparknews.com/… and www.google.com/…. I’ll give you a chance to voice your opinion on what I should choose in the comments and poll.
There are many things going on around the state — Covid 19 is especially going on around the state. Are your counties doing a mask mandate? Larimer County is requiring masks indoors and we’ve had restaurants and stores up here in Estes shut down temporarily as sick staff cuts back on the hours or days that they can stay open. We’re surviving, but not thriving. I haven’t particularly changed my habits — I was still masking up indoors anyway and at a small wine and cheese affair last week, while I did take my mask off eventually, I was the last one and we were all keeping a 6+ foot distance from each other. Still somewhat risky. I’m curious how many of our readers have had Covid of any variety so far, and I hope you’re not suffering lingering effects.
Did you catch Governor Polis’ State of the State address? Per Mike Littwin of the Colorado Sun,
But for Polis, the emphasis would be on saving money for Coloradans while being as bipartisan as possible when doing so. No one can be surprised by that. What’s harder to explain is Polis’ decision to make this argument by sort-of-singing heavily revised lyrics to the Paul Simon song “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.”
In Polis’ version, it goes this way: “Just cut the tax, Max; lower the rate, Nate; you don’t need to pay more, Thor; just send your kids for free (to preschool and kindergarten).”
He also did, yes, a brief Taylor Swift number. Let me just say it makes one pine for the days of John Hickenlooper and his banjo.
Anyway, I look forward to your questions and thoughts down below. The floor is yours...