The incredible warm winds lately got us thinking about how weird Boulder County’s weather can be. So here are a few examples of weather events gone rogue in our county, and some facts about why they occur. Tornadoes Though they might seem like more of an Eastern Colorado problem, tornadoes do occasionally appear in Boulder County. Unlike their eastern cousins, they are typically much less powerful and only rear their heads every few years. The most recent tornado touchdown in Boulder County was in June, 2015. Several homes in the 15300 block of highway 287 took damage, but no injuries... Read More

We’re here to help you navigate the festival like a pro and get the most bang for any buck you spend. Many of the best events are free anyway! So why should this festival be on your bucket list? We asked a few people at former FDGD events to find out: “I’m from Kansas and my buddies in Colorado said I had to cone this year. They told me about the grandpa in the Tuff shed. I thought it was hilarious and now we’re heading to the Tuff shed” — Noah “PJ and I come every year. My favorite part is the music, but the Look Alike contest is awesome too. Who doesn’t... Read More

To start off with, I want to look back on some of the famous movies that have been filmed right here in Boulder and in some of our close neighboring cities. Perhaps the most famous recent film shot in Colorado was “The Hateful Eight”, Tarantino’s latest film which featured a bounty hunter and his prisoner seeking shelter in a cabin inhabited by some nefarious criminals. The film is bloody, funny, and excellently written, and located not too far from Boulder in Telluride, CO. Tarantino put out feelers in Utah and Wyoming, before settling on the Colorado location. Tarantino wanted a mountain... Read More

Recently, walking around Boulder and taking in the sites, I’ve noticed an ample amount of street art, most notably drawn/painted/stenciled by SMiLE, an anonymous Boulder artist. SMiLE’s repertoire ranges from portraits of Jack Kerouac and Brad Pitt, to a menagerie of animals, most especially cats. A little less than a year ago SMiLE had an exhibition in Boulder titled ‘Streets to Canvas’, and made a profound statement on the website promoting the event. SMiLE states, “Art has always been in the vanguard of the worlds changing consciousness, and Street Art is the contemporary form of this... Read More

We can’t say for sure if being in Boulder makes you a better or more successful person, but these celebrities from our fair city lend some credibility to the notion. And since we aren’t a gossip site, these won’t all be film and TV stars. We are showing you real people from Boulder who did, and are doing, interesting and popular things with their lives. 3OH!3 Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte make up the electronica group 3OH!3, which received national success with their song “Don’t Trust Me”. They gained even more attention when they collaborated with Ke$ha... Read More

I love this place. Not only for its colorful amalgamation of Colorado and Boulder (I see what you did there), nor for it’s weird synesthesia-effect of bringing to mind old  Eagles hits, but because it’s been around for over one hundred years, and that’s pretty frickin’ cool. I’ve bypassed the Hotel on my way to Ozo Coffee or after window-shopping and drooling over at the fjallraven store (*envious sigh*), but it wasn’t until recently that I realized this hotel had some pretty hefty history behind it. A plaque on the outside of the hotel reads: “Hotel Boulderado opened January 1st,... Read More

Every Boulderite knows that Chautauqua is up on 900 Baseline Road in Boulder, but how did it get there? And what is a Chautauqua anyway? The Chautauqua movement of the late 19th century was an effort to educate rural communities who lacked access to the mass culture being developed in cities. The movement lasted from the 1870s all the way into the 1920s. Rural peoples were hungry for entrainment and brain food, but lacked a way to easily travel because automobiles weren’t widely available until 1910. The “Mother Chautauqua” (which sounds a bit like a spaceship name to me) was... Read More

When oddly specific things become public problems, local legislation steps in to help. Today we will look at a few odds and ends Boulder city laws had to smooth out over the years. Hopefully we will boost today’s water cooler conversations. Nobody Owns Fifi Dogs in Boulder do not have “owners” according to any public ordinances. You can only be the “guardian” of a dog. This law requiring all public signage to call dog owners “guardians” is the result of animal rights activist calling for reform in the rhetoric surrounding pet relationships. It’s... Read More

With the holidays over, we figured we should refresh our minds with something different today. Boulder has a very interesting architectural history, especially the university campus. We will touch on some defining Boulder architectural projects which you have probably seen around town. Next time you’re out and about, maybe you’ll encounter some of these oh-so-Boulder building projects. The University Campus Of course we cannot skim Boulder’s architectural past without bringing up the University of Colorado campus. It began with the all-brick Old Main and soon grew into several... Read More

Through a combination of nostalgia and legend, some pieces of Boulder never fully disappear. Maybe the best example was an ordinary building in the middle of the Hill known as Tulagi. On walking inside, you were hit with the smell of decades of beer being poured, consumed, and spilled. Past the Tiki-ish foyer, you were deposited into the venue, with an open dance floor as simple as the stage at its head. On either side were raised sitting areas with built-in benches and stacked-stone walls, under-lit to give the feel of a cavern-come-club. Surrounding was a mural with various scenes—all sun-drenched... Read More

Before Thomas Jefferson signed the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and before Colorado became a state in 1876, the area was settled by numerous Native American tribes, predominantly inhabited by the Arapaho. The Arapaho were successful nomadic hunters, expanding their presence through trade, warfare, and alliances with other tribes. They were closely allied with the Cheyenne, which allowed their hunting territory to expand greatly and made them a formidable force. Much of their culture revolved around the idea of a warrior, which included not only skills in combat, but also in keeping peace, and in... Read More

The history of rock climbing and bouldering had its genesis with mountaineering and alpinism in the late 18th century, although climbing rocks had been a feat accomplished long before. In the 14th century, a Native American tribe called the Anasazi drilled holes and carved stairs into rock cliffs in Chaco Canyon, but it wasn’t until 1786 with the first ascent of Mont Blanc, that the ‘modern era’ of climbing truly came into being. The history of Boulder’s rock climbing and bouldering history began a little over one hundred years later in 1896 when a group of Boulder Hikers formed the Rocky... Read More

Most of the West was divided up into straight-edged, boxy regions and subdivisions (take a look at poor Yuma County). Boulder County escapes the purely rectangular form of other counties in Colorado, and today we will tell you why. Plus, we will tell you why it’s named Boulder (but we bet you can guess). The need for Colorado to become a territory coincided with the secession of several southern states from the Union in 1861. Colorado applied for statehood that year, and offered the Union secure access to precious mineral deposits. Boulder County was one of the original 17 counties of... Read More

This week in Boulder, from April 10th-14th, the University of Colorado hosts the CWA or the Conference for World Affairs. It is a week-long gathering featuring lectures from prominent leaders across the world, including keynote speaker David Newman– NASA’s deputy administer, NFL Player Chris Borland, and Debra Eschemeyer, former Policy Advisor for Michelle Obama’s nutritional project, Let’s Move! The CWA is a veritable cornucopia of intelligent, ambitious minds lecturing on their successes and it’s been a fascinating experience listening in on different series. One lecture I attended... Read More

Josephine Antoine This fair Boulderite was beloved for her incredible rise to fame as a Metropolitan Opera star. After completing her education in Boulder, Antoine went on to earn a Master’s at the Julliard School of Music in NYC. Before her first national appearance, she received a telegram from the mayor of Boulder reading: “Every citizen sends you love and good wishes for your performance tomorrow.” She was a success, and sang the lead in 14 Metropolitan Opera productions. Her singing was featured on national radio stations, and she returned to Boulder to perform at the Colorado... Read More

Students and professors at the University of Colorado, Boulder have been studying the effects of black carbon on ice and snow in ecosystems around the world. Black carbon is the byproduct of fossil fuels and wildfires and can be carried long distances via atmospheric transport. Researchers use molecular analysis and have so far proved that Greenland’s ice sheet has been effected by wildfires burning all the way in the Canadian Arctic. Wildfires are predicted to increase in the future, threatening to negatively impact other ice sheets across the globe. According to Scientific America, climate... Read More

Coffee; the sweet, dark ambrosia that keeps us going throughout the day. In recent years, coffee has become a phenomenon that has seen the proliferation of Starbucks on seemingly every busy street corner, and Boulder has been no exception. However, luckily enough, Boulder possesses it’s more eclectic, independent coffee shops that have proven to be more popular hotspots for locals.           First, a brief history of coffee: Coffee drinking is thought to date back to the 15th Century in Ethiopia. Legend goes that a healer was exiled from his city and sent to live in... Read More

When patrons enter Boulder Beer Company, there is a hushed air of anticipation. Any bar really, seem to possess this strange, otherworldly quality, where this magical space—for a few hours at least—provides a jovial interlude for relaxation and good times, where people can forget their worries for a little while and indulge in a beer amongst friends and coworkers. Boulder Beer Co seems the pinnacle of such locations, with its good vibe atmosphere and surprisingly interesting (& eccentric) history behind it. Being a college town with hard-working students looking to blow off a little steam,... Read More

Boulder has been known for quite some time for being the ‘cradle of the hippie’, known for its dedication to nature and the environment, liberal ideologies, and a place for both artists and intellectuals to gather in a friendly, local space. In light of the recent holiday, and some of the protests we have seen around town, I thought it would be interesting to take a trip through history and remember some of the past protests in Boulder that has helped shape the city. In the 1950’s the Rocky Flat Plant was established in Denver, CO to manufacture and produce nuclear weapons during the Cold... Read More

This title question, and the more general “Why a buffalo for a mascot?” answered below. Time to brush up on Buff history. Ralphie is the female buffalo mascot for CU Boulder. But why does this female buffalo sport a male name? And why did CU choose a bison mascot in the first place? The tradition began in 1934 when the university newspaper selected “Buffaloes” as the nickname for the university students. Three weeks later, a few students paid a rancher $25 to rent a bison calf and a cowboy to handle her. The calf had to be managed by all 4 students plus the ranch hand... Read More