Barbara Lawlor, Peak to Peak. "Black Friday" sounds ominous. It sounds like a day that something bad will happen, a day darkened by shadows, a time of loss.
Business owners refer to the term as the day after Thanksgiving, when people drunk with the beginning of the holiday season, and having a day off, storm the box stores, the shopping malls and the trendy high tech specialty stores for big bargains. The massive spending takes the business out of the red and into the black, making a profit.
Actually "Black Friday" was first used in reference to the crash of the U.S. gold market on September 24, 1869. The 
Wall Street stock market went into free-fall and the people who ran the market went into shock and few recovered.
Instead of joining the masses heading down the canyon to deal with parking issues, people issues and compulsive buying, make a list of intentional purchases and find those items or something close to them in our mountain shops.
Or readjust your thinking as to what kind of gift you want to give someone you love. A plastic toy that takes up minutes of television ad space once an hour all day long, or something that has been created with skill and patience, that will last a lifetime, that expresses how you feel rather than what you spend.
Our mountain shops are bursting with great gifts: don't let these treasures sit on shelves while you are standing in seething lines down below.
Do some window shopping on First Street, at Caribou Village or on the historic streets of Central City. Enjoy the quiet of a winter evening in the mountains instead of being bombarded by canned Christmas songs crackling from speakers in the department stores.
Shop owners in the mountains are decorating their windows, inviting folks to come in and get inspired. Restaurants and bars offer specials, welcoming food and hot drinks with whipped cream. The lines in the shops are gentle and grateful, happy for the moment.
This next weekend means a lot to the local businesses who are here for us all year long. Let's get out of the shadow of Black Friday and get into the brightness of our mountain towns, all year long.
