And some of it was exactly that.

The 27-year-old social work student from Lithuania came to work in Estes Park for two summers on a , a U.S. Department of State program designed to facilitate the exchange of scientific and cultural knowledge between the U.S. and the rest of the world.

Duncyte relished the chance to learn about American culture, attending rodeos and Fourth of July festivities. She road-tripped to Mexico, hiked in national parks throughout the West and saw the sights in New York and Los Angeles. During one summer, she met the love of her life while trekking through Rocky Mountain National Park.

“These experiences changed my life,” Duncyte said.

And yet the program had its downsides, she said. Her boss at the local diner constantly talked behind her back. She was almost fired for reasons she couldn’t understand. Turns out, that manager was a convicted sex offender who preyed on the young foreigners, she said.

“I was crying a lot back then,” Duncyte said.

Her experience represents the dichotomy of the J-1 visa, at times an indelible, life-altering opportunity to travel to a new country, meet people from all over the world and earn a little money along the way. At other times, the program makes participants feel like exploitable low-wage workers with few protections, according to interviews with more than a dozen visa-holders who worked in Colorado.

One J-1 student from Turkey said management would yell and humiliate him for every mistake and sexually harass his female colleagues. Visitors say they lived with as many as 14 other people, with four crammed into each room. Other participants in Colorado have filed lawsuits against their employers, accusing them of taking advantage of the J-1s without providing any of the cultural opportunities promised in the visa.

More than 9,000 people came to Colorado last year on the J-1 visa, working as physicians, professors, researchers, ski workers, restaurant servers and au pairs, among myriad opportunities. They worked in ritzy Colorado mountain towns and with families in suburban Denver. Many of the visitors interviewed by The Denver Post lived near ski resorts and national parks due to seasonal influxes in tourists and labor needs.

In August, the Trump administration published a that would establish a four-year limit on student J-1 visa holders. The rule has not yet been finalized.

Nearly all of the young people interviewed for this story said they would recommend the program to their friends. But they wanted people to understand all that comes with the experience.

“Agencies paint you this pretty picture: It will be easy and you’ll travel every weekend,” said Karla Rodriguez, who came to Colorado from Mexico to work as an au pair. “In reality, it’s a job. You have to be conscious that you’ll spend most of your time working.”

Birth of the J-1 visa program

The J-1 visa program was born out of the of 1961 “to promote foreign policy objectives of mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries through educational and cultural activities.”

The law came amid a wave of Cold War-era soft-power initiatives — such as the — promoted by President John F. Kennedy as the U.S. sought to .

More than 300,000 foreigners come to the U.S. on J-1 visas every year, with the serving as the most popular option. Colorado boasts the fifth-highest number of these visa-holders in the country, according to U.S. government data.

The program has long been plagued by accusations that it’s not being used as the law intended.

The , a congressional watchdog, in 1990 found certain portions of the program — including the summer work exchange and the camp counselor and au pair programs — are “inconsistent with legislative intent.”

“Authorizing J visas for the participants and activities that are not clearly for educational and cultural purposes as specified in the act dilutes the integrity of the J visa and obscures the distinction between the J visa and other visas granted for work purposes,” the watchdog wrote in its .

The government’s oversight of the program, the agency found, does not ensure that participant activities conform to the intent of the law.

Yet the J-1 visa has continued to expand in popularity, with the problematic jobs identified in the report becoming an ingrained segment of the program.

Participants told The Post that they have worked for fast food chains like Subway and at large grocery stores such as Safeway. Others toiled in restaurants and cleaned hotel rooms.

Many of them enjoyed the jobs and knew what they were signing up for when they left their home countries.

“It was busy all the time,” said Ognen Mladenovski, a J-1 visa holder from North Macedonia, who worked for Subway in Estes Park. “No slow hours, no breaks. I had a lot of work that needed to be done and done fast.”

Nikolay Paraskevov, a J-1 student from Bulgaria, said his job at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park allowed him to connect with lots of tourists who came to visit the national park.

‘How will I survive?’

But some J-1 students said their jobs did not conform to expectations.

Duncyte spent a summer at the You Need Pie Diner in Estes Park.

Her manager, David Morales, seemed nice at the start. But Duncyte noticed the man, who was in his 40s, spent a lot of time partying with the young J-1 students.

Morales had previously served years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree assault and attempted sexual assault, court records show.

In August, Estes Park police Morales on suspicion of providing alcohol to minors at a closed restaurant, as well as failing to register as a sex offender. His criminal cases remain ongoing. Morales could not be reached for comment.

“I felt so disappointed,” Duncyte said about her experience at the diner. “I never had a similar situation in my life. I’m just a girl from Lithuania. Nobody can protect me, nobody can explain what’s happening. I was very lost.”

Another J-1 worker, an au pair in Aspen, said her host father was clearly interested in her romantically and made her uncomfortable. When she rebuffed his advances, she said he became cold and hostile. The woman spoke to The Post on the condition of anonymity because she still hopes to return to the U.S. on another visa.

In 2023, Daniel Esteban Camas Lopez, a culinary arts student from Mexico, the upscale , alleging he and other J-1 students were sold a “false promise of an internship” when, in fact, management “exploited plaintiff and the class for low-wage, menial work in direct violation of state and federal law.”

Lopez claimed he was mandated to work 48-hour weeks when the internship promised a maximum of 40 hours. He said he worked mainly at the sauté station, preparing, cooking and plating the food and then passing it on to servers.

When he asked the executive chef to train him on restaurant operations, as promised in the program, Lopez said he was ignored. And despite the J-1 visa’s intended emphasis on cultural experiences, Lopez said there was no time for him to engage in out-of-work activities.

“Throughout plaintiff’s time at St. Regis, he felt that any American worker could fill his role,” the lawsuit states. “He noticed that he was simply providing cheap labor for the severely understaffed kitchen.”

The lawsuit, which was filed in district court and later transferred to federal court, remains ongoing.

Marriott International, which operates St. Regis, said in court filings that Lopez freely entered into the J-1 program, was paid regular and overtime wages, and voluntarily chose to quit.

Other J-1 students in Aspen reported similar dissatisfaction with their American experience.

A group of 30 visa-holders, in an August 2024 to management at the , said managers provided housing 45 minutes away in Glenwood Springs. The motel where they lived featured tiny, moldy rooms with broken air conditioning, the workers wrote in the letter, first reported by . Workers saw rats, snakes and general neglect, “creating a highly unpleasant living environment,” they wrote.

“Many J-1 employees have found this summer to be a miserable experience, feeling reduced to mere laborers rather than valued contributors,” the group said.

Even students who loved their J-1 experiences told The Post the living conditions were often dicey. Many said they lived four people to a room and shared a bathroom with 10 others. One Estes Park worker said their kitchen just had a microwave, no oven.

Paraskevov, the J-1 student from Bulgaria, said his first reaction to his Estes Park housing was, “How will I survive?”

“It was miserable,” he said.

These complaints mirror accusations levied against J-1 employers across the country.

An in 2010 found that some students were being forced to dance at strip clubs, while others were being paid less than $1 an hour after labor brokers deducted fees. A Hershey Company packing plant was caught putting visa holders on grueling overnight shifts.

A in September found many J-1 workers suffered abuse and mistreatment by American businesses in a poorly regulated program ripe for exploitation. Companies made students wash blood and feces from pig pens and ordered them to pressure renters into signing leases in run-down apartment buildings, all under the guise of cultural exchange.

The au pair program, meanwhile, is “strategically used to sustain — and disguise — a government-created domestic worker program to provide flexible, in-home childcare for upper-middle-class families at below-market prices,” according to a in the Harvard Journal of Law & Gender.

“The discourse and structure of this government-sponsored ‘cultural exchange’ program render au pairs a worker population hidden from formal labor scrutiny,” the report’s author noted.

A life-changing experience

Despite the challenges, J-1 students interviewed by The Post overwhelmingly said they would do it all over again.

The visa program represents a big step, they said — a step out of their comfort zone, away from their family and friends. But it also represents an opportunity to see the world, meet new people and make new memories.

“It taught me how to cooperate with other people, how to live with other people,” said Mladenovski, the J-1 student from North Macedonia. “How to buy things meant for everybody, how to share responsibilities and chores.”

The program gives these visitors a built-in friend group with which to travel the country. And J-1s said they took advantage: sightseeing in New York City, road-tripping to national parks across the west, and hitting the beach in Florida and California.

Duncyte, the master’s student from Lithuania, said she was immediately overwhelmed by Colorado’s beauty and wildlife.

“All summer, I was walking around with my eyes wide open,” she said. “I was like in some kind of heaven. It was like in the movies.”

Her English, she said, wasn’t great at first. But she didn’t have any other option “but to be brave and try and improve as much as possible.”

In her free time, she hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park. One day, while trekking alone, she met a man from Mexico on the trail. They instantly connected. He came to Lithuania. She went to Mexico. Now they’re in Canada, traveling together.

They plan eventually to go back to Lithuania, get married and settle down.

“It was absolutely life-changing,” she said.

Jay Seaton, who serves on the state’s Economic Development Commission, which is part of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), told The Denver Post that he hopes Zuckerman will be celebrated for his contributions to the state. “I mean, this guy just delivered Sundance.

“I had no idea that he would be on the outs. … He’s a very unique animal, and it’s unfortunate that we’re losing him,” he added.

The comments came during a regularly scheduled meeting of OEDIT, where Zuckerman was praised for building up the state’s film office, garnering legislative approval for millions of dollars in filming and film-festival credits and incentives, and attracting movies such as Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” to Colorado. He was also credited for securing the Sundance Film Festival, which will move to Boulder in 2027 after 44 years in Park City, Utah, the state where it was founded.

“(It’s) incredibly remarkable to see how, under Donald’s leadership, we were able to make something happen with very little resources,” EDC chairwoman Carrie Schiff said Thursday during the meeting. “I’m not sure how you did that, with the last miracle being your call to (Sundance board chairwoman) Gigi Pritzker that launched us on the path we are now on with Sundance.”

Zuckerman was fired in September from the job he’d held for 14 years. His boss, OEDIT director Eve Lieberman, has declined to discuss her reasoning for the firing, both at the time and again on Thursday. A press statement from the office only said that deputy film commissioner Arielle Brachfeld would serve as interim Film Commissioner.

A termination letter for Zuckerman obtained by The Denver Post, dated Sept. 12, said he “is being terminated effective immediately as a result of unsatisfactory behavior.”

Zuckerman declined comment to The Denver Post — although he did show up digitally on Thursday at the EDC meeting. “I’m turning 80 this year, but I’m very actively involved with Sundance and very actively involved with … the Stanley Hotel,” he said during the session, adding that he hopes to still serve on the SPACE board (Stanley Partnership for Art Culture and Education).

That project includes the construction of the new Stanley Exhibit Center and Blumhouse Space at the historic Estes Park hotel, which broke ground at a Sept. 25 ceremony attended by Gov. Jared Polis, Lieberman and others.

Zuckerman attended the groundbreaking as well — and was given a ceremonial shovel — but wasn’t mentioned at the podium during remarks, despite working on the deal for the past decade. The $60 million project, which was approved during Zuckerman’s tenure in 2015, includes a $46 million contribution from the state’s Regional Tourism Act to support construction.

Former state treasurer and 2018 Republican gubernatorial candidate also celebrated Zuckerman’s tenure at the Thursday meeting, as did board member Chris Franz, who said the office did a good job of figuring out how to build support and that Zuckerman “did a great job in maintaining the industrial base here so that it never disappeared, no matter how thin things got.”

“The guy has earned those accolades,” added Seaton, who is also the publisher of the Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction. “I don’t think any of us really saw his exit coming. There’s no information around it, so we don’t know what happened.

“We’re all in your debt,” Seaton said of Zuckerman.

Zuckerman’s Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media will now be led by Arielle Brachfeld, the former deputy film commissioner, who will work as interim commissioner and director of the office. The film office falls under the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), which is run by executive director Eve Lieberman, an appointee of Gov. Jared Polis.

An OEDIT spokesperson declined to say why Zuckerman had left, or who was part of the decision, citing its policy of not commenting on personnel matters. Zuckerman declined to comment Monday morning.

Zuckerman’s departure comes at a sensitive time for Colorado’s film industry and culture, with the lucrative and attention-getting Sundance — one of the world’s top independent film festivals — on the horizon for 2027, as well as a Thursday groundbreaking for the long-in-the-works horror film museum and event center at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. That event, supported by Gov. Jared Polis, will also bring project partner and horror producer Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Productions (“Insidious,” “Paranormal Activity”) to Colorado on Thursday.

Zuckerman started the entire Sundance-luring process about two years ago, having reached out to old friend and former producer Gigi Pritzker, who’s now vice chair of the Sundance board, Pritzker told The Denver Post in March.

Gov. Polis’s office, OEDIT deputy director Jeff Kraft, and Visit Boulder CEO Charlene Hoffman also played major roles in luring the festival away from its longtime home of Park City, Utah.

Zuckerman, a producer with 23 films to his credit, began his Colorado tenure in 2011 just as the Colorado film office was getting off the ground. He was there for several major productions, shooting part or all of their movies in Colorado, ranging from Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” in 2014 to the big-budget thriller “Elevation,” which was released earlier this year after being filmed mostly in Boulder and Golden. It featured Anthony Mackie (the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s current Captain America) as the star.

The Colorado Office of Film, Television & Media develops and supports in-state projects as well as reviewing and approving film incentives for local and out-of-state productions, such as rebates on local spending and crew hires. It has generated $370 million in economic impact to 55 counties in Colorado and created over 6,500 cast and crew positions since its inception, .

CECFA, which was established by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado in 1981, purchased the property through its subsidiary, The Stanley Partnership for Art Culture and Education LLC, along with private bond investors, the former owner and  Sage was also announced as the hotel’s new management on Thursday.

“The Stanley Hotel represents everything we look for in a landmark property: a rich history, innovative programming, and deep community connections. We see so much opportunity and look forward to creating memorable guest experiences,” said Daniel del Olmo, president and co-CEO of Sage Hospitality Group.

Built in 1909 by inventor Freelan Oscar Stanley, the 68-acre property features 191 rooms across , including the main hotel, The Lodge, Aspire and The Residences at The Stanley.

Plans for the coming years include a nearly $400 million bond offering to fund a major expansion of the two historic lodging buildings and a new 65,000 square foot event center. The two lodging buildings will be extended with a 65-room expansion and connected by a new porte-cochere arrival.

The event center will include an 864-person auditorium and a horror film museum curated by horror movie powerhouse Blumhouse Productions, featuring new exhibits approximately every other month.

The Stanley will also host the Sundance Institute’s 2025 Directors Lab starting next week.

“In selecting Sage Hospitality Group, we found a partner who shares our vision for preserving The Stanley’s legacy and embracing innovation. Their experience with leisure properties around the U.S., and historic properties such as The Oxford in Denver, earned our trust,” said Mark Heller, executive director for CECFA.

“This collaboration ensures that The Stanley will continue to be a Colorado destination for generations to come. Through this partnership, we expect to generate $45 million over the next 36 years in support of CECFA’s mission.”

For the last 30 years, under the guidance of former owner John Cullen, the Stanley is famously known as the inspiration for Stephen King’s “The Shining” and has become a popular destination for families, corporate events, locals and film buffs.

As the chairman and CEO for SPACE, Cullen will remain actively involved in these new projects. “I have owned The Stanley for almost 30 years and can’t imagine a better way to both preserve and grow it for generations to come,” Cullen said.

The event center is funded in part through a $46 million sales tax increment pledge from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) and the Colorado Economic Development Commission’s (EDC) Regional Tourism Act program.

Listed on the and a member of Historic Hotels of America, The Stanley Hotel will join Sage’s portfolio, which includes Perry Lane in Savannah, One Ocean Resort in Florida, The Lodge at Sonoma, Hotel Alpenrock in Breckenridge and The Asbury Collection on the New Jersey Shore.

Friday-Sunday. Since moving to Estes Park in 2023, the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival has been “reborn,” programmers wrote online, with “national and regional touring bands and quirky, good fun all weekend long.” That bolsters an event already known for its weirdness, founded as it was around a cryogenically frozen corpse in a shed in Nederland — where the event was held for the previous two decades.

This year again features Frozen Dead Bar Crawl, the Royal Blue Ball (a dance and costume party), live music at various Estes Park bars and restaurants, Coffin Races, and the Polar Plunge. The Friday, March 14-Sunday, March 16 fun will be held at the Estes Park Events Complex and The Stanley Hotel, with satellite events occurring around town, producers said. Prices vary per event, with a full-fest pass costing $55. Daytime events are kid-friendly. 1125 Rooftop Way in Estes Park. Call 970-231-3777 or visit for more.

Butterfly Pavilion’s Mexican exhibit

Opens Saturday. The new Butterfly Pavilion exhibit, “Legacies: Invertebrates of Mexico,” replaces its “Origins: Building Life” exhibit this weekend to celebrate “the vital role invertebrates in Mexican culture and biodiversity,” as the museum said. The all-ages, conservation-minded offering includes millipedes, scorpions, tarantulas, and other invertebrates along with sensory elements (soundscapes, natural scents), live feeing displays and interactive educational activities.

It opens Saturday, March 15, at 6252 W. 104th Ave. in Westminster, and runs daily hours  (9 a.m.-5 p.m.). It’s included with general admission, $17.45 for adults, $12.45 for kids 2-12, and free for 1 and under (with discounts available). Call 303-469-5441 or visit for more.

St. Patrick’s Day pups

Saturday. While downtown Denver’s huge St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday is undoubtedly the biggest green event in the city this weekend (see for more), there’s also Boulder’s adorable St. Patrick’s Day Puppy Parade. Held at Boulder Social, 1600 38th St., it features dozens of doggos dressed in their finest tiny hats, bandanas, beads and other festive gear.

Last year’s event at 38th Street and Arapahoe Avenue drew 150 parade-goers and 60 dogs, and organizers expect an even bigger crowd this year. Registration and activities begin at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 15, with the parade starting at 1 p.m. Adoptable dogs from POSO Dog Rescue will be on site along with sponsor booths, a dog-friendly patio and pup cups, and Irish food and drink specials for the humans.

Colorado Dragon Boat Film Festival

Friday-Sunday. This film event focused on Asian American and Pacific Islander movies typically precedes the outdoor Dragon Boat Festival — although the latter’s 2025 dates haven’t yet been announced. This weekend, however, you can check out the full Colorado Dragon Boat Film Festival, which explores diverse facets of Asian American culture — from opening night title “New Wave” and the animated “Pigsy” to community conversations, an Asian Marketplace, and a Sunday, March 16, culinary experience with tastings from Pho King Rapidos, Sweet Rice Flour, RiceBoxx Denver, Die Die Must Try, Spice Room and more ($27.31 per ticket).

All events at Denver Film’s Sie FilmCenter, 1520 E. Colfax Ave. in Denver. An all-access pass to the 10th festival is $90.40, with individual screenings for $17.84.

Colorado’s government should not be in the hotel and hospitality business.

Just like how our government shouldn’t be in the business of underwriting film festivals with millions of dollars in taxpayer money.

But here we are, in need of a drastic course correction.

The Stanley Hotel is uniquely Coloradan. Separate plans are underway to use state-tax dollars to build a Stanley Film Center to honor horror films like The Shining, which made the Estes Park Hotel far more than a historic lodging option for those headed to Rocky Mountain National Park.

The Sundance Film Festival will bring millions of dollars in revenue to the Boulder area as 60,000 affluent tourists descend on the town for one of the world’s pre-eminent independent film screenings.

And yet, we can confidently say that these two deals – purchasing The Stanley and giving tax credits to Sundance – stretch the state’s mission of economic development and historic preservation too far.

We can see the writing on the wall with The Stanley Hotel. Originally the deal was slightly different but still concerning.

was to act as a middleman – a pass-through if you will — that would oversee the purchase and updating of the facility. According to the nonprofit����ap website it exists solely to facilitate these types of government projects: “The governmental entity typically takes possession of the completed facility when construction is complete and begins paying base rent equivalent to the debt service. In most cases, the project financing is paid back over time through lease payments and ownership of the project transfers to the governmental entity for a nominal cost when the debt is retired.”

But the middleman was cut out of the deal – perhaps for the better — and now Colorado will purchase the hotel through its own subsidiary. Our eyebrows are raised.

The executive director of the Colorado Educational and Cultural Facilities Authority was optimistic that not only could they pay off the debt but that there would be a share of profits remaining after the fact to help fund CEFCA’s main mission of helping other Colorado cultural and educational facilities with needed bonds and loans.

We see a vast difference between CECFA taking on the risk of issuing bonds to private schools and charter schools to build or upgrade their campuses, and taking on the risk of operating a hospitality business through a subsidiary. And where does this slippery slope end. Will the authority now rescue the Brown Palace in downtown Denver from its financial turmoil? And what if the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs suffers a devastating loss of business due to some unforeseen event?

Colorado should be investing in our history, heritage, and culture. But passing legislation specifically so CECFA can overstep its original intent of helping to finance independent projects feels like a risky precedent to set.

As does the precedent that would be set by , a narrowly written tax credit that would only ever be available to the owners of the Sundance Film Festival should they decide to bring their 11 day event to someplace in Colorado. The tax credit would be fully refundable – meaning Sundance wouldn’t have to actually have any Colorado tax liability to get the cash – and would be worth $34 million over 10 years. In tax year 2027, the festival operators would get .

The bill is exactly the kind of economic development arms race that Utah and Colorado should not engage in. If Utah is able to keep Sundance, Colorado should be happy for our neighbors. If Sundance comes to Colorado, we should be thrilled at the opportunity, not wondering for a decade whether they would have come without the bag of cash.

It����ap not too late for Colorado lawmakers to correct course and kill House Bill 1005, and we’ll just have to wait and see if getting into the hospitality business in Estes Park is as bad of an idea as we suspect it is.

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During its October 2024 board meeting, the approved issuing up to $475 million in bonds for the eventual purchase of the hotel.

“Since then, RBC (RBC Capital Markets) has been working to finalize the financing structure and we expect to market the bonds beginning (this) year,” said Mark Heller, executive director of the agency, in an email to The Post last month.

The proposed funding for the project is about $415 million, but the final price tag is still being evaluated.

The bonds, which will be issued though a subsidiary called Space LLC, will help retire debt and acquire the existing Stanley properties, including all of the related land, the Hotel, the Aspire, the Concert Hall, the Carriage House, the Cryogenics Museum and everything related to the Stanley Hotel.

The CECFA project will also help fund a $61 million addition to the hotel with 65 new guest rooms, along with a new covered entryway and lobby, and a new $66 million events center, which will be built near the existing Concert Hall and Carriage House.

CECFA stepped up with a plan to buy the hotel after a deal to sell the Stanley to an Arizona nonprofit fell through.

Since 1981 CECFA has issued over $7.5 billion in bonds, and its project list has grown to include museums, sports facilities, charter schools, alternative high schools and performance spaces, according to their website.

will be a two-story building, spanning more than 70,000 square feet, featuring events, exhibits and an archive dedicated to the history and culture of horror films.

The film center will be designed by Denver firm and include an auditorium with a 1,200-person capacity concert hall featuring 600 fixed seats.

The center will also house an immersive film museum with both permanent and traveling exhibits, complemented by a 60-seat theater that can serve as part of the tour experience or offer a dedicated space for independent film screenings.

Visitors can expect to see movie memorabilia, such as one of the fake axes used in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror classic “The Shining,” as it was the film center’s first donation. It will be displayed during hotel tours until the film center is completed.

Additionally, the center will feature a Discovery Center dedicated to children’s programs. Other spaces will include film museum storage and archival areas, a public lobby and gallery that will host free exhibits, sell gifts and serve as the gathering point for tour groups.

Conference rooms will be designed to function as sound and video editing studios or meeting spaces, while the Creative Center will accommodate various uses, such as a sound stage, film conference venue or event space.

Jason Blum and his company, Blumhouse, known for producing popular horror films such as “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” “Insidious,” “Halloween” and Jordan Peele’s “Get Out,” will also exclusively curate 10,000 square feet of exhibition space in the Stanley Film Center, which is scheduled to open in 2026.

“Here’s Blumhouse! This iconic Colorado hotel will now have a new element of fun and fright for Coloradans and visitors across the world to enjoy, driving tourism and strengthening our economy,” said Gov. Jared Polis in an announcement about the project last year.

“I look forward to seeing the exhibit and am happy that our administration can help make this possible.”

Blumhouse will curate exhibits pulled from the company’s extensive catalog of popular franchises and box office blockbusters including films, television and gaming.

Estes Park is northwest of Denver at the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. The Stanley Hotel has about 400,000 visitors each year and is listed on the .

John Cullen, owner of , which owns the Stanley, said in the October CECFA board meeting that when he initially acquired the Stanley property 30 years ago, annual revenues were $1.4 million. He said revenues have since grown to $44 million.

“Under the umbrella of CECFA, Mr. Cullen believes that the Stanley Hotel Project will remain successful and self-sustaining, combining culture, arts, entertainment, and education, with a particular focus on public arts for children in grades 5-8 who would not otherwise be able to avail themselves of the opportunities the Stanley Project will offer,” according to a statement from the board meeting minutes.

The proposed bonds will fund the Stanley Project for approximately 35 years.

“We have followed the arduous process with much interest and are excited to hear the finish line is near,” said Estes Park’s deputy town administrator Jason Damweber in a statement to The Post.

“From what I understand, what is envisioned for the future of the Stanley property will result in some fantastic cultural benefits for the residents and guests of Estes Park, as well as economic benefits to the community. We look forward to seeing how the development of the property proceeds.”

Representatives of the Stanley Hotel and the film center could not be reached for comment.

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Blumhouse, the company behind frightening films such as “Get Out,” “Sinister” and “M3GAN,” is turning the historic hotel into an immersive experience, according to a statement. The “Overnightmare,” as it’s called, runs Oct. 18-20.

Tickets are $1,031 each at and include a two-night stay in a double-occupancy room in The Lodge, the themed experience of your choice, one dinner, $100 breakfast/lunch credit, two drinks, two nights of screenings, and “interactive moments and photo ops.”

The screenings promote Peacock’s upcoming original thriller series, “Teacup,” from James Wan’s Atomic Monster. The show premieres a week before the Stanley event (Oct. 10).

“The thrilling experience starts immediately at check-in, where guests will be greeted by a conci-scare-ge and will continue throughout the weekend with encounters of various characters and frights throughout the space,” Blumhouse officials wrote.

That includes the Teacup Room, “a spooky salon that will take guests inside the world of the new thriller series produced by James Wan’s Atomic Monster … and the Blumhouse Bar, a haven for horror fans to have a sip and a scare, and play the company’s upcoming video game, Fear the Spotlight.”

The Stanley has long been a popular destination for ghost hunters and horror aficionados, given its role as the inspiration for the Stephen King novel “The Shining” — and the site of a TV mini-series adaptation in 1997 (Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror-classic starring Jack Nicholson was filmed mostly in England).

After sundown each evening of the event, guests can take part in one of four “personal, fully immersive activations” that are themed after Blumhouse movies and feature interactive narratives. They’ll be offered at different levels of fright, producers said, from Freaky and Happy Death Day to Insidious and The Purge (all named after Blumhouse hits).

Blumhouse warned that the experience includes “strobe effects, loud noises during the experience and throughout the duration of your stay, inappropriate language, prop weaponry including chain saws, knives etc., taunting, creature effects, gore, creepy imagery, high altitude and proximity/general wildlife warning (elk, bears, etc.).”

Sounds like Colorado alright.

The Colorado Educational and Cultural Facilities Authority stepped up with a plan to buy the haunted hotel after a deal to sell the Stanley to an Arizona nonprofit fell through, said CECFA Executive Director Mark Heller.

Heller said the authority hopes to wrap up the sale in the coming months, securing the government agency as the owner of the hotel and borrower of the bonds that will help finance 60 new rooms, a fresh restaurant and the construction of the Stanley Film Center.

Instead of selling the hotel to Arizona’s Community Finance Corporation and taking ownership after the nonprofit paid back the bonds, CECFA will create a subsidiary and become the borrower of the bonds directly instead. The new plan simply removes the middleman.

If the new plan pans out, the state department will own the Stanley once it pays back the bonds needed to refurbish the property — still expected to top $400 million.

“The benefit here is that we’ll have a Colorado entity owning the property, and CEFCA will have a small and increasing share of the profit to support our ongoing mission to help fund the state’s educational and cultural facilities,” Heller said.

The solution is unusual — for both Colorado and CECFA.

Of the hundreds of organizations CECFA has helped secure $7.6 billion in bonds for since 1981, the Colorado agency has yet to own any of the facilities it’s worked with.

But, according to Heller, it would be a natural fit to own the Stanley, since CECFA is already a partner in the proposed Stanley Film Center.

The Colorado Economic Development Commission designated the Stanley Film Center a project in 2015, which qualified the project for more than $46 million in state sales tax incentives over 30 years.

In January, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media announced that mega-producer Jason Blum and his company () will be the sole curator of the Stanley Film Center’s exhibition space, set to open in 2026.

Blumhouse has produced multiple high-profile horror films including “Get Out,” “The Purge,” “Halloween,” “Five Nights at Freddy’s” and “Paranormal Activity.”

“The vision for the film center has incredible potential to attract new, out-of-state visitors to Estes Park and Colorado, and strengthen CECFA’s ability to support educational and cultural facilities across the state,” Heller said.

But before CECFA can officially take control, it needs the state legislature to expand its role and operational capabilities, Heller said.

The Colorado legislature will adjourn its 2024 session next month.

“The current statute allows us to own property, but it then requires us to lease the property to an intermediate entity to contract for management,” Heller said. “We’re hopeful we can get legislation passed that would allow us to take on that role directly.”

The proposed legislation would allow Heller and his team to take on a wider range of community revitalization projects, he said.

“That����ap a win for the Colorado communities,” Heller said.

CECFA’s next steps are to finalize the sale documents, seek changes to the legislative statute and start marketing the bonds to potential investors, Heller said.

Representatives of the Stanley Hotel and Community Finance Corporation could not be reached for comment.

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Today, Gov. Jared Polis’ office and the Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media announced that mega-producer Jason Blum and his company,   (“Get Out,” “The Purge” “Five Nights at Freddy’s” and Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman”) will be the sole curator of the 10,000-foot exhibition space in the Stanley Film Center, set to open in 2026.

“We searched the world for the right partner to bring the Stanley Film Center exhibit space to life as a horror destination, and there’s no one better than Blumhouse,” said John Cullen, president of Grand Heritage Hotel Group and owner of the Stanley, in a press release.

“This is arguably a $400 million project,” he added on a call with Gov. Polis, whom he credits with making it happen. “Jason got a call from the governor and said to me, ‘I’ve filmed in 23 states, and this is the first time I’ve spoken with a governor.’ This must be a pro-business state.”

“This is a junction of business and creativity,” Polis said. “Colorado does both well. That was part of the value proposition Jason saw, and why the center’s going to thrive.”

Blumhouse will curate exhibits pulled from the company’s catalog of its movie and television franchises, as well as its gaming offerings.

“The Stanley Hotel is hallowed ground for horror fans, and that makes this presence at the Stanley Film Center a natural extension for Blumhouse,” Blum said in Friday release.

Blumhouse’s role in the Stanley Film Center adds to its ambitions to become a international destination. “Jason Blum sold $5.7 billion in tickets in the past 10 years,” said Cullen. “Blumhouse is internationally recognized in the industry.”

“Don’t forget that Blumhouse’s minority partner is this thing called Comcast, Universal NBC. So not only are we getting Jason Blum, his parent company wants a piece of this, too,” Cullen added.

Blumhouse’s involvement with the Stanley Film Center is the second major announcement in as many months about the Stanley Hotel. In November, the Sundance Institute, home to the nation’s top film festival and film creatives labs, announced that its signature Directors Lab will take place at the storied hotel, located at the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, in May.

“Nothing beats the inspirational backdrop of Estes Park, the gateway to the Rocky Mountain National Park,” Polis added.

As for the Blumhouse Space, as it����ap being called, “think of it as a mini-Academy Museum dedicated to horror,” said Colorado film commissioner Donald Zuckerman. “Ghastly.”

“Fans are going to get closer than ever before to their favorite films,” Blum said. “though they may want to keep their distance with a few of the ‘items’ in our collection. We’re excited to get to work, but first we need to make it out of the hedge maze.”

Lisa Kennedy is a Denver-based freelance writer who specializes in film and theater. 

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