2023 community-news archive. This account summarizes the original Telluride News report by contributing editor Leslie Vreeland about sponsorship for Ridgway arts events. Its announcements and organizer comments describe that year’s plans, not an open sponsorship offer or a current schedule.
Original courtesy photograph: a Bo Peep-themed aid station at the prior year’s Ridgway Rally Through the Alley, before families and costumed participants joined the event.
The report described Weehawken Creative Arts and the Ridgway Chautauqua Society, associated with the Sherbino Theater, as separate organizations with their own budgets, boards and bank accounts. They shared venues, office staff and programming resources for concerts, literary readings, arts classes, theater and dance in Ouray County.
That collaboration did not make the two organizations interchangeable donation recipients. The article discussed requests for sponsorship and underwriting to support their summer programming. A present-day donor should confirm the recipient, program and terms directly with the relevant organization.
The 2023 Fête de la Musique announcement listed Sunday, June 25. The Sherbino’s own 2023 calendar also lists that date. Programs director Tricia Oakland explained in the news report that organizers had moved the event a week later after residents said the prior overlap with Telluride Bluegrass prevented them from attending both.
The revised plan put Fête on the same weekend as Ridgway RiverFest, but on a different day. Oakland described the potential for a fuller weekend of cultural, environmental and athletic activities. Her hoped-for benefit to restaurants, lodging and shops was an organizer’s expectation, not a measured economic-impact finding.
The reproduced story also mentioned a Voyager youth triathlon on “Sept. 25” while discussing the June weekend. That date is internally inconsistent. It is not used here to establish the triathlon’s intended date or connect it to the June schedule.
Organizers described Fête as free for the public in 2023, with sponsors and underwriters helping cover performer honorariums. Oakland explained that more support could broaden the lineup, bring in musicians from outside the area and introduce audiences to different styles while giving emerging local performers a stage.
The report traced the event’s development from an outdoor pandemic-era format, with musicians on street corners and in parks, into a showcase for musicians of different ages and genres. Those descriptions explain the purpose of the funding request; they do not document how much was raised or spent.
The separate Rally was described as a short fun run or walk with themed aid stations and a tasting event in Town Park. Organizers sought help with station costs and anticipated at least five stations. Oakland’s remark that it “would have been” the fifth year included the 2020 substitution of a 0K stay-in-bed event; it did not establish five consecutive in-person editions.
The Sherbino’s 2023 calendar listed the Ridgway 1K and San Juan Barrel Fest for October 7. Do not read the Rally as part of the June 25 Fête date merely because both appeared in the same sponsorship story.
Visit the Sherbino or Weehawken Creative Arts for current programs and ways to support them. The earlier reproduction incorrectly placed Mountain Rose Realty’s email in the organizer-contact line. Mountain Rose Realty is not identified here as the organizer or donation recipient.