Musical chairs: In the ‘80s, eateries on the 1400 block of Pearl Street included Abo’s, Taverna Terzakes and Rocky Mountain Joe’s. Photo by Ann Duncan

By Shannon Burgert, Tyera Eulberg and Mary Jarrett

Arts, food, sports and health—our conversations with Boulder's best continue. The questions we asked:

1. What’s the biggest change you have observed in Boulder, in your field, over the last three decades?

2. What significant trends do you see developing now in the city and county of Boulder?

3. With regard to your specific area of expertise, where do you think we’re headed?

Read the responses of John Platt, Alana Eve Burman, Sue Coffee, Robin Beeck, Cliff Bosley, John Douillard, Dave Plati, Dave Scott, Andrew Pruitt, and David Davis below.

John Platt
Chef and Owner, Q’s

1. The biggest change [in the food scene] is the number of restaurants. You can get just about any kind of food you want, except for the hole in Middle Eastern food. In 1990, when I moved here, there were six or eight “good,” or upscale, restaurants. I think that number is closer to 20 now. People are serving really inventive, consistently good food.

2. For chefs, going local, organic and sustainable is huge these days. It’s such a big trend that even if you aren’t doing it, you say you’re doing it. Using local ingredients is a great thing and everyone should try to do it, but this is just not a place where you can do it year-round. We’re not in Napa Valley. The last time I checked, the growing season in Colorado was 100 days.

Image-building and marketing are now required fields of study. It’s just not enough to offer good food and service in a nice atmosphere, and to be financially responsible. It’s just so competitive, you’ve got to have an edge. But the places that are successful are still doing those basics.

So many restaurants are being built around what’s happening at the bar. The bar used to be a satellite to the restaurant; now, I’m sure you could name half a dozen restaurants and the booze or cocktail they’re associated with—wine, rum, beer or tequila, for example.

Another big trend is the online presence—websites, online advertising, online reservations. Ten years ago, I would doubt that any restaurants had websites; even five years ago the number was very limited.

3. I think restaurants have got to reach a saturation point. I know there are restaurants out there that are not busy; there’ve got to be some casualties sooner or later. I think it’s overdue at this point.

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Alana Eve Burman
Director, Boulder Fringe Festival

1. In my 13 years living in Boulder as an artist, I have longed for an outlet to connect with other artists, to collaborate, network and share inspiration. For a long time, it felt as though all the talented people in Boulder were keeping their art to themselves. The Fringe, among other festivals and art happenings in town, has encouraged people to start playing and working together. By drawing many nonlocal people as well, it allows fresh ideas to invigorate the community.

2. More and more, we see people recognizing Boulder as a place to come to see performance.

3. I think the Fringe is helping this city become recognized as a place where fresh, cutting-edge art is the order of the day. The more people realize that artists will be supported here, the more artists and art lovers will want to be a part of it. As a result of the many festivals in Boulder and the top-notch performance-based programs at Naropa and CU, I see this city becoming renowned as a world-class arts hub. It has a small-town feel with a juicy, big-city vitality.

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All dressed up with someplace to go!
CU mascot Ralphie IV with her handlers at a recent game.
One of her predecessors, Ralphie I, starred as Homecoming Queen in 1971.
Photo courtesy University of Colorado, Sports Information Service

Sue Coffee
Choral Director, Sound Circle and Resonance

1. Independent arts organizations need to work smart to survive financially. It’s definitely not getting easier. Post-9/11, the conventional wisdom was that people were staying home more, and arts organizations were suffering because of that. Regardless of 9/11, my experience is that the whole world is exhausted—much more tired and oversaturated than 30 years ago. People have many entertainment options, and staying home is often the most appealing. So performing artists need to think creatively about all aspects of putting on a show.

2. Given our strong arts community, and how important it is to the city’s sense of itself, the amount of financial support for the arts seems small. The Boulder Arts Commission and Boulder County Arts Alliance are offering great support, but they have minimal resources. The development of the Dairy Center for the Arts is a welcome change. Its performing spaces don’t fully meet the needs of the community in terms of size, availability and acoustics, but it is still a very helpful presence.

Speaking very specifically of the artistic world I inhabit, the choral-music community is thriving. Choral music is perhaps not the most glamorous of performance genres, but choral musicians are some of the happiest people I know, and there’s good reason for that. There can never be too much singing in the world; it is a force for peace on all levels. I also think the community of artists interested in social awareness and activism is growing creatively. I am inspired by groups like Vox Feminista and Zen Cabaret, which do such strong “funny-smart” work.

3. I hope we are heading toward the creation of some new performing venues. There’s a huge need for a midsize (400-to-700-seat) performance hall with good acoustics and professional production capabilities, to allow Boulder’s many community musical organizations to realize their visions more effectively.

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Robin Beeck
Executive Director, Boulder International Film Festival

1. One of the biggest changes in the field of film is the dwindling number of theaters in town. My sister Kathy and I were popcorn girls when we were in high school in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s; we worked at the Fox Theatre, the Flatirons Theater and the Mann 6. There were also the Regency, the Flick, the United Artists and the Basemar Twin, all operating at the same time. There is one theater in Boulder now that may close soon, and one opening soon. The “art house” theater is no longer here, and for the first time Boulder will be home to a 16-theater multiplex, opening this summer.

2. One significant trend is the sheer number of film festivals—the Adventure Film Festival, the Chaos Film Festival, the Asian Film Festival, the Toofy Film Festival, the Longmont Film Festival, the 24-hour Shoot Out, and the Boulder International Film Festival, among others. It’s a reflection of the digital age and the sheer numbers of people making quality independent films that won’t be seen in theaters.

3. We see the interest in independent film growing exponentially in Boulder and Boulder County. Great storytelling is the oldest of all arts, the glue that holds together our culture and ourselves. By presenting stories that would not ordinarily have expression, we can expose people to the world’s realities and truths, and promote understanding and tolerance through the examination of others’ human experiences.

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Jose Cuervo Colorado Open volleyball tournament, 1984. Photo by Ann Duncan

Cliff Bosley
Bolder Boulder Race Director

1. It’s not so much a change but a progression in the health-and-fitness focus of the community. This, coupled with the coincidental timing of the first running boom in this country and Frank Shorter’s selection of Boulder in the early 1970s, helped perpetuate this focus. Frank’s early emphasis on training at altitude, before altitude training was scientifically proven and culturally accepted, was another key to the beginnings of our fitness culture. It was reinforced by the founding of the Bolder Boulder, along with other enterprises that were attracted to or born out of this culture. These ventures included Celestial Seasonings, Spyder ski gear, Head, Hanson, Red Zinger Classic (Coors Classic), White Wave, and the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine, to name a few.

2. Because of its fitness culture, natural beauty and overall quality of life, Boulder County has a great deal to offer companies and their employees. We have seen the founding or relocation of companies like Crocs and Ironman North America, which relocated from Florida. The area also attracts technology companies. I think technology runs parallel with the fitness/health/wellness focus. Historically, this has a lot do with IBM’s presence in the market since the early 1960s, and the founding of StorageTekSTC. The University of Colorado’s influence is probably the single biggest driver for where we’ve come, where we are now and where the community is going.

3. Fitness will continue to be a focus. Hopefully, medicine will evolve to focus on preventive, as opposed to reactive, measures relating to health, wellness, fitness and exercise, since those are such important lifestyle components in Boulder County. The establishment of a premier medical research facility at Fitzsimons will have a profound effect on the medical industry, which will influence the entire state. Having the state’s flagship university in Boulder will also keep a focus on Boulder that would otherwise be difficult to create.

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John Douillard
D.C., Ayurvedic Physician and Author of Body, Mind and Sport

1. I started practicing in Boulder in 1986. Even then it was swarming with natural-health practitioners; today there are even more. If Boulder has changed, it is just that the standards to survive as a natural healthcare provider have continued to rise.

2. No doubt, Boulder is becoming more sophisticated, with more high-end shops, expensive cars and great restaurants. The dressed-down style, beat-up cars, earthier and simple life are being updated and revised. In the end, the people of Boulder are still the best. It is just that the pendulum of experience in Boulder is now in full swing.

3. Boulder attracts some of the best health care in the nation. I think Boulder is leading the way with medical doctors and alternative practitioners team-treating their patients, offering them the best of both worlds. Credit should be given to the people of Boulder for demanding an open-minded, integrated approach to their health care.

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John Douillard

Dave Plati
Associate Athletic Director, CU

1. I’m not sure Boulder has really changed all that much, except for the population increase. It’s not a pure college town, if it ever really was. We’ve won a national championship in the last 30 years, and Boulder took great pride in that, but attendance at our games still flourishes best when the team is playing well, unlike other college cities where they often sell out even when a championship is not on the line. That speaks to the wide variety of things you can do in and around Boulder as opposed to other towns, where college sports are all that’s going on. Not to say that we don’t like our football. Ralphie, of course, is as revered today as she was 30 years ago!

And we do pay attention to other sports. CU has won 23 national championships, six this decade—men’s cross country (2001, 2004, 2006), women’s cross-country (2000, 2004) and skiing (2006). Women’s soccer, tennis and volleyball have all been ranked in the top 20 this year.

2. I think it has more to do with how the world is changing as a whole. The United States is an “I want it now” society, thanks to advancements such as e-mail, Wi-Fi and iPods. These things affect all of us and what we do. In athletics, it’s changed recruiting, how you deal with customers, how you communicate your successes. Thirty years ago you would mail something on Monday, and if it came by Thursday people were satisfied. That’s not the case today. We have to adjust, especially when it comes to working with our fanbase. People can order tickets direct through CUBuffs.com. We do a lot of e-mailing to customers, and that is an area we are working to expand.

3. I think we have really good leadership from top to bottom, and any time we have had that at CU, not only has athletics thrived, but the university has as well. Things are never as bad here as might be projected, either. There is no reason in my mind that CU can’t excel across the board, especially in athletics, if the right people are in place. And they are.

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Toiling overland at the Kinetic Sculpture Challenge, 1984. Photo by Ann Duncan

Dave Scott
Triathlete and Ironman Champion

1. I moved to Boulder in 1992 after visiting the city many times in the ’80s. My sister has been in Boulder for nearly 30 years, and I spent numerous summer nights sleeping on her patio. Both traffic on the arterial roads and motorists’ intolerance have escalated. Maneuvering in and around town on a bike or running has become a bit more challenging—particularly when motorists are on a frenetic pace and seem to view cyclists and runners as a nuisance or an unnecessary obstacle. With that said, I think our trail system in town and throughout the open space has stayed the same. The open-space trails, with the exception of Sanitas, are similar to when I arrived. Peacefulness and solitude are still right outside my door.

2. Stay off the main arteries! Car traffic rules the main thoroughfares. I am always amazed by cyclists or runners who use 28th Street as part of their route. I would like to see the city designate roads for cyclists, runners, skaters and walkers, and tell motorists that they are heavily traveled by “auto-free” folks.

3. Boulder will always be a mecca for endurance athletes, but we need to promote healthy living and access to a much broader city and county population. Obviously I am a staunch advocate of having not only adults but kids become more active. The city needs to promote outdoor health by making the streets more pedestrian and cycling friendly. Just take a look at the number of kids that walk or ride their bikes to school. The number is quite low, judging from my daughter’s elementary school and Boulder High, where I have two sons. I always encouraged my kids to use their legs to get to school, but at the same time I would hold my breath, with SUVs careening around every corner.

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Dave Scott

Andrew Pruitt
Ed.D., P.A., Founder, Boulder Center for Sports Medicine

1. In 1973, the staff at CU’s training room was the only source of sports medicine in town. The biggest change has been the influx of well-trained physicians, physical therapists and athletic trainers. In the last 20 years, as sports medicine has come to roost in Boulder, we’ve gone from having no one to having world-class people at the surgeon and physiology levels. Only in Boulder is there a 20,000-square-foot, 60-person sports-medicine facility.

2. Boulder continues to develop its outdoor lifestyle, including access to running and cycling trails. The city is now in the bike-racing business and grooms city parks for Nordic skiing. The International Mountain Bike Association is housed here, as is the U.S. Rugby Association. The lifestyle, the altitude and the city make it perfect. My Medicare population is extraordinary—I have a strong competitive group over the age of 80.

3. The changes are twofold. One is technology. For instance, we have a diagnostic ultrasound in our clinic, and the arthro-scope, which was rudimentary, now is like watching TV. In physiology, we can quantify and measure things like lactate threshold and VO2 max. Power meters have absolutely revolutionized the world of cycling. The other change is the aging population; the baby boomers are getting older. We’re switching from a lot of chronic disease, like emphysema and diabetes, to more acute disease, like knee trouble, because the baby boomers have a different lifestyle.

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Andy Pruitt treating Connie Carpenter, 1983.

David Davis
Rolfer

1. Bodywork has become mainstream. One can now say one does Rolfing/Structural Integration and people don’t think of roofing. People now know therapeutic bodywork isn’t like a massage parlor.

2. Boulder is becoming so urbane. Even so, my students who come from out of state still like to describe Boulder as 25 square miles of illusion surrounded by reality.

3. I see great growth on the horizon as people start seeing health and well-being as a process evolving over a lifetime, and that one can continue to improve with good nutrition, exercise, bodywork and the realization that health is wealth.

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Skiers take to the “slopes” of the then-courthouse, 1989. Photo by Ann Duncan