We may not always break the local news — though our physical presence in our communities means we often do just that — but even when we don’t, I’m committed to finding the local angle on a story that hopefully is most meaningful to our foothills readers.

That’s what happened with the story of Jared Leonard’s arrest. While the Denver media got this story first, I ran into former employee Gabriel O’Dea (who I’d interviewed when Campfire initially closed) while interviewing the owners of the Hummingbird Club.

Marina Gonzales, former operator at Leonard’s Grabowski’s Pizza in Lakewood, now works at Morrison’s Holiday Bar for Dave Killingsworth. Killingsworth is frequently quoted in town stories, and we’ve featured another of his employees, Cory Pearman, who has a prominent role in an upcoming movie about the band Sugarloaf. Pearman is also frontman for two local bands, Float Like a Buffalo and The C Minuses. And he plays in the “I Got a Song” movie alongside popular Evergreen resident and rising movie actor, Java Groove owner Eric Martinez.

These kinds of connections don’t happen if you’re sitting in an office, or if you don’t start to know the members of your communities.

We think this, and the news we get as a result, matters. We hope you do, too.

Silver linings: While nothing can make up for the financial and emotional damage former Evergreen Campfire owner Jared Leonard caused his employees here and in multiple other restaurants, at least one happy ending emerged from it.

Not only has Gabriel O’Dea taken some of the lessons he learned from the experience to open a restaurant consulting firm, he met his future wife at the Evergreen Campfire. O’Dea and Melissa Wolf were the general manager and assistant manager there. Today, they’re the parents of a sweet baby girl, Ellie Shai, and are engaged to be married.

A former manager at Leonard’s Lakewood restaurant, Grabowski’s Pizza, now works at Morrison’s Holiday Bar for Dave Killingsworth, who she said is a great boss. Killingsworth is a well-known member of Morrison’s business community.

Check him out in this week’s story about the response to the proposed Fort annexation.

Small town outrage: Morrison meetings typically draw a predictable and small audience, including at least one former trustee, a board member’s girlfriend, a business owner and generally one or two others who either served on the now-defunct planning commission or have a specific, generally short complaint or comment.

Not so this last Tuesday. About 30 people showed up, almost all to oppose the idea of annexation a development south of town called “Farm at the Fort.” Lacking chairs, some leaned against the walls during the long public comment section so they could also say their piece or lend support to those who did. Some comments were harsh, delivered in an angry, accusative tone.

While co-developers Revesco Properties and City Street Investors haven’t taken any formal step to annex, they said at a recent community meeting that they’d like to.

The residents’ angst was often two-toned, mixed with anger at that proposal, concerns about the town’s poor financial state, and how those two may be overlapping.

Both the development and, particularly Morrison’s budget woes, will be developing stories for some time. You can only read about them in the Courier.

Coming to a summer music event near you: The former Evergreen’s Got Talent, which evolved into Conifer’s Got Talent when it moved to Conifer High School, has evolved even further into Mountain’s Got Talent. Now under the wing of the Wooden Hawk Foundation, it rewards winners with not just performances at Evergreen-area summer events, but paid performances. It’s a rare opportunity to get a taste of a musician’s life that few communities offer.

The event was held last weekend at Conifer HS.

Evergreen’s Got Talent extends back to 2011 when local real estate agent Schaunon Winter led the production to highlight young musicians. Audience members voted for their favorites with donations, and proceeds went to a nonprofit. Like almost every event, it stumbled during the pandemic. Singer/songwriter Andy Potter revived the event, partnering with Pamela Lush Lindquist, moving it to Conifer High School from the Center for the Arts Evergreen in 2023. With that move, it became Conifer’s Got Talent.

In 2024, the Wooden Hawk Foundation offered to pay a winning competitor to perform at its Mountain Music Fest. And in 2025, paying sponsors grew to include EPRD, the Summer Fine Arts Festival, and CAE. In 2026, Cactus Jack’s and Ovation West joined that list.

Today, the Wooden Hawk Foundation is the official sponsor, and word among the students has gotten out. Not only our paid performances an incentive, the lure of performing on stage with performers like Kevin Bacon is no doubt an additional carrot.

“This year we had 20 students performing with a waiting list,” Lindquist said.

Watch for the winners on local stages this summer.

We’ll run results from this poll in a future newsletter!

The Evergreen HS’ boys lacross team beat neighboring Conifer, and are on a quest to win the state title: Read the story here

Jeffco’s Young Writers Conference brought 250 mountain-area young authors to Marshdale Elementary: Read the story here

We’ve got a long list of noteworthy items that you likely won’t see anywhere else. These are either too short for a full story, past deadline for our calendar or simply sweet mentions that merit airtime somewhere and for which we don’t have a spot in our papers — yet another thing that makes our newsletters worth your time and provide a unique community service.

Raymond has spent 65 years in Morrison, serving on the planning commission, the borwd of adjustments and the Ciderfest committee among many other volunteer positions. She is among a small handful of residents who faithfully attend each town board meeting.

“If you’ve got to live in the Denver area, Morrison is a good place to be,” she said when she received the town MVP award in 2024. “We’re a community kind of place, and by that I mean we’re close-knit.”

Shari will celebrate her birthday from 2 to 5p.m. Satruday at the Morrison Inn. If you know her, stop by and give her a birthday hug.

Congratulations to Blue Spruce Chocolates for winning gold in the 2026 Craft Chocolate Challenge! This small Kittredge business repeatedly wins awards. Find out more about them in this 2025 profile we did. Then stop by and find out why for yourself.

And a round of virtual applause to Parmalee Elementary teachers Caren Matteucci, 5th grade, and Katie Offerman, 2nd grade. Both have been nominated as Colorado Teacher of the Year. Best of luck, and we hope we’ll be writing about one of you winning the top spot in the station soon!

One more shout out to David Weiland, who took this photo on the morning of April 21 near he and his wife Stacey’s Soda Creek Lake home. Eagles have nested there for the past 10 years.

Groundbreaking for Beaver Ranch Park’s $9 million remodel is at 10 a.m. Saturday at 11369 S. Foxton Road. If you want to know more about this long-awaited facelift for Conifer’s popular (yet somehow little known) park, check out the story we ran recently.

Boogie at the Bear, a fundraiser for Wild Aware, is from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday at the famous Little Bear Saloon in downtown Evergreen. Come dance for a cause to The Jerseys, a tribute band to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Tickets are $30 in advance and $40 at the door. Last time we checked, you could still buy them in advance online.

The Conifer Chamber hosts its quarterly nonprofit meeting at 3 p.m. April 27 at the Conifer Library. This is an interactive roundable for nonprofit leaders to connect and share.

Catch up on the county in your jammies. The Jeffco County Commissioners will host a virtual town hall from 6 to 7 p.m. April 30. You can even ask questions from the comfort of your couch. Log in at www.jeffco.us/3227/Town-Halls.

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