Calendar alert: ‘The Colorado Fossil Discovery that Rocked the World’ visits Salida Sept. 20

Andrea Coen and two musician friends, Tom Plant and Bruce Warren, will perform traditional Appalachian music at Buena Vista Heritage’s 2021 Kick Off from 5-8 p.m. June 11 at the Historic Turner Farm & Apple Orchard, 829 West Main.

After the COVID-19 pandemic interruption in 2020, Buena Vista High School was relieved to be able to hold its traditional Creative Arts Fair this year. At last, students were able to present their hard work from the school year, and the public was able to come and admire their talent.

Coletrain Music Academy, in partnership with the Surf Hotel and the South Main Arts & Parks Trust, announced the summer lineup of their Lawn concerts, which kick off July 11 and run through Aug. 29.

The town’s first Keep Bewnie Buena event, an expansion of the long-standing spring River Park Cleanup, drew about 150 people of all ages to pick up surface trash not just near the river, but throughout the town.

Chaffee Arts is proud to announce that Bread + Salt is now exhibiting local art for sale in the restaurant at 418 U.S. Hwy 24N in Buena Vista. 

Walden Chamber Music Society will be presenting a virtual concert at noon, May 6 that will be available through midnight, May 9.

Beginning this weekend, Buena Vista High School’s Trident Theatre Company debuts their first musical on the stage of the new flex commons: The mythical, tropical “Once on this Island.”

Chaffee Arts is proud to announce the 2021 Evelyn Gottschall Baker Emerging Artist Grant award winners Jade Baron and Loriana Cassidy of Just Adventure Art.

Elena Dunn, a junior at Buena Vista High School, was selected for the Colorado All-State Concert Band for the second year in a row in 2021, as well as the Colorado All-State Choir and the University of Colorado Honor Band.

Dunn, who plays clarinet in the BVHS Concert band, was the only student to audition for the All State Concert Band or choir.

Last year, the first year that she was eligible, Dunn also qualified for the Colorado All-State Concert Band, along with Molly McMurry.

Dunn’s band teacher, Marti Bott, said that “only a very small percentage of the students accepted into this band were from small schools.”

Like last year, the bands weren’t actually able to perform together due to COVID-19, but Dunn was able to reap the rewards of master classes at University of Northern Colorado and the University of Colorado.

Dunn expected that the bands would not meet in person, but that didn’t discourage her from auditioning. She said she would like to pursue a career in music after “music production, or music therapy,” Dunn said.

Elena Dunn, a junior at Buena Vista High School, was selected for the Colorado All-State Concert Band for the second year in a row in 2021, as well as the Colorado All-State Choir and the University of Colorado Honor Band.

Dunn, who plays clarinet in the BVHS Concert band, was the only student to audition for the All State Concert Band or choir.

Last year, the first year that she was eligible, Dunn also qualified for the Colorado All-State Concert Band, along with Molly McMurry.

Dunn’s band teacher, Marti Bott, said that “only a very small percentage of the students accepted into this band were from small schools.”

Like last year, the bands weren’t actually able to perform together due to COVID-19, but Dunn was able to reap the rewards of master classes at University of Northern Colorado and the University of Colorado.

Dunn expected that the bands would not meet in person, but that didn’t discourage her from auditioning. She said she would like to pursue a career in music after “music production, or music therapy,” Dunn said.

Chaffee Arts is pleased to announce a second fundraising event for spring. 

“Here’s a way to enjoy great food and have a fun evening painting while safe at home,” it said in a press release. 

The virus situation in Chaffee County may be looking more stable, but many of the major events that Buena Vista residents look to to fill their weekend calendars in the summer are still exercising caution.

The Ark Valley Humane Society goes films fundraiser live today through March 4.

To purchase tickets, visit BowWowFilmFest.com.

Are you curious about our local wildlife? Join the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association (GARNA) for a virtual lecture, “A Wildlife Wander”, presented by Ryan Kempfer and Chris Kassar of Elk Raven Photography.

Walden Chamber Music Society is pleased to present a virtual afternoon tea concert Feb. 11-14.

Coletrain Music Academy will ring in 2021 with a raft of big changes to its music education services, including a new series of virtual lessons and two new full-time teachers at the school in Buena Vista’s South Main.

The Greater Arkansas Valley Chamber Choir and Orchestra will present a holiday concert streamed over Youtube Friday, Dec. 11, from the sanctuary of ClearView Community Church in Buena Vista.

One concert that fell victim to the pandemic holds special significance for local musicians and community members alike – “Salida’s Next Last Waltz.”

The concert has become a Thanksgiving holiday tradition that combines the talents of 32 local musicians as they re-create the legendary “Last Waltz” concert performed by The Band and a who’s who list of musicians in 1976.

Chaffee Arts is pleased to announce a holiday art market located at Arkansas Valley Digital Imaging art gallery, 317 E. Main St. in Buena Vista.

The market will be open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday and from 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays from Nov. 20 through Dec. 27  

Music is returning to the Arkansas Valley as ensembles figure out how to perform while adhering to public health guidelines on social distancing and limiting the size of gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brandon Chism conducts distanced singers of the Arkansas Valley Chamber Choir and Orchestra, in a Monday evening rehearsal of Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria, which the group will perform, livestreamed from the sanctuary of ClearView Church on Dec. 11.

“The performing arts, that can be a place where people of significant differences can come together and not just tolerate each other, but really support each other and help us focus on what’s most important,” Chism told The Times last week. “If there was ever a time we needed a performance like this concert, I believe it’s now.”

The performance will be streamed live at www.clearviewcommunity.org at 7 p.m., Dec. 11.

There will be links on ClearView’s main page to take them to the live stream on YouTube. More information about the concert can also be found on their Facebook page by searching for @ArkValleyChamber.

Also on Nov. 14, music will fill the ClearView Sanctuary and stream into your home with a performance by the Alpine Orchestra.

The Alpine Orchestra will perform “Through the Ages,” at 7 p.m., Nov. 14 with a program for what director Mary Hallman calls “a double string quartet with two more,” featuring the music of Mozart, Debussy and Bach, both real and imagined.

Filmmaker Connie “Paprika” Leaverton of Buena Vista garnered another accolade for her documentary “Hiko in Tonga” last month, earning the award for best editing in the feature documentary at the Marina Del Ray film festival.

The Arkansas Valley Chamber will perform Antonio Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” as well as a selection of secular and sacred holiday music, in a choral and orchestral concert livestreamed from ClearView Community Church

Buena Vista High School’s Trident Theatre Company will present their fall performance this Monday, Nov. 2 and 6, and you can watch it from the comfort of your own home. That’s where the actors will be performing it, too.

The Collegiate Peaks Forum Series will present The Epic (and Operatic) Tale of the Rocky Mountain Locust: An Environmental Murder Mystery featuring Locust: The Opera, an event with Dr. Jeffrey Lockwood, entomologist, mystery writer, and Professor of Natural Sciences and Humanities at the University of Wyoming.

The Collegiate Peaks Forum Series will present “The End of Time?,” a lecture with Ben Ehrenreich, journalist, novelist, and columnist for The Nation, via Zoom video conferencing at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 17.

The Chaffee County Community Foundation is excited to share a successful report from its PIVOT2020, a virtual conference for local nonprofits, which unfolded over four weeks ending Aug. 20.

CONCERT IN THE PARK

The Collegiate Peaks Forum Series will present a free lecture by Lloyd Athearn, Executive Director of Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, at 7 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 27.

“It is all presented by our emcee, ‘Mayor Bob,’ who has not a clue.”

The Collegiate Peaks Forum Series, in collaboration with Greater Arkansas River Nature Association, will present “The Animals Around Us: A Spoken Word Evening with Craig Childs” via Zoom video conferencing at 7 p.m., July 30.

The first phase of an estimated $10 million rehabilitation of the historic Tabor Opera House in Leadville has just begun. Scaffolding is now up on the most-damaged south and west exterior walls, ready to repair crumbling bricks and leaking windows. This project is the first full rehabilitati…

The Winds and Dixieland Jazz bands unite for the medley finale, “Armed Forces on Parade,” paying tribute to every branch of the U.S. Armed Forces and all who serve in them at the BV Rec Thursday concert at McPhelemy Park.

Marching back into Buena Vista, the 101st Army Band takes the performance stage for the free Concert in the Park at McPhelemy Park on Thursday, July 16.