{"id":1312886,"date":"2019-07-27T22:52:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-28T04:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/sunday-profile-make-your-mountain-fair-peace-with-michael-gorman-and-co\/"},"modified":"2019-07-28T19:50:09","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T01:50:09","slug":"sunday-profile-make-your-mountain-fair-peace-with-michael-gorman-and-co","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/sunday-profile-make-your-mountain-fair-peace-with-michael-gorman-and-co\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday profile: Make your Mountain Fair \u2018peace\u2019 with Michael Gorman and Co."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.7407407407407\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-984986-617\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/ProfileGorman-gpi-0728191-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/ProfileGorman-gpi-0728191.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent | Michael Gorman speaks with other volunteers at the 48th annual Carbondale Mountain Fair on Friday evening.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Michael Gorman speaks with other volunteers at the 48th annual Carbondale Mountain Fair on Friday evening.<\/strong><br \/>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/ProfileGorman-gpi-0728191.jpg\" alt=\"Michael Gorman speaks with other volunteers at the 48th annual Carbondale Mountain Fair on Friday evening.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/ProfileGorman-gpi-0728191-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/ProfileGorman-gpi-0728191-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent | Michael Gorman walks with other volunteers at the 48th annual Carbondale Mountain Fair on Friday evening.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Michael Gorman walks with other volunteers at the 48th annual Carbondale Mountain Fair on Friday evening.<\/strong><br \/>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/ProfileGorman-gpi-0728191-1.jpg\" alt=\"Michael Gorman walks with other volunteers at the 48th annual Carbondale Mountain Fair on Friday evening.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/ProfileGorman-gpi-0728191-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/ProfileGorman-gpi-0728191-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent | Michael Gorman backstage of the 48th annual Carbondale Mountain Fair.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Michael Gorman backstage of the 48th annual Carbondale Mountain Fair.<\/strong><br \/>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/ProfileGorman-gpi-0728191-2.jpg\" alt=\"Michael Gorman backstage of the 48th annual Carbondale Mountain Fair.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/ProfileGorman-gpi-0728191-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/ProfileGorman-gpi-0728191-3.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"John Stroud\/Post Independent | Michael Gorman, at the Sopris Park Gazebo in Carbondale where it all happens on Mountain Fair weekend every last weekend of July.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"9\">\n<p><strong>Michael Gorman, at the Sopris Park Gazebo in Carbondale where it all happens on Mountain Fair weekend every last weekend of July.<\/strong><br \/>John Stroud\/Post Independent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/ProfileGorman-gpi-0728191-3.jpg\" alt=\"Michael Gorman, at the Sopris Park Gazebo in Carbondale where it all happens on Mountain Fair weekend every last weekend of July.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/ProfileGorman-gpi-0728191-4-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/ProfileGorman-gpi-0728191-4.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent | Michael Gorman walks with other volunteers at the 48th annual Carbondale Mountain Fair on Friday evening.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Michael Gorman walks with other volunteers at the 48th annual Carbondale Mountain Fair on Friday evening.<\/strong><br \/>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/ProfileGorman-gpi-0728191-4.jpg\" alt=\"Michael Gorman walks with other volunteers at the 48th annual Carbondale Mountain Fair on Friday evening.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/sunday-profile-make-your-mountain-fair-peace-with-michael-gorman-and-co\/?#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/sunday-profile-make-your-mountain-fair-peace-with-michael-gorman-and-co\/?#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Western Colorado\u2019s Roaring Fork Valley has a way of drawing its native sons and daughters back home, eventually.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Michael Gorman, a 2004 Glenwood Springs High School graduate went off to college at CSU in Fort Collins and bounced around to a few different places after that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">But the beckoning call that so many Valley dwellers hear \u2014 the mountains, the rivers, the four distinct seasons and all they have to offer \u2014 was what brought Gorman back in his mid-20s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt does pull you back in,\u201d said Gorman, now 33, recently married to his wife, Elissa, and settled in Carbondale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s such an incredible place \u2026 you can go search the world for this kind of life, and it still keeps bringing you back here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A strong sense of community \u2014 and a not-so-little small-town festival known as Mountain Fair \u2014 also played a big part in convincing Gorman to stay put.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Growing up in Glenwood Springs, Gorman said he didn\u2019t spend much time in Carbondale until after he returned home from college.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">He remembers meeting Mountain Fair and Carbondale Arts Director Amy Kimberly on a Roaring Fork River float one evening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI was kind of new to town, and she was looking for more fair volunteers,\u201d Gorman said. \u201cAmy was super-supportive of gathering up people like me and my group of friends as this new, young crowd.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Gorman signed up for a shift working one of the four gateways into Sopris Park during Mountain Fair as part of what\u2019s known as the Peace Patrol.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">He continued doing random shifts every year, and when the Peace Patrol supervisor position came open, Gorman was given the job.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">KEEPING THE VIBE<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">More than 300 volunteers step up to run Mountain Fair every last weekend of July.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Those volunteers range in age from 8 to 80-plus, according to Kimberly. They do everything from keeping the peace as part of the Peace Patrol, to collecting and diverting waste for recycling and composting as part of the Green Team, to holding down the beer garden, the information, raffle and T-shirt booths, directing traffic and helping out backstage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Peace Patrol is a volunteer team that is in charge of handling security all throughout the park and along its perimeter, where vehicle traffic and parking is limited to vendors and performers only.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Its jobs range from handing out fair programs at the gates and making sure no alcohol comes in or leaves the park, in accordance with the town\u2019s special events liquor license, to just making sure everyone\u2019s doing OK and having a good time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe\u2019re primarily in charge of the four entrances and exits, and just keeping the peace and keeping the fair vibe at a good level,\u201d Gorman explained.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">When its super hot, which is often the case during Mountain Fair, Peace Patrollers will walk around with spray bottles to help keep people cool. They also have radio communication with each other in case there\u2019s a lost child, someone having a problem or maybe a car parked in the wrong spot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe just try to be a friendly enforcement of the guidelines and rules of the town and the park,\u201d he said. \u201cThe police are always close by, too, and they do a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">But the Peace Patrol acts as more of the front line to keep an eye on things before involving the police.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Without the volunteer patrol, Mountain Fair would likely have to pay for private security. And, it\u2019s people like Michael Gorman who make it possible, Kimberly said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cHe\u2019s the perfect example of someone who started coming to the fair at an early age, even though his whole family did not always attend,\u201d said Kimberly, who has been directing the fair for 16 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cMichael, his brother James and many of Michael\u2019s friends are the very people who will be taking over the fair, because they understand the magic that makes the fair what it is,\u201d she said. \u201cThey inspire us, and vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">LOCALLY GROWN<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Gorman grew up in Glenwood Springs, one of four children raised by Don and Leslie Gorman. His dad worked at the Basalt Post Office for many years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">And, just as he did, his siblings, brother James and sisters Emily and Sarah, all eventually migrated back to the Roaring Fork Valley.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s home, and it\u2019s also just the most beautiful place in the world,\u201d Gorman said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s a great community that shows up for each other, and that comes together to put on an event like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Gorman studied natural resources at CSU, and now works for Eco-Flight, a public lands and conservation advocacy organization started by pilot Bruce Gordon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The group works to bring attention to environmental issues across the western United States, providing flyovers for different interest groups of some of the impacted and endangered areas in the West.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cGrowing up here, I fell in love with public lands and the mountains, and I figured I could make a career out of that,\u201d Gorman said. \u201cI love getting to be a part of all these different grassroots groups and their efforts to protect these beautiful landscapes where they live.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">EXCITEMENT BUILDS<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Every July in Carbondale, one can feel the energy build as the town prepares for the annual artistic extravaganza that is Mountain Fair.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s such an exciting time of year, and you can feel that vibe all around town,\u201d Gorman said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">He said he\u2019s been to a lot of town celebrations, arts fairs and music festivals, but nothing quite combines the three into one like Mountain Fair, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThis one\u2019s just so community driven \u2026 there\u2019s a certain spirit to it that is really inspiring, and makes me feel really good about where we live,\u201d Gorman said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">As head of the Peace Patrol, he also gets to meet a lot more people and take it all in.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI\u2019m really excited to get a mango on a stick \u2026 and just walk around barefoot in the grass,\u201d he said during a quiet evening interview in Sopris Park before this weekend\u2019s big event.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">And, of course, \u201cI get some free beer out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">His brother, James, helps out on the production end of things with longtime Mountain Fair staffer Mark Taylor, getting the park set up and ready for the fair every year. And, a group of Gorman\u2019s friends runs the back-stage bar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cMy favorite thing is to see somebody sign up to volunteer who, maybe it\u2019s their first time at the fair, or maybe they\u2019re new in town like I once was,\u201d Gorman said. \u201cIt\u2019s such an incredible way to jump right in and get involved with the community and meet lots of people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Mountain Fair also serves as a bit of a town reunion for people who have moved away, but always try to come back for fair weekend, he observed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Whenever he has some of his own friends coming to town for the weekend, he said he encourages them to sign up for a shift and be part of it all.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s just so cool to live in a place where the arts are supported and encouraged,\u201d Gorman added. \u201cI think that makes a difference, too \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:jstroud@postindependent.com\">jstroud@postindependent.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/sunday-profile-make-your-mountain-fair-peace-with-michael-gorman-and-co\/?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Gorman speaks with other volunteers at the 48th annual Carbondale Mountain Fair on Friday evening.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent Michael Gorman walks with other volunteers at the 48th annual Carbondale Mountain Fair on Friday evening.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent Michael Gorman backstage of the 48th annual Carbondale Mountain Fair.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent Michael [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1312886","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 09:44:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1312886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1312899,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312886\/revisions\/1312899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1312886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1312886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1312886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}