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.

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.

Evelyn Gottschall Baker has received the Highly Commended award for her kiln-formed glass sculpture Balance from The Glass Prize competition.

Compared to other musicians, Dennis Fischer considers himself limited in ability. It did not stop him from finding a way to express himself through music and entertainment.

“I consider fiddling to be an art form that will never die out,” he says. “Popular as ever, maybe more popular than it’s ever been because there’s a lot of people who enjoy the old-time string music. It connects us somehow with something deeper than ourselves, I guess.”

The Buena Vista Event Cooperative announced the summer schedule for its new performing arts stage by the Roastery on East Main Street.

Turner Farm and Apple Orchard west of Buena Vista will be the site of one of the few Fourth of July celebrations in Buena Vista this year.

July Fourth weekend will see a big return to live music following months of self-isolation with two shows by COVID-canceled bands at the Lawn, a new–yet–familiar outdoor venue in South Main.

The library will be open 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday–Friday with face masks required for entry.

Music has filled most of life for l Mary Hallman. Her father, though he loved the violin, mostly played the fiddle. Her mother was a singer, and she got Hallman started on a piano at the age of 4.

CANCELED EVENTS

The Mountain Mania Car Show will not be held this Fourth of July weekend, Buena Vista Optimist Club event director Gary Roberts said Monday.

"The Buena Vista Optimist Club board of directors met yesterday and looked at the car show from every aspect. We weighed the pros and cons of holding the car show this year, but our first concern has to be for the health and wellbeing of our town and surrounding community," Roberts wrote in an email to other Optimists. "While we felt confident we had a plan to put more distance between each car in the show and requiring all participants and attendees to wear a mask, we realized there are always those folks that would not comply."

Much like regular education, music lessons have persisted through the COVID-19 quarantine.

Buena Vista's Fourth of July parade will not take place this year as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19, the BV Chamber of Commerce announced Thursday morning.

Art in the Park, the arts and crafts show in McPhelemy Park on the same weekend, has also been canceled for 2020, a news release from the chamber said.

"It’ll be a peaceful, comforting live music venue that’s becoming a tradition here in BV. It’s been about 3 years at the People’s Stage, 3 years at the Watershed and now maybe get 100 years here at the Roastery. Who knows, but live, local music is becoming a tradition here.”

Memorial Day weekend is the traditional start of the summer season in Buena Vista, beginning with CKS PaddleFest, although this year’s PaddleFest isn’t so traditional.

The Seven Peaks Festival will not be returning to the Meadows this Labor Day Weekend.

Chaffee County commissioners agreed Tuesday to continue until May 12 a discussion about extending due dates for payments from Live Nation for the Seven Peaks special event permit.

The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t stopped Colorado State University’s Flower Trial Garden from planting and blooming on schedule this year.