The Beet Street Blog

It’s easy to watch the storms, feel the temperatures cool and think that summer fun is almost done here in Fort Collins. But not so fast! Coming up in August, there are still plenty of cultural events to enjoy around the community as well as around Colorado.

Thursday Night Music and More continues through August 13 in the Civic Center Park providing the community with live music, good food and free fun from 6-8pm. August 6 will see Euforquestra, and Interstate Cowboy will be entertaining everyone August 13. The First Friday Art Walk for August will be held on August 7 as usual, and on Saturday August 8, there is An Herb-a-fair, celebrating all things herbal at the Gardens on Spring Creek from 10am to 3pm. There will be classes, demonstrations, a Garden of Eatin’ and you can buy herbs grown in the Gardens Greenhouse. August 8 also sees the return of the French Nest Market, the vintage, handmade, local, unique craft market, held in the Civic Center Park from 9am to 3 pm. Should be a lot of fun for everyone!

August’s Science Cafe will be held on Wednesday August 12 at Stonehouse Grille and will feature Dr. Simon Turner, Professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at CSU. Dr. Turner will be sharing his research and experiences in the ways sheep contribute to the treatment of a variety of human conditions, including osteoporosis, knee injuries and replacing cancerous bone. As always, the Cafe starts at 5:30 for refreshments with the lecture beginning at 6 followed by a discussion period and winds up around 7pm. As always, it is free and we hope to see you there!

That weekend, from August 14 through August 16, the community plays host to Bohemian Nights at NewWestFest 2009 to celebrate Fort Collins’ birthday over 130 years ago. Bohemian Nights kicks off on Friday the 14th in Old Town Square and features Melissa Etheridge and Ozomatli as well as close to 50 other Colorado bands. One particular highlight is the Kids Music Adventure, free and open from 11-5pm on Saturday and Sunday providing an interactive and inspiring experience for young ones. Check out http://www.bohemiannights.org/ for more information.

The following weekend on August 22, is the annual Annie Walk and Pet Fest, a 1.5 mile loop walk starting at Library Park and going through Old Town. Dogs and their people friends get to celebrate the incredible life of Annie, a stray collie mix adopted by railroad workers in the 1930s who would greet passengers as they disembarked the train in Fort Collins. It is Annie who is immortalized in bronze waiting at the doors of the main Public Library on Peterson Street. There’s all kinds of fun planned for the Annie Walk but you need to register at one of the public libraries. Proceeds go towards materials for the Children’s collections at the libraries! Also that day in Old Town Square, the Northern Colorado Greek Festival takes place starting at 11am, featuring authentic Greek food, pastries, music and dancing. I went to this festival last year and it was great fun!

Finally, if you have an urge to get out of town a little, the Archival Art and the Art of Mining exhibition began last week in Georgetown, celebrating 150 years of mining in Clear Creek County and supporting historic preservation and open lands in the Georgetown-Silver Plume National Historic Landmark District. The exhibition is being held in the Hamill House Museum Stables and is on display through August, finishing with a reception on September 5, 2009. You can find out more details here.

So, just because school is just around the corner, don’t think that the summer fun is done! Take a trip down to Georgetown to see the art of mining, hang out at Bohemian Nights, buy some herbs, enjoy art, walk the dog and check out Greek culture in August!

With thanks to teepole and mungobah for their wonderful images!

The Beet goes on!

Kirsten Broadfoot

Enterprise: from entreprendre to undertake, a project or undertaking that is especially difficult, complicated, or risky; readiness to engage in daring or difficult action; initiative; a unit of economic organization or activity; a systematic purposeful activity.

As we have discussed in previous posts about the creative economy and creative communities, at the center of these phenomena lie partnerships between enterprise and creativity, or at least creative and entrepreneurial agents. Such partnerships are also connections between the work we do and the people we are. Many entrepreneurs are highly creative people and many creatives people are also enterprising. That is, both groups take into their own hands (undertake) work they see in need of completion. These people see needs many of us do not; they are also compelled to jump into these voids, in a spirit of true creativity, in order to meet such needs. They spark conversations with their risk taking, and in doing so, open up new conversations about how we should think and be together. Some are driven by the imagination of individuals, others by familial bonds, but all by a deep passionate commitment to making a part of the world just a little more livable for all of us.

In these late modern times, we are so concerned with the economic dimensions of society that we see entrepreneurial activity in terms of start-up businesses and industrial clusters. Indeed, it does not take much to see all the entrepreneurial sprouts in green technology in Fort Collins. All of them innovative ideas driven by pressing social and economic needs, both here and abroad. These creative enterprises (yes, creative, because they are bringing to life new forms) are highly vulnerable and like most creative enterprises and entrepreneurs of old, dependent on benefactors and sponsors for their continuing production. To keep their creative and economic fires burning, they organize in clusters such as RMI2, Clean Tech, and Bio.

Artists also, no matter of what stripe, seek the same cluster of familiarity in order to support each other in their fragile early careers as we have discussed in terms of the diverse artist groups and collectives that exist in Northern Colorado.  For example, in a small arcade on Oak Street, near the Taj Mahal, a new gallery called Leap of Faith Fine Art Gallery features a diverse group of upcoming artists, offering them a chance to display their work for low fees. There is local photography by Mike Murphy, Paul Weber and James Leveillee; original paintings from David Fedeli, Dave Reiter, Don Brown, Bereniche Aguiar and Connie Uroze; as well as ceramic sculpture from Don Campbell, alabaster by Karin Troendle and hand crafted oil candles by Lady D. My son fell in love with a river scene coffee table by Robert Franklin while the work of Georgia Rowswell inspired me. Stop by and check out their work! Leap of Faith is currently running a ‘people’s choice’ contest with different works of art until the end of June. Each artist in the contest submits a piece for $5 and then the public votes on their choice. The winner is awarded the pot of submissions! These contests are held every 2 months, so if you would like to enter, contact the folks at Leap of Faith at 970.493.LEAP or leapoffaith@q.com.

Finally, there is perhaps a quintessential meeting of enterprising creativity at the French Nest Market, held in the Civic Center Park from 9am to 3 pm every second Saturday between July and October (July 11th, August 8th, September 12th, and October 10th). It’s the allure of Paris in the springtime transported to Northern Colorado, featuring an open-air vintage, antique, and artisan market. As Alissa Bush, co-owner puts it, “It’s a destination. A place where you can spend the entire morning; a little shopping, a little eating….” So, if you are interested in vintage, antique, new, unique, funky, homemade, handmade, or otherwise made goods and if you’re local, eco-friendly, and/or ultra-hip, the French Nest Open-Air Market may be just the place for you! The French Nest group of entrepreneurs will take care of the enterprise part so you can do the creative part and get your work known in Northern Colorado! For more information, email info@thefrenchnestmarket.com.

I hope to see you there!

With thanks to Bob.Fornal and tanakawho for their wonderful images

Here’s to enterprising creativity in everyday life!

Kirsten Broadfoot