Dear Editor, 

Happy New Year Nederland Community! That means all of you, and I want to celebrate the very special community we collectively are.

I want to give a special shout out to Dan and Susan Ball for showing us a beautiful example of what it means to be a community-minded business and take the high road. Many times over the last quarter century when bragging about our town I have cited their generosity especially during times of difficulty. Welcome to The Market’s new owner Darin Hill, and thank you for your work to continue that legacy into the future.

I also want to thank POWDR and its staff for their great job shepherding Eldora with professionalism and community involvement, as well as past employees over the years who we still miss.

We are at a cusp of interesting times as both a local and as a planetary community, when it is important to look at shining examples from the past and also recognize the talents coming into the future, whether our youth born and raised here or folks from elsewhere seeing that we have something rare here that they want to be a part of. Let us all polish up our intentions and visualize what we want to be, focusing more on that than the problems that still must be assessed, or on negativity that does nothing towards progress.

I express thanks to several other “hubs” that our town rolls forward on. The Mountain-Ear and staff for performing the vital role of local journalism, a pillar of functioning society. The Town staff and BOT for their work on so many topics and being proactive enough to investigate the big questions regarding the future of Eldora. While I share some concerns and see room for improvements, I appreciate their efforts despite unnecessarily impolite commentary sometimes hurled in from the sidelines of people not even putting themselves into the arena of public service towards positive leadership.

I applaud the visionary manifestations of Kayla Evans with the Backdoor Theater, Scott Harrison and others for creating the unique Carousel of Happiness, Gavin Coombs and Peak Endurance for energizing our athletic aspect, Kipp and team for doing a great job with our Farmers Market, and Jill Dreeves with Wild Bear building the Nature Center that is literally taking shape. We also have many special and dedicated staff at our local schools, fire department and Community Center all working to make Nederland the best it can be.

I acknowledge the hundreds of area individuals who do hundreds of things every day to make the world a better place – please continue, as large and small intentions and actions do ripple out far and near. I am also very grateful for our collective eateries and entertainment venues, their staff and employees, without which life up here would be lacking a certain level of fun factor.

To mention just a few, we are very lucky to be able to enjoy a venue such as the Caribou Room and great outdoor music without going down to the cities. I appreciate Ross from the Deli for continually turning out tasty lunches for so many of us, the Decent Bagel/Sweet Sue’s venture for bringing new options here including the bouldering gym Dino Moves, Tres Gringos chef for treating us to nightly specials, and Resham Gurung and Lok Malla for turning yet another underutilized downtown building into a thriving restaurant that is very responsive to the community needs.

I went there, Mountain Peak Cafe, for the first time yesterday, and was delighted by more than just the friendly familiar staff, sparkling clean decor and fabulous omelet that has not been available in this town for many a year. I was recognized and greeted by the folks who sold me their house 25 years ago. I am still here, and now they have chosen to return after many other options and travels, because we have something special here.

Let’s keep this thing going, add to it,  and despite the many internal and external challenges we shall likely face over time, support each other and rock on into the future with gratitude, vision and courage.

Happy 2025 Nederland!

Laurelyn Sayah

Nederland