Community festival season begins this weekend on opposite ends of Garfield County, with Carbondale’s Dandelion Day on tap for Saturday and Rifle Rendezvous taking place Friday through Sunday.
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At Dandelion Day on Saturday (May 8), Carbondale will be unveiling a new farm guide and map, illustrated by local artist Sarah Uhl, to connect visitors and residents to the local food and farming scene.
As things warm up across the Valley, Carbondale is looking to attract tourists and locals alike with two days of events and a new printed pocket guide to the area’s local food locations.
Carbondale Unveils Agrotourism Map
Sarah-Jane Johnson with Carbondale Tourism helped create the map, and she says the idea behind it is to connect visitors and locals with the town’s deeply rooted agricultural history and ranching culture.
The first in-person local festival of the year has arrived with Dandelion Day making its return to Sopris Park in Carbondale from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Saturday.
The event was created by Carbondale’s Environmental Board and features live music and local vendors for a completely waste-free celebration of spring. The event is free to attend and this year will also debut Carbondale Tourism’s new Farm + Food map. The map was meant to launch last year, but was delayed due to COVID-19.
Spokesperson Sarah-Jane Johnson wrote in an email that after local stakeholders completed an agri-tourism development and training workshop, farmers, ranchers and restaurant business owners came together to develop the Farm + Food map.
D-Day balloons hijacked by pirate ghost
Courtesy Jane Pritchard May 02, 2021
The hotly anticipated tethered hot air balloon rides that were set to feature at this year’s Dandelion Day (D-Day) were cancelled at the last minute, allegedly due to weather. However, eyewitness accounts suggest that the sole balloon the school had rented was in fact stolen by the ghost of deceased freshwater pirate, Barnabas “Bellowing Barney” Sykes.
According to historical records found in a deep, nearly forgotten corner of Rush Rhees Library, Captain Sykes was ridiculed by his piratical peers for choosing to ply fresh waters. His crew sailed lakes, rivers, and tributaries to sidle up to ports as unintimidating as Milwaukee and Toronto, while the so-called “real” pirates frequented Tortuga and Santo Domingo in their oceangoing vessels.