The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here.
Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things.
One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St.
Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look.
Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now.
Okay. Now the elk.
In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.)
(Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.)
Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss.
This fall:
- Halloween, Oct 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin.
- Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center.
- December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin.
Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6.
The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones.
See you on the avenue.