Brian Biggs works at the Nederland Transfer Station. You’ve probably seen him there, habitually happy, forever friendly, helping customers from atop his one-wheel, sometimes playing an accordion or standing in front of an easel, painting a picture. Never far from Brian is his best friend, moral compass, and assistant, Ham.

The Transfer Station is not always a job that sparks joy. Most of the customers are friendly and neighborly, sometimes parking and pulling up a chair. It’s a great source of local news, like social media but without the negativity (looking at you, angry ladies.) But the place gets its share of customers who don’t tell the truth about their recycling, or who are hair-on-fire angry about masks. Yet Brian takes it in stride.

Born and raised in Denville, New Jersey, love brought him to Boulder in 2003. That didn’t last, but he stayed. He took a job as a snowboard instructor at Eldora, bicycling and riding the bus up the Canyon. When there were no customers to instruct, he would hang out in Old Town, then head back to Eldora to try again.

He began to hear the mountains calling. Nederland had fun, a slower pace, a unique and interesting vibe. ”There’s just something about Nederland; at that point the town already had its hooks in me. I knew I wanted to get up here.”

Brian has a gift: numbers and equations light up when he looks at them. “I taught math to a couple of kids when I was still in the eighth grade. I like to help people and I’m good at math. I’m witty and that helps me get people from Point A to Point B. At the end of the day that’s what it’s all about – using your tools to connect with other people and give them something meaningful. That stayed with me.” He has taught ever since, giving him some financial freedom.

Which brings us to August 2012. While house-sitting for a friend in Big Springs, Brian came across a house for sale. It looked right, he made it his. The town had his heart, and in September 2015, it got his soul.

That’s when he took the job at the Transfer Station. “It allows me to really become a member of the community, to become immersed. I help people recycle. I feel like we’re doing a good thing, in a place where trash would otherwise get dumped in the woods, or buried and forgotten about. The bigger picture for me is that I come into contact with the Nederland community. Something about my attitude is uplifting. I see people turning the corner to pull in, all manic and panic. I greet them with a smile and I can see them get uplifted. I’ve never had a job before where I feel tired but good at the end of the day. People give it back to me. I get to be there for someone in a moment, and sometimes it’s deep and meaningful. I get to affect people.”

Here are some Brian tidbits (Nedbits, if you will):

Favorite place in Ned: home

Favorite music: live music, especially with friends

Second favorite flower: the sunflower

Favorite person: Ham, of course! Look for him, goggled up, in the sidecar of Brian’s Ural

Favorite things in Ned: the people, the snow, the mountains

Things that make you mad: “Not much. Anytime a bigger entity uses its power to step on and squash someone smaller. Or somebody taking advantage of people or things, like throwing a $2 trash bag into a recycling bin”

What is it about Ned? “Part of the allure of Ned is that we have a winter playground all year round. I’ve been told we have two seasons, winter and the Fourth of July. My soul is smiling when I’m in the trees, on my snowboard, in the powder.” He means it, he’s snowboarded every month of the last 72 months.

Hopes and dreams for Ned: ”In the entire US and maybe further, this is really a special place. I hope that people can live and visit here and responsibly enjoy it. Not leave trash behind, not start fires. It’s changing here, it’s getting busier, with more and more people, I hope we can hold this special place. I hope we can continue to see the beauty that it is, instead of trying to make it something else”

My wife and I met Brian at a low point in our lives. In the process of moving here from Tampa, we lost our new house and almost all our things to the Cold Springs Fire. What do we do – stay in Florida? Find a place in this muddy little town we hardly know, that had already taken just about everything we had?

Then we met Brian. It wasn’t anything he said, it’s who he is. If he can be that kind, that happy, if he’s an example of what Nederland has to offer, this is where we should be. We regrouped and moved to Ned. Because of Brian, we heard the mountains calling.

[Bella Lorena, ti amo ancora di più ora di quando abbiamo scritto l’ultimo.]