Legendary Steamboat Springs hostess Marilyn McCaulley is convinced that parties present an excuse to wear cool hats. Throughout the year, her Strawberry Park home serves as Party Central for wacko chapeaux, good times and lemon martinis.
At Easter, she serves them to ladies decked out for the Snow Bonnet Snowshoe, a 1,000-yard cross-country dash to the nearest bar. On Halloween, she presents them at a costumed Witches Night Out. For autumn’s Race for the Cure, she and girlfriends traipse down to Denver in decorated pink cowboy hats.
And New Year’s Eve? It’s no exception.
Tomorrow evening, McCaulley will be decked out in a tiara, serving lemon martinis to anyone in Strawberry Park who doesn’t belong to the homeowners’ association. Her home hosts no black ties, no clam chowder, no Father Time introducing Baby 2008 — but her new year will begin with a bang.
The petite, sparkly eyed equestrienne will salute the New Year by indulging in her annual custom: blowing up her gingerbread house.
The past 10 years, former pilot and occupational therapist McCaulley has routinely hosted Gingerbread House Demolitions. Her home’s hot-tub hose serves as a de facto fire extinguisher in case any nearby parkas catch on fire after the festive detonation.
It often takes until May, she concedes, to locate every stray champagne bottle, cork and jelly bean.
