Barbara Lawlor, Nederland. Mountain summer event organizers never know how all of their hard work and their long-term planning will end up. They will be a state of preparing for a back-up plan, crossing their fingers, praying to the hail and wind gods and wondering why they ever decided to run an event during the most chaotic cosmic times of the year.

High Peaks Art Festival director Cathy Stiers knows why she does it: she just plain loves it. And this year, last weekend she lucked out. With sunny skies, lofty clouds offering a bit a shade of now and then and comfortable temperatures, she couldn’t have planned it better.

Perfect weather led to high attendance and profitable sales and everyone was happy, especially the artists who won the Best of Shows in their category, along with a cash prize from the sponsors.

At noon Stiers gathers the judges and the sponsors and walks up the booth aisle, handing out ribbons to the artists who were deemed the best representation of their media. Stiers and her dalmation award back and purple hat are hard to miss as she spreads pride and prizes to the winners.

The first stop on Saturday was the presentation of the Dave Felkley Award to Rick Gnerich by Dave’s son Doug and his daughter-in-alaw Jen Hultkrans. Doug told Rick that his carved wooden flutes best represented the natural world that Dave, known to locals as Big Foot, loved. Dave died from cancer this past year after a lifetime of teaching adults and children how to snowshoe and hike and appreciate the outdoors.

Doug also gave Rick a walking stick with Dave’s stick figure drawing of himself etched into the wood. The sound of Rick’s flutes, played by visitors, permeated the atmosphere of the fair throughout the weekend.

Music was omnipresent as local musicians gathered at the tent at the end of the Visitor’s Center Parking Lot. Mhanza, Chico Coehlo and Dave Ridnell, The CGDS, Jerryatrix, Fiona Higgins, and the Brightwood All-Stars were non-stop entertainment. Heaped ice cream cones from Blue Owl Books were tongue licking popular and Nepalese food was offered outside the Kathmandu Restaurant. All of it adding up to a happy day in town.

The following awards were presented to:

Best of Jewelry, Michele Throne

Best of Fabric, Philleri Ball

Best of Fine Craft, Bud Smoot

Best of Photography, Heather Diamond

Best of Mixed Media, David Jessup

Best of Colorado, Roger Doak

Best of Woodwork, Matt Ricketts

Best of Ceramics, Dorothy Connors

Best of Sculpture, Steve Brown

Best of Glass, Susan Kelley

Best of Painting, Bruce White

And the Best of Show Ribbon went to Ivy Howard, whose work was deemed the most creative and made the best use of natural materials.

At noon on Saturday, Stiers was already ecstatic at how the days was going. She said many of the vendors sold some of their work as they were putting it on display, before the festival even began.

“People were buying and supporting the artists and events. This event has more local artists than ever before and the awards were all sponsored by local businesses.”

At the end of the weekend, she was even happier at the results of the festival. All those months of planning resulted in a perfect event.