"Unrest" inspires local beetle kill documentary, benefit

Night of fun to finance local film
by Cyndi McCoy

"There's unrest in the forest, there is trouble with the trees (lyrics from "The Trees," by band Rush)." For Amaurante Montez, the song's first line was a pretty "powerful statement."

Hillsides of stumps, scattered among hillsides with log piles waiting to be burned, surrounded by more red trees than some may know what to do with. The heartfelt loss Grand Countians most likely feel driving along the county's beloved beetle-kill landscape, as well as the hope to find solutions, has been captured in a surfacing local documentary.

After two years working on the project, due out February of 2010, the Winter Park resident and producer known in the local entertainment scene as DJ A-Mon has gathered his talented posse together to celebrate the film's neared completion.

Joining Montez for the Evening of Music and Film, "Unrest in the Forest" benefit will be artisans and musicians to include Cyn Whitworth, Miguel Medina, Jeremy Farmer, Nectaflow, Joe McDonald, and Ernie Roybal. Businesspersons and craftsmen using beetle-kill product are expected and encouraged to attend as well.

The documentary and evening's entertainment has been brought together to get people thinking about their connection to nature and solutions toward healing Colorado's devastated pine forests. Guests will be treated to a dance performance with Medina and the Street Sweepers, as well as a special screening of 16-mm film "Arrow to the Sun." The work is a 10-minute-long Native American animation about a child in search of his father, who, A-Mon says, "discovers himself and his power."

Medina started producing small films and documentaries for Free Speech TV in 1995. With his influences from his Native American (Ute, Southern Ute, Apache, Yaqui, and Aztec) and Spanish ancestry, and his use of modern technology for his storytelling, he called his company Ancient Future Films.

After voicing his idea for a beetle-kill documentary, as well as his longtime dream to teach children filmmaking, a friend suggested he apply for a scholarship opportunity to attend a free press convention on independent film. He won the scholarship trip and last June he headed to Minneapolis, Minn. where he had a chance to meet with other independent filmmakers. The convention platform focused on avenues to expose local issues to larger audiences.

Montez had been thinking about his beetle-kill documentary for some time and said he feels an urgency to share his message. Witnessing the infestation which expands through the county, Montez "could just see that there was ... a big picture going on ... that (the problem) was growing. ... The trees and the people, the wild life, it affects everyone."

Friends of Montez have come together in support of his dedication to finish the project, a digital film. Its creator estimates it will be a half-hour piece, "but I'd like to expand it as well." He estimates he's invested about $3,000 into the production of the work, whose title was inspired by song "The Trees" by Rush, and that "anything" he collects from the event will be appreciated.

Montez said he's already gained some interest to view the work. The Xican Indie Film Festival will be the first ones to air the film next spring. There's also interest from Dish Network to show the film on Free Speech TV, which would give Montez, and Grand County, national exposure.

How to get there: The 490 Steak House is located in the Silverado II Resort and Event Center, sponsor. To get there head west at Cooper Creek Square off U.S. Highway 40 on Vasquez Road in Winter Park. Cross the railroad tracks and take a right onto Forest Trail. Signs are posted and underground parking is available.

The Tragic Ghost of Grand County

by: Teresa Hill
October 21, 2009
Travelers passing through Fraser, Colorado recently noticed a new coat of paint being plied to the Crooked Creek Saloon. Their honks and waves were politely returned by several local musicians, brushes in hand, hired by the new owners of the historic edifice, Toni and Scott Hallgren.

The curiosity of these passersby would have deepened further if they knew that beneath the decades of cracking paint lie the distant embers of a fire, the howls of the Great Blizzard of 1909, and a real ghost story of Grand County.

In the 1900s, the town of Fraser was “complete with a single dusty street, community saloon, gaunt clapboard general store, sheriff, grizzled characters in sweaty Stetsons and a cluster of unpainted board shacks which, in the winter, must surely let the howling blizzard in” wrote Russell Baker of the New York Times in 1955.

As both an oasis to pioneers seeking fortune in the lumber-milling boom and a railroad stop for homesteaders settling the Wild West, Fraser quickly became a destination for weary travelers. One of the most famous and most beautiful denizens of those years was known simply as Rosie. Her stunning portrait as a reclining lady in red still hangs above the entrance to Crooked Creek for all to admire.

After losing her parents in the flu epidemic of 1898, Rosie turned to practicing the world's oldest profession. It wasn’t long before the illustrious madam opened her own saloon and dance hall and found a steady flow of customers among the railroad workers and loggers.
Calamity struck, however, during the Great Blizzard of 1909. Trapped inside her saloon by the mounting drifts, Rosie and several stranded customers and employees inadvertently caught the building on fire while stoking the wood burning stove in an attempt to stave off the merciless cold. In the chaos and confusion of that horrific night, the tavern burned entirely to the ground. To this day, the exact identities of those who perished with Rosie are still clouded in mystery. According to local legend, some of the victims never left.

A quarter of a century later, the Crooked Creek Saloon was rebuilt on the very site of Rosie's former brothel. From the opening of the new saloon's doors, patrons and staff have claimed to see ghostly apparitions, particularly when the wind blows and the temperature drops. Most of the spectral sightings have occurred near the stove in the back dining room, where the fatal blaze started.

On one of these cold nights, Toni Hallgren remembers a family taking portraits near the stove in the back room. Breathless, the mother showed Toni the picture of her daughter next to an eerie phantom ablaze in yellow and orange light. “Oh, that’s just Rosie,” she told the family. “She must like you!”

Keeping in time to its century-old reputation as the heartbeat of Fraser, patrons of the Creek are once again returning for good times with friends, comforting food, and live entertainment.
On Halloween Night, there will be live music by the reggae band Toad King from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. This celebration is free for those ages 21 and over. Don’t be too surprised in you catch a glimpse of Rosie while you’re there.