Founded in 1993, 5280 is the largest local magazine in Colorado. The magazine's stories often make national headlines, and since 2005 5280 has been nominated for four National Magazine Awards. Get 5280 Magazine digital subscription today.
Bierstadt, Bross, Democrat, Lincoln, Cameron, Quandary, and Huron: Those are the named 14,000-foot mountains I’ve summited in Colorado over the years. It’s a short list—made shorter by the fact that my climbing partner and I were turned around by blowing snow 250 feet shy of bagging Mt. Sherman. I’m also aware that some people would disqualify 14,238-foot Mt. Cameron, arguing that it’s not a stand-alone fourteener but a subpeak of Mt. Lincoln. And I technically didn’t reach the tip-top of Mt. Bross because its loftiest height is closed to the public. (I count it anyway.) Still, I feel pretty good about my high-alpine accomplishments—and I plan to notch a few more summits this summer. It was only a few months ago, though, that I learned the history behind the trails…
Freelance Illustrator On the last page of every issue of 5280, you’ll find our Act Like A Local column. Each month, the tongue-in-cheek page serves as a how-to guide, in five oversimplified steps, for navigating a quintessential aspect of life as a Coloradan—such as picking Palisade peaches or training for a marathon (page 168). And for nearly a year, Simone Massoni, an illustrator based in Italy whose whimsical visuals have graced the pages of outlets including the New Yorker and Vanity Fair, has created the accompanying artwork. After pursuing his childhood dream of being a comic book artist and later sketching for children’s books, Massoni has worked in editorial and commercial illustration for the past decade. Although his profession is far from monotonous, he describes his Act Like A Local…
When Connie Benavidez’s teenage daughters wanted to learn baile folklórico, a traditional Mexican dance known for its heel stomping and skirt twirling, they found that existing schools had strict age limits. So in 1994, the family started a nonprofit that welcomed everyone—regardless of age or income. Colorado Springs–based Ballet Folklórico de la Raza accomplished the latter by charging just $10 a month. Plus, Benavidez created the dancers’ dresses herself, which often meant stitching until dawn after her shift at Peterson Air Force Base but saved participants hundreds of dollars per outfit. Now 85, Benavidez has retired but still crafts the group’s gowns, a task that’s complicated by the fact that each of Mexico’s 31 states has a unique design. “Chiapas has a black dress to represent the darkness of the…
ELK FIELD HOME GOODS University Hills Farmers Market Saturdays, May 11 through October 26 Evergreen Farmers Market at El Rancho Tuesdays, May 28 through October 1 Locally sourced beeswax shines at this organic home and body care stall. You can’t go wrong with the lip balms and body butters, but University Hills and Evergreen market manager Robin Singer-Starbuck loves Elk Field’s clean candles, which don’t release the chemicals typically associated with synthetic fragrances and dyes when they burn. FASHION VENDORS Cherry Creek Fresh Market Saturdays, May 4 through October 12 It’s fitting that Denver’s most chichi neighborhood will have at least three merchants hawking the latest fits. Each has its niche: Seventy West, for example, focuses on cozy, casual mountain-chic clothing; Evey K Fashionliner slings wardrobe essentials like stylish sandals…
CHOOSE BEAR LAKE ROAD CORRIDOR IF YOU Own An RV Of RMNP’s 327 RV- and trailer-friendly bivouacs, a whopping 220 are found in the corridor’s Glacier Basin and Moraine Park campgrounds. Or at least they will be once Moraine Park reopens this summer after an extensive renovation, which will include the park’s first electric hookups. Plan To Picnic Not only is the 0.7-mile, ADA-compliant Sprague Lake Loop smooth enough for a wagon loaded with delicious perishables, but there are also 27 picnic tables and 16 pedestal grills along the circuit, each with sweeping views of the Continental Divide. Believe In Love At First Bugle Rutting season peaks mid-September through mid-October when the megafauna flock to RMNP’s lush meadows to, um, perpetuate the species. Moraine Park, a giant field located off…
Nicki Gonzales gets strong reactions whenever she assigns her students essays on Los Seis de Boulder—the Boulder Six. “First, they’re shocked,” says the Regis University history professor and former Colorado state historian. “They’ll be like, ‘This happened in our state? How come I never heard of this before?’ ” Even more surprising is that the May 1974 car bombings that killed six young leaders of the state’s Chicano Movement—a Mexican American civil rights campaign—remain unsolved 50 years later. “It was like a tinderbox,” Gonzales says of the atmosphere surrounding the University of Colorado Boulder leading up to the explosions. Earlier that May, protesters had occupied a building on campus after financial aid the school had promised never arrived (administrators blamed lost applications) and funding for a Chicano student group was…
