by Jodi Linsey
Lake City’s own Star Man, Phillip Virden, worked closely with a small but enthusiastic group of astronomy fans to deliver this year’s festival of the stars, the most well-attended one yet in the short history of Star Fest.
In just over 24 hours, astronomy fans from near and far packed in a smorgasbord of galaxy related activities, beginning with Cosmic Cocktails at Packer’s Saloon Friday evening, followed closely by Lights Out Lake City, star gazing from the Lake Fork Memorial Park. Early on Saturday, at least for night sky loving people, was Cosmic Insights, a presentation featuring two astronomers. Kyle Davis gave an informative talk on the development of telescopes while Jimmy Neguse took a deep dive into AGNs, or Active Galactic Nuclei.
The middle of the day was taken up with a special opportunity for people to visit a portable planetarium set up at the Lake City Community School. Then Mountaineer Theatre had a special showing of the 1956 sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet.
Saturday night was the finale of the festival with stargazing at the future home of the Lake Fork Earth & Sky Center, located near State Highway 149 on County Road 50, or Deer Lakes Road, near the top of Slumgullion Pass.
The evening began before sunset to allow both professional and amateur astronomers to prepare themselves and their instruments for an evening of sharing the wonders of the cosmos with friends, neighbors, and strangers from all over.
First the crowd was introduced to some of the wonders they would have a chance to observe over the course of the evening. They were also treated to personal stories of discovery by ever-enthusiastic Virden and other enthusiastic stargazers.
Before the sun fully set and the show began, there were already more than 200 people making themselves comfortable, scattered across terrain that featured strawberries, tree stumps, and small currant bushes. They braced themselves for a chilly night, despite the heat of the day. They had chairs and blankets for cushioning and warmth, and many wore small headlights in anticipation of making their way from telescope to telescope.
Present that evening were many locals, introverts and extroverts alike. There supporting the cause were representatives of the Lake Fork Valley Conservancy, including Board Secretary Cristina Abbenante, author and photographer Kristen Breeden, and Judy Boyce, the latter revered for her work with recent rehabilitation of the Blue Bird Project.
Fervent amateur astronomer Bruce Scodova is a recent transplant to Lake City, in large part for the night skies. His 20” Dobsonian reflector telescope stood almost 6’ tall in the upright position and seemed to be the largest telescope in a field littered with impressive equipment. He is looking forward to getting his new house completed and settling further into the comfort of Lake City.
This year’s stellar turnout for Starfest was, according to organizer Phil Virden, the best so far. Above, Jimmy Neguse shows off his high-powered telescope, and at right, with a magnificent mountain sunset blazing behind him, stargazer Bruce Scodova with a large reflector telescope.
Seasonal residents Craig and Linda Bennet state that they have participated in this event as long as it has been happening. They are fans of Phillip Virden and happy to support his projects.
Karen and Roy Shaw sat with dear friends from their old neighborhood. Lisa and Allen Davis are familiar with the environs of Lake City and the pristine skies in the area. The Davises are also pleased to be able to support their son Kyle, whose engaging discussion of the history of stargazing tools kept the audience entertained at the Mountaineer Theatre earlier in the day.
Jimmy Neguse, the other speaker at the morning presentation, was found with fellow Dark Sky Colorado Board Member Deborah Price, making adjustments to his own Dobsonian reflector telescope. Deborah and Jimmy were both eager to speak about the importance of dark skies and how easily adjustments can be made that create a ripple of good in today’s overly lit world. One example they spoke about was how bright night lights can upset migratory bird patterns, and they pointed to Dark Sky International’s website at darksky.org or Dark Sky Colorado’s site at darkskycolorado.org for more information on the reasoning behind the dark sky movement.
More curious visitors who made the trek to Slumgullion Pass were Sarah (Fry) Tooley and her engaging 9-year-old daughter Remi, with connections to Lake City but living in Utah now. Together with family from Montrose, they were here for a semi-regular visit to the stomping grounds of her youth, when she lived here with her dad, Lake City Community School instructor Brad Fry.
From Loveland, Colorado, came Glen and Sara Gilbert. They had an impromptu and solitary episode of stargazing in Death Valley that whetted their appetite for more. This brought them to the Lake City area for the first, but not last, time.
Perhaps the couple who most epitomize the mission of Star Fest are Sarah Bailey and Eric Tyson from Denver. Sarah took it as a sign to visit Lake City when it dropped into her social media feeds twice in less than a week. Seeing an ad for Star Fest prompted a discussion with her boyfriend and the discovery that neither of them had ever seen the Milky Way. They aimed to change that and headed to Lake City.
Educational and literally illuminating, the Lake City Star Fest provided entertainment for a wide variety of people; older and young, professionals and amateurs and newbies, visitors and locals.
The potential for this event is as large as a universe of stars.
A twilight highlight at the opening of last weekend’s Star Fest were wide-eyed stargazers assembled on blankets and lawn chairs in Memorial Park Friday evening, June 27, to hear an opening salvo from Star Fest organizer Phillip Virden.
Virden, who proceeded to entrance spectators as he pointed out constellations vividly visible from the downtown confluence park such as the Big Dipper, North Star, and Sagittarius, enthusiastically described himself to the spell-bound audience as an astronomy student at STU —Self Taught University.
He first became entranced with the night skies more than four decades ago on a Colorado camping trip with his inaugural glimpse of the Milky Way.
Nearly 100 star watchers intently gazed skyward into the darkening sky Friday as Virden explained that thanks to technological advances, “this is an exciting time in terms of what we’re learning about the universe.”
Referring to the Hubble Space Telescope which was launched in 1990 and subsequent telescopic advancements, Virden said it is now estimated there are more than a trillion galaxies in the universe, compared to just a century ago when it was widely assumed the Milky Way was the sole galaxy.
The Milky Way is now considered average among over a trillion galaxies, although — “as far as is known,” Virden said — “this is the only one supporting life.”
Another mid-day highlight of the weekend’s star festival was Kyle Doane, alias Koz McKyle, the originator of Nomad Domes from Alamosa, Colorado, who entertained and enlighted four packed sessions inside his inflatable planetarium late Saturday morning, June 28, in the school gymnasium.
McKyle is already well known to Lake City star audiences from his Night Sky digital projection lectures at Mountaineer Movie Theater the past two years.
A former resident of Seattle, Washington, he marketed planetariums but for the past quarter century has expanded into planetarium education for both adults and children. and F.S. public land partners, and consultation with Hinsdale Sheriff Denim Starnes and Emergency Manager Phil Graham.
The county’s Stage 1 fire restrictions allowed public fireworks display as planned by Lake City Chamber of Commerce on July 3 but do, until further notice, preclude the use of explosives, outdoor smoking unless in cleared areas not less than 3’-diameter, and requires campfires within established metal or concrete fire rings.
Welding and use of acetylene or other torch with open flames is only allowed in cleared areas no less than 10’-diameter. Also prohibited under Stage 1 fire restrictions is use of a chainsaw without USDA or SAE approved spark arrester
Hinsdale Commissioners’ Stage 1 fire restrictions for north portions of the county extending from the Continental Divide to the Hinsdale-Gunnison county line, including Cathedral on the upper Cebolla and Town of Lake City, went into effect at 8 a.m. Thursday, July 3; South End Stage 1 fire restrictions excluding Weminuche Wilderness went into effect as of noon Tuesday, July 1.
Public lands fire restrictions covering both BLM and Forest Service property to the south and north — but not central — Hinsdale County are part of a wide-ranging southwest Colorado Stage 1 fire ban which includes all BLM lands administered by the Gunnison Field Office within the boundaries of Gunnison, Hinsdale, Saguache, San Juan, Ouray, and Montrose Counties.
A second agenda item at Hinsdale Commissioners’ special meeting Wednesday morning this week was a change order totaling $85,173.30 additional expense for the new Administration Building with a switch in the building’s planned heating and ventilation system from the lower cost Fujitsu to Daikin variable refrigerant flow. As explained by County Administrator Sandy Hines, the Daikin system is preferable and ultimately less expensive based on costly electrical changes which would be required for the Fujitsu system.
While approving the added $85,000 HVAC costs, Commissioners also learned of over $20,000 in 6savings on the building project with the elimination of 55” wall-mounted monitors in individual offices in the Administration Building and revisions to lockers. “Our ultimate goal,” said Hines, is for the building “to have as little taxpayer impact as possible.”
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