Arts Around the County

Sandy Greenhut has been fighting for not only the arts community, but also the towns and ski resorts of Summit County to work together rather than compete with each other. It's been done before; about two decades ago, ski areas promoted winter as “Ski the Summit” and even sold passes to all four resorts.

But since then, Greenhut has seen Summit County towns, ski areas and arts organizations tend to fragment with more of an individualistic mentality than a countywide focus. Greenhut started Arts for the Summit, a monthly meeting with 23 nonprofit art organizations that produces a calendar of daily art events called Arts Alert, which tries not to schedule activities on the same evenings.

Now, she's taking her cause even further with Fall for the Arts, a countywide weekend event Sept. 9-11, full of free music, history tours, art presentations, kids' workshops, theater and more.

For example, the Breckenridge Festival of Film will show a movie, the Summit Historical Society will captain pontoon boat tours, the Summit County Arts Exhibit Committee will lead a bike ride, Summit Public Radio will sponsor a hike up to its tower (complete with a live musician performing on top of the mountain), the Silverthorne Pavilion will host square dancing, the Silverthorne Recreation Center will hang art pieces, and the National Repertory Orchestra will bring in chamber music groups and simulcast opera.

Every town and ski resort will host at least one event, and restaurants and lodging companies will participate in special deals.