Mud season in the mountains means one thing to the weary resort worker: a blessed vacation. Being a tourist is a welcome respite from waiting on tourists. Off-season provides the perfect opportunity to recharge the old Western hospitality battery pack. A slower pace for a month or so gives us a chance to gear up for what many of us believe to be the best time of the year in Western Colorado: our glorious, short-lived summer.
We on the Western Slope are accustomed to the ebb and flow of tourism. Almost all of us are dependent, either directly or indirectly, on the kindness of strangers, whether they are fellow Coloradans, out-of-state visitors or international travelers. We are grateful for the tourism industry, which enables us to enjoy mountain living and pay the bills. Springtime’s short break lets us take a deep breath and prepare for our summer visitors, who at this very moment have brochures of Colorado spread across their kitchen tables.
While weary workers the world over are surfing the Net and planning vacations, corporate executives are searching for places they can hold a convention and then head for the hills. Colorful Colorado is only one of many options in the global travel community. While the Web has brought us greater advertising opportunities, it has also brought a worldwide forum of comments from travelers who have gone before. The highs and lows of every destination, hotel, restaurant and tourist activity are posted for the world to see. Just as a thumbs-up movie review can generate megabucks in ticket sales, potential tourists can poll a global community for feedback before they spend their hard-earned money. Our actions and attitudes follow us like they never have before.
So why does this matter, and now more than ever? Because for Denver, the stakes are on the rise. For the next 17 months, Colorado will be gearing up for our first national political convention since 1908. While the state as a whole has a strikingly healthy mix of booming industries, tourism will be getting an incomparable ride in the saddle. Sen. Ken Salazar said the convention “will allow us to put a spotlight on our Rocky Mountains and our Eastern Plains and our entire state. All of the eyes of the world will, in fact, be on Colorado during the convention.”
Although opportunities will abound for Democratic National Convention visitors to experience the Rocky Mountains both before the convention and through the following Labor Day weekend, Denver itself will take the big hit when it comes to being inconvenienced. In light of this once-in-a-lifetime promotional opportunity, it’s important that we remember two things: Our responses to our visitors can cause a ripple effect that impacts our state economy as a whole, and we owe a debt of gratitude to the workers in our hospitality industry.
As one who has spent the greater part of her life living in a resort area, my hat is off to those who serve the traveling public every day. To all airport employees, both DIA and regional: You face the legions of the tired, the cranky, and the overbooked, with the biggest smiles you can muster. I thank you. For all of the resort workers who commute dozens of miles to their jobs every day because they can’t afford to live where they work, for every ski lift operator who braves the freezing wind and every retail clerk who runs at a frantic pace: muchas gracias. Merci to the wait staff: You may sling fancy hash, but you sling hash just the same, and grazie to the hotels’ cast of thousands who tuck folks in at night.
Western hospitality is the smile on the face of the Colorado experience. The kindness we show to neighbors and strangers is what makes Colorado a great place to visit, and a wonderful place to live. We will all have the opportunity to display not only our purple mountains majesty, but the grace and dignity of our residents as well. Let us rise to the occasion.
Rachel Ophoff (rachelophoff@yahoo.com) is a writer, Christian speaker and a partner in business with her husband, Kevin.
