I want to start this off with a gratitude to so many people.

Thank you to Melissa Kluck, Roz Bagtaz, Mark Kuban, Jennifer Borah, Christine McAllister, Karen Gerrity, Garth Wagner, the McLaren Family, Karen Blakemore, Ann Thompson, Margaret Yansura, William Pollock, Susan Eisman, Robert and Suzanne Busch for donating through the #newsCOneeds website link.

Thank you to Veronica Byers, Judy Anderson, Beth Fitzpatrick, Chip at Dam Liquor, Joe Ryan, Michael Wolfe, Judy Moir, Charles Turner, Stephen Tebo, Mark Moll, Katrina Harms, Susan Pretak, Allison Pretak, Justine Irwin, Laura Marin, Lee Gutmacher, Linda Chedister, Molly Melamed, Megan Larson, Boyer D’Alessandro, Amy Shrum, Lynn Abrams, Cassidy Sainsbury, Nicole Kazmierski, Jennifer Borah, Linda Isenhart, Ernestine Burch, Glenn Lybarger, Patti Sabel, Karyn Stockdale, Lisa Cass, Sarah Irwin- Powell, Al Irwin, Lois Ott, Carole Handler, Jamie Tabaka, Cal & Jacci Buelow, Susan Fields, Michael Fields, Susan Fairhead, Spencer Fairhead, Liz Stokes, Adam Begin, Doug Armitage. This list may not include all names, since we had many anonymous donors as well.

Thank you to Randy & Nita Mills and Ann Thompson, as well as several anonymous donors to the Local News Fund: Rebuilding Business in the Peak to Peak.

Thank you to Jennifer Borah and Nicole Kazmierski, for the beautiful tribute to remember Justin Short. Thank you for sponsoring the Pet of the Year contest and contributing gift certificates to New Moon Bakery, Knotted Root Brewing, Salto, Kathmandu, Mountain People’s Co-Op, Ubon Thai and The Train Cars. Thank you to Hub Ned, Brightwood Music, Gilpin Cleaning Company, the Last Stand Tavern, the Gold Hill General Store and Pub, Chip Smith, Holistic Homestead and The Mountain Pages. Thank you to the Very Nice brewing Company and Crosscut Pizza.

Want to find out about news in your community? The Mountain-Ear hosts a regular News & Brews at a local location in the Peak to Peak. The next News & Brews will be held on Friday, January 21. The location will be posted in next week’s edition of The Mountain-Ear.

This month also hosts our quarterly “Shape your Paper” survey. Fill it out to share your thoughts on what we are doing right (or wrong). The link is here https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/shapeYOURnewspaper or fill out the survey on page 3 of this newspaper.

Do you own a business in Nederland or Gilpin County? Your business may be eligible to be included in the Keep it Local campaign. See information on pages 5 and 30 of this edition. Thank you to the Nederland Board of Trustees and Gilpin County Commissioners for supporting this project through American Rescue Plan Act funding. Nederland starts next week, Gilpin started this week (see page 10, 11).

To all of you, thank you. For reading, subscribing, advertising, donating and above all else, supporting The Mountain-Ear newspaper for over 4 decades.

As always my door is open (in Nederland and Black Hawk), my phone is on (303-810-5409) and my email gets checked regularly at publisher1977@gmail.com. Thanks for reading!