For the Crested Butte Rotary Club, “Service Above Self” is more than a motto — it’s how we show up for our community. Thanks to your support, we’ve had a meaningful and joy-filled Summer of Service, from investing in students and nonprofits to launching thousands of rubber duckies down Coal Creek.

Investing in Students & Nonprofits

In May, we proudly awarded $44,000 in scholarships and grants to strengthen our community.

• $25,000 in scholarships went to 12 outstanding graduating seniors and one remarkable junior recognized for volunteer leadership.
• $19,000 in community grants supported 10 local nonprofits, including CB Devo, Mountain Heritage Museum, CB Search & Rescue, CBCS Enrichment Program, GCSAPP, the Food Pantry, Mountain Roots, Six Points, Titan Booster Club, and WESA.

A Quacking Good Fundraiser

These contributions are powered by our biggest fundraiser of the year: the Great Rubber Duckie Race. In its 36th year, this cherished tradition brought fun, laughter, and friendly competition to downtown Crested Butte.

Rotarians and volunteers spent the summer preparing 5,000+ ducks and selling tickets at community events. On August 3, thousands of ducks splashed into Coal Creek at First and Sopris, cheered on by locals and visitors alike. Thanks to the Crested Butte Fire Protection District for adding extra water to keep the race lively!

Winners of the Great Duckie Race, the Pink Duck Race, and the Big Duck Race were announced at Totem Pole Park — and together, we raised over $60,000 to reinvest in our community.

Closing Out with Service

We wrapped up the season with our annual Road Clean-Up, a Rotary tradition since the 1990s. Fourteen Rotarians and friends gathered on a sunny morning to tidy up the stretch between Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte. Huge thanks to the Town of Mt. Crested Butte for partnering with us to collect the bags!

Happy Spring! It’s hard to believe winter is over, especially with the recent snow and lower temps. Rotary Club heard from wonderful organizations and individuals over the past couple of months. Jenny Birnie shared what’s happening with the Gunnison Valley Health Foundation, including the new EMS building in Gunnison and significantly increased fundraising efforts. Kevin Terry and Laurel Fisher joined us from the WCU-CU Engineering School Partnership and enthralled us with examples of student projects, including AR headsets for low-light skiing. We heard from Oscar-nominated filmmaker, Gregg Helvey, who shared about using storytelling and film to make an impact and create change, his experiences filming in India, and his next projects. Gary Keiser from the Mt CB Downtown Development Authority and Mike Fabbre with the Mt CB Water and Sanitation District joined us for two different programs about the goings-on in Mt Crested Butte. JD Crichton, CBMR’s new General Manager, shared updates about the Resort, and Bruce Fauser explained Peak Uplink, a full-service satellite transmission company serving every time zone in the country. Finally, Jeni Blacklock, RMBL’s recently hired Executive Director, discussed the work of this nearly-100-year-old nonprofit, it’s impact on the valley, and it’s future ambitions. It was an informative and interesting two months!

Learn more about the Gunnison Valley Health Foundation here, Peak Uplink here, and CBMR here. You can review Jeni Blacklock’s slide deck about RMBL here. Learn more about the Mt CB Downtown Development Authority here and the Mt CB Water and Sanitation District here. Check out and subscribe to the WCU-CU Partnership monthly newsletter here. View Gregg Helvey’s short film, “Kavi,” here.

With off-season upon and most folks heading out of town over the next couple of months, we’ll have just three meetings in April and May.

First, our very own Luke Ortgessen kicked off the spring season explaining the state of property insurance in Colorado today.

Next we’ll meet up on May 14 for our annual Duck Sorting Party. Be at the Parish Hall (behind Camp 4 Coffee) at 5 pm ready to get our ducks in a row, and remember to bring friends and family for this “all-hands-on-duck” event!

Finally, our inbound RYE students, Shirin and Filip, will join us on May 28 to share about their year in Crested Butte!

Happy New Year! This January we heard from some great individuals and organizations. Our very own Seth Quigg and David Clayton both presented, Seth on his nonprofit, the Karuna Project, and David on astrophotography, a personal passion of his. Jake Jones from the Crested Butte Land Trust also joined us one morning, and Sally Hensley, Leigh Paulsen, Sean McCune, and Dalia Fairchild shared updates about the Crested Butte Community School. It was an informative and interesting month!

You can learn more about Seth’s Karuna Project here, and contact him at info@karuna-project.com.

Learn more about the Land Trust here, and you can email me at ashley@cblandtrust.org with questions and to get more involved.

The Community School’s presentation is available here (keep in mind that the field renderings in this presentation are preliminary and not finalized).

Finally, you can view Dave’s beautiful images in his presentation here!

Next month we’ve got Jenny Birnie from Gunnison Valley Health Foundation, Mike Fabbre with the Mt CB Water and Sanitation District, Kevin Terry on the Western and CU partnership, and Gregg Helvey, an Oscar-nominated film maker, joining us.