Gunnison, Colorado, where I saw a Jackalope.

Gunnison, Colorado—one of the wildest of the old west towns. Where the men were MEN and so were the women. (Sorry, old one)
Actually, Gunnison was one of those really old towns that, before they were settled by pioneers, sat on land that was occupied by the Ute Indians, a peaceful tribe who caused the white man little trouble. It was named after a Captain John Gunnison, who passed through briefly in 1853 with a group of Army surveyors. Later, prospectors and miners came in and shortly after that farmers and ranchers flooded in as well, making it a true community and it has grown to be a small but very western-influenced community. Events like Cattlemen’s Days are a big draw, and other interesting activities make it a very nice place to visit.
When I arrived in Gunnison, it was at the tail end of 32 miles of walking, an alltime high number for me. It was getting late and I just made it into town and to a crappy motel with dicey wifi and even dicier people staying in the neighboring rooms. As I entered the town though, I saw a beautiful college campus, Western State University, which looked, in the fading light, like a pretty good place to go to school. Adjacent to the college, though, was a public park, and judging by the number of people still playing on the equipment and just milling around, I figured it must have something that made it special. I was too tired and it was too dark for me to really look carefully. I probably would have let it slip out of my mind but for the trees.
Or what used to be trees. I noticed that there were many trees that were different, but again, it was too dark to really tell. I vowed to return in the morning, and Im glad I did.
Every September, for the past four years, the City of Gunnison has hosted a “Carving Up Colorado” contest, and it is held in the park, sponsored by the Lions Club. Carvers bring their chainsaws and set to work on the dead cottonwood trees that were still standing in the park. When the city ran out of suitable trees for the contest, which was growing in popularity, they began bringing in cottonwoods and planting them, cut and ready for their creative rebirth. And when the park began to get a bit full, the contest expanded outside of that park into others that are located around town. Last year, for the first time, some artists from Africa came and added their own flavor to the event, and now a couple of African art styled trees stand, looking like totems mixed with Easter Island style. Others show scenarios that are more western themed…a mountain lion about to pounce on a deer, a bear emerging from a waterfall with a fish in its mouth, eagles perched above raccoons,a tree with natiove American faces looking out from every angle, and my favorite, and many more, all of different quality but none less than impressive.
Gunnison seem to have evolved from the wild west town that it was into something of an arts colony in some ways. I visited the Gunnison Art Center where everything from quilts to dance were evident, with a dance studio upstairs and paintings, sculpture, and photography on display, and for sale. Very nice work and very much in keeping with the area, with a lot of horse pictures, mountain ranges and more, including pictures of animals.
Speaking of which: it could be argued that taxidermy is not an art form, but from the things I saw today, I would have to argue. There is a place, the Traders Rendezvous, with enough elk and deer antlers outside to supply a battalion of hornless deer and elk with “antler toupees”, as well as having a zoo full of other stuffed critters on display. Wolves, coyotes, elk, caribou, mountain lions attacking a deer, a wolverine , and just about every kind of gentle (deer, ducks and others), and not so gentle (two grizzly bears) creature of the forest has been killed and stuffed and put on public display. They even have jackalopes! (For some reason, when I told the kind lady who runs the store that I cant wait to see a live jackalope, she just said, “Good luck” and I wonder what she meant by that.)
The highlight of my day, though, was a small thrift store called Six Points. It is as well stocked and as well run as any Goodwill or Salvation Army store of its size (smallish) buts it has a story behind it. It is run entirely by developmentally disables men and women, and it gives them a sense of responsibility and accomplishment. I saw several people with Downs Syndrome working, stocking and arranging shelves, and the man who checked me out (two books for 11 cents—Thursday special, two for one—they are usually ten cents each, plus tax) was also a Downs guy. Very pleasant, very funny, and I left there with two great books (Huck Finn and A People’ History of the United States). There need to be more places like this one to help give those of us who were not born exactly the same as everyone else a sense of self and of place. Very good indeed. And so is Gunnison, Colorado.
In fact, it is such a nice place that when I met a woman and her young sons in the park earlier, with their dog Astor, she told me that she moved to the Denver area from Michigan. That they chose to vacation in Gunnison, as opposed to out of state somewhere, tells me that Im not the only one who feels this way about this city.
Yee Haw. Oh wait…. they don’t really say that out here.
Dang.