All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
Sorted by date Results 1426 - 1475 of 2533
The Niwot Local Improvement District Advisory Committee (LID) met April 6 at the Niwot Inn to consider two funding requests, both of which were approved. LID Chair Scott Firle welcomed Jeff Knight to his first meeting as a member of the committee. Knight was appointed by the Board of County Commissioners as the Niwot Community Association representative on the nine-member advisory board. He replaced longtime LID member and former chair Laura Skaggs. Mark Ruzzin, liaison to the LID from the...
Veteran swimming coach Debbie Stewart is pleased with the early-season performance of her squad, which includes boys from Silver Creek and Niwot High schools, as well as a few other schools which don't have a team. And to top it off, Silver Creek has a brand new pool. "It's been beautiful," Stewart said. "Club teams are trying to get in," but St. Vrain Valley School District Athletic and Activities Director Chase McBride has kept it exclusively for use by district high school teams in the...
Jeff Knight, a Niwot resident since 2005, was appointed to the Niwot Local Improvement District Advisory Committee (LID) by the Boulder County Commissioners. Knight was designated by the Niwot Community Association (NCA) as its nominee for the NCA representative position on the nine-member committee, which considers funding requests for sales tax dollars for projects and events which benefit the business district in Niwot. Knight, who resides in the Burgundy Park subdivision, also serves on the...
Weather has been winning the battle for the tennis courts this spring, but Niwot girls tennis is settling into the season with a 2-1 record and getting close to nailing down the lineup. The team returns three experienced players for the top three singles spots: Junior Alys Pop is #1, Senior Anna Sallee is #2 and Senior Georgia Lang is #3. All played on the team that took third in last year's Class 4A state championships. Four freshmen have landed a spot on the team. The top three doubles spots...
Thanks to a snowy start to March, the 2022 golf season was delayed until after spring break, but the Niwot girls seem to have made the most of their extra time to practice. In two events during the final week of the month, the Cougars posted two top-five finishes and, to coach Ed Weaver's delight, showed signs that the best is still yet to come. "It was a solid performance all around, from the senior to the new freshmen," he said after Niwot's fourth-place finish among the 17 teams at the PSD...
Niwot's Casey Grothus is heading to California next month to give a presentation at the corporate headquarters of a major tech company in Silicon Valley. It's something he never imagined as a child with autism. "I worried all the time that it would be hard to get a job. Absolutely," Grothus said. "Members of the autism community have such a high unemployment rate and underemployment rate that it was a real concern of mine." He had reason to worry. About two-thirds of people with autism don't...
"Late November back in '96...' (to paraphrase an old Four Seasons song - December, 1963), seven of us got together to talk about creating a newspaper in the Niwot-Gunbarrel area. In alphabetical order - Karen Copperberg, Ron Goodman, Selene {Luna) Hall, Lori Lindemann, Mary Wolbach Lopert, Vicki Maurer and Bruce (Biff) Warren. None of us had any real newspaper experience beyond our high school years. We reached out to several people to see if they were interested in joining us, but in the end,...
Remember to bring your basket, because April 16, is the 41st Annual Easter Egg Hunt at Niwot High School, 8989 Niwot Road. The event is organized and sponsored by the Niwot Group at Compass (Pat Murphy, Tara Littell, Ann Mills, and Todd Goad), as a thank you letter to the community. Niwot Market and the Niwot Patriotic Cookie Moms are also sponsors of the event. As usual, the cooks at NHS will be boiling the eggs, the Slepicka family will dye the eggs and high school student volunteers will...
In celebration of 25 years, the Courier staff thought it would be fun to give a brief summary of articles from Volume 1, Issue Number 1 of the Left Hand Valley Courier, published April 1, 1997: - Niwot celebrated the recording of the town plat 122 years prior on March 30, 1875. - Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church added 5,000 square feet to its building. - Niwot High School was celebrating 25 years of educating local high school students. - Niwot Elementary School sent a team to Odyssey of...
BASEBALL David Bote, son of longtime Niwot High baseball coach Bob Bote, was placed on the 60-day injured list by the Chicago Cubs on March 19 as he continues to recover from off-season shoulder surgery. Bote, an infielder, dislocated his left shoulder while reaching back to touch second base after a slide sent him past the base on May 30, 2021. He missed almost two months of the season, but returned on July 25, only to go back on the injured list with a sprained ankle August 28. He is expected...
It took a little longer than expected, but Niwot will officially welcome boys volleyball as a varsity sport in the 2022-23 school year. The anticipated offering will mark the lone boys volleyball program in the St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD). Following a successful eight-week pilot club season in the spring of 2019 and the subsequent sanctioning of boys volleyball into the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA), Niwot was intending to launch a varsity program in 2020....
When Sydney Rothstein was six years old, her father started taking her to the late lamented Haystack Mountain golf course where, through a series of outrageous bets and parental indulgence, he didn't just teach his daughter how to play the game, but made her fall in love with it. More than a decade later, Rothstein has turned that love for golf into a successful high school career at Niwot High that has included two state tournament appearances, and a lot of fun with friends along the way. But...
Deborah Read Fowler, NBA vice-president and chief architect of Niwot's Small Town/Big Heart fundraising effort to assist victims of the Marshall Fire, reported that the fund is now at $60,160.75 as of March 16. The Niwot Business Association's goal is to raise $100,000 from the Niwot community. Several Niwot businesses have hosted fundraising events, and students at Niwot High School have joined the effort. Donations are being administered by the Community Foundation for Boulder County, and so...
High school soccer in March is not known for its great weather or its top-notch play, and Niwot's home debut on March 16 against Skyline was a case in point-at least in the first half. Fortunately for those in the Cougars half of the stands, the home team was able to overcome the sluggish start, and eventually came away with a hard-fought 1-0 victory. Afterwards, third year head coach Jenna Machado explained that the youthful team has yet to find its identity, but the new dynamics are starting...
If you've dined at Raza Fresa in Niwot (or Ajuua! as it was formerly known) during the last 17 years, chances are good that you've been served by Kelly Paquette. Paquette began her career in the food service industry as manager of a Burger Chef restaurant. "It was my first job out of high school," the Platteville, Colo. native said. "When I had children, it became too many hours." Paquette then began a 12-year stint as a waitress at Colacci's, an Italian restaurant in Longmont. After the...
Months after the Marshall Fire, many of those impacted are still coping with what happened. Area students, fundraising through schools and in conjunction with Niwot businesses, have been doing what they can to offer support. Some of the major efforts happening currently are centered around school community groups. At Niwot High School, senior Mercer Stauch, President of National Honor Society and a full IB program candidate, is working with a team of Honor Society members on a classroom coin dri...
When the Niwot Cougar baseball team took the field for the first time March 12, senior Walt Van Riper was on the mound. Van Riper went four innings in the opening 10-9 loss to Skyline in a non-league game, but was not involved in the decision. At the plate he had two hits in four plate appearances, scoring twice and driving in a run. The versatile Van Riper, who also started as a guard on the Cougar basketball team, is in his third season with the varsity squad, which boasts seven seniors. His...
The 2022 track and field season officially got underway for Niwot on March 12 at the annual RE-1J meet between St. Vrain Valley district schools. This year the action was out at Mead High, and, as has been the case for many years, the Cougars turned in another dominating performance. While that's come to be expected by 12th-year head coach Maurice Henriques, the season opener still held a few pleasant surprises, he said. "I'm just really impressed with the young kids. We have a lot of new faces,...
What the 2022 Niwot girls golf team lacks in size it more than makes up for in talent, and the tight-knit group should be a force to reckon in the postseason, sixth-year golf coach Ed Weaver said. Led by three-time state qualifier Sydney Rothstein, the six-member team features a balance of returning talent, plus some "exciting" new players who will add depth and give the team a competitive edge. "Last year I had a senior, junior, sophomore, and freshman, at the state tournament," Weaver said. "S...
There's no place in Colorado quite like Niwot, and, with its high quality schools, close-knit community, and bucolic setting, no better place to live, local resident Pat Murphy contends. That was true in 1976 when she was an up-and-coming realtor selling residential lots in Morton Heights, and remains true 46 years later, even as her beloved town has more than doubled in size. Through it all, the now-seasoned real estate professional has been a tireless advocate for the little enclave outside...
As the lights dimmed in the Niwot High School auditorium, people settled into their seats for another ordinary high school musical. That's not at all what they got. This year, Niwot's theater department presented "Mamma Mia" - a classic show about marriage and life on a Greek Island, all with the backtrack of the famous 70s pop group ABBA. The show revolves around Sophie (played by Hazel Rinehart), a 20-year-old woman getting married on the island she's lived on for her whole life. She wants...
Tony Engel is the new coach in charge of the Niwot High School girls volleyball program, but he is not new to the team. Engel was introduced to parents and players by NHS athletic director Joe Brown on March 2, but many in attendance were already familiar with the former assistant coach, who moved into the head coaching position after six-year veteran Daisha Agho resigned last fall to take an administrative position at Berthoud High School. Engel noted that the program had made much progress...
With seven seniors, new head coach Ken Rosales has a strong core to build upon in his first season in charge of the storied NHS baseball program, which has five 4A state championships to its credit, though none more recent than 2005. Rosales, a school resource officer at Niwot High, has worked with the Boulder County Sheriff's Department for 21 years, and was head baseball coach at Lyons High School for eight years, where his teams made the state tournament four times. He first got into...
When Niwot senior and trombone player Alexis Marez learned that he had been named first chair for the All-District honor band earlier this year, he was not sure how to take it. "I guess I shouldn't have been, but I was surprised to hear that I was even nominated for first chair," he said. "I haven't gotten anything like that before. There was a total of around 10 trombones, and to be the first one in the entire district, it was surreal." It was also well deserved, according to NHS band director...
If being a well-rounded student means engaging with a wide range of opportunities for learning and success at school, then the term applies to Niwot senior Mercer Stauch, whose list of high school accomplishments isn't just long, but also varied. Whether in the classroom, on the track, or, most recently, on the stage for Niwot, Stauch almost never says no to a challenge, or fails to reach a goal. Being well-rounded doesn't mean you can't have passions, and for Stauch, music and performing have...
As of Feb. 18, Boulder County Public Health's two public health orders requiring masks in public indoor spaces expired. For the first time in months, no one was forced to wear face coverings inside, although they could if they wanted to. Some do. A careful eye in retail spaces around town indicates this. Many customers waiting in line for coffee in Cottonwood Square's Winot Coffee Company one morning were maskless on one recent morning. At one point, a single masked individual came in. "I'm...
Motorists traveling on 95th Street (also known as Hover Road) near the intersection with Niwot Road notice a sandstone sign on the west side of the road: "Howard L. Morton Water Reclamation Facility, Niwot Sanitation District." The district offices as well as the actual water treatment facility sit farther back from the sign, accessed by a narrow road which dead ends at the offices. Howard L. Morton farmed the land up the hill and east of the small community of Niwot, which had been platted in...
Niwot's silver and green take on new meaning as the school has been recognized by the Youth Sustainability Board as a Green Star School. The program is part of a collaboration between Eco-Cycle and schools within Boulder County. Certification is recognized when schools are able to reduce up to two-thirds of their waste. "For the students, this [certification] means that sustainability and commitment to the environment have become more top-of-mind as we try to waste less," said senior member of t...
Disneyland bills itself as "the happiest place on Earth," but on Saturday, Feb. 26, it had competition for that title from Niwot High School, where the St. Vrain Valley unified basketball teams came together to celebrate eight weeks of hard work, camaraderie and mastering new skills. In the 2022 season finale, each of the eight district teams competed in a two-game tournament, and while there probably was a winner, everyone was having too much fun to pay much attention to the final results....
Ashlee Wood didn't have much basketball experience when she joined Niwot's new unified basketball team-just what she'd picked up by playing with her brothers and dad in the driveway. But what the athletic sophomore lacked in experience, she more than made up for in excitement and determination, and, by the end of the eight-game season, Wood had become a force for the Cougars on both sides of the ball. "I did pretty good," she said about her performance during the 2022 campaign. "It was a challen...
Just days after her grand finale at the Class 4A state swim and dive championships, Niwot standout Mary Codevilla found herself in the spotlight once again. On Feb. 16, the seven-time individual champion was a featured speaker at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly completed Aquatics Center of St. Vrain Valley Schools, a facility she called "absolutely amazing." "I know all of the swimmers in the district are extremely thankful to be able to swim in this pool, especially with the limited...
A campaign launched by Niwot businesses to raise $100,000 for Marshall Fire victims is more than one-third of the way to its goal after just three weeks. According to organizers for the "Small Town Big Heart" fund, a combination of donations, benefit concerts, and other local events has brought in $38,504 since late January, a testament to the community's generosity. "This town rocks," Colorado Landmark realtor Deborah Read Fowler said. "What's so cool about it is we're seeing residents and busi...
Earlier this season, Cougars swim coach Kyle Bachrodt said that senior Mary Codevilla "can win any race that she swims," and at the 2022 Class 4A state swim championships on Feb. 11, she proved that true. In a stunning career finale, the speedy senior picked up her sixth and seventh individual state titles in two events not usually on her slate. "I got a little bit more leeway in deciding what I wanted to swim, and I wanted to have some fun and try to challenge myself," she said of the decision...
If Niwot wrestling's performance at the 2022 Class 4A Region 3 championships had a title, it would be "A Series of Unfortunate Events." It all started with an injury to a top wrestler in the days before the regional, and ended with a stunning reversal in the third period of a wrestleback match. Like the fictionalized series of the same name, there were plenty of plot twists along the way, but unlike the books, this tale did not have an ambiguous conclusion. For the second straight year, no...
The popular weekly concert series Rock & Rails is returning to Niwot's Whistle Stop Park for 13 shows in 2022, and organizers are gearing up for another great summer of live music and family fun on Thursday nights. "We're looking forward to another successful season," co-manager Bruce Warren of the Niwot Cultural Arts Association said. "We're adding some new local talent for opening acts along with the return of popular favorites." Along with Warren, Dan Hawk of Edward Jones and Vicki Maurer of...
In his nearly two decades coaching high school track and field - the past 11 of which having come at Niwot - Maurice Henriques, or as he's affectionately known as Coach Mo, has accrued a good deal of wisdom. Some of that insight, and perhaps more importantly to Henriques, life insight, will now be shared with the world as he was featured in a recently published book, "30 Days with America's High School Coaches." Author Martin A. Davis Jr. interviewed many of the country's top high school...
As both a featured performer and student dance director for Niwot High's upcoming production of "Mamma Mia", senior Aliyah Backus doesn't have a lot of leisure time these days. But the talented dancer is gaining a new appreciation for her craft, and picking up valuable skills along the way. "I'm learning more and more with every single rehearsal that we have," Backus said of her new role on the stage. "It's difficult, especially with the fact that I'm in a lot of the numbers that I'm teaching...
When Ashlee Wood heard about the new unified basketball team coming to Niwot High, she was excited about the chance to test her burgeoning skills on the court. "My brothers actually started playing basketball, and then after a little bit I started wanting to try too," the sophomore said. "I've played for fun with my brothers, but I've never really played before on a team." The sophomore finally got her chance last month when the Cougars' unified team made its debut, featuring eight athletes...
Outside of the Cougar cheer squad, you probably won't find a student with more unabashed school spirit than Niwot junior Ryan Gray. Whether it's cheering on the home team at a state tournament, or spearheading a student council fundraiser, if it helps the NHS community, it's likely that Gray is involved. But his Niwot spirit doesn't stay on the campus grounds. As student council vice-president, he is working to forge a stronger relationship between the school and the town's organizations, with...
Growing up in Skåne, Sweden, Martin Marks and his brother, Mike, loved music. "It can be life-changing or just something that brightens your day but without it, our lives are certainly empty," said Marks. Together, they started a band and began traveling the world, performing in Stockholm, Los Angeles, Boulder and more. Their music even extended to iconic venues like The Troubadour and reached as high as #2 on the MTV Nordic Top Five. Eventually, Marks settled in California and ran a music...
A slow start kept the Niwot boys fighting to close the gap against a strong Thompson Valley team Jan. 28 in a game the Cougars eventually lost 74-52. The final score was not indicative of how close the game was for three-plus quarters as the now 2-11 Cougars battled a TV team that came into the game with a 9-6 record. Earlier in the week Niwot suffered an embarrassing 81-29 loss to Frederick High School, and the young Cougar squad looked like it was in for more of the same for half of the first...
Halftime of the Niwot-Thompson Valley boys basketball game provided an opportunity for Niwot athletic director Joe Brown to recognize the Niwot High School girls cross-country team and Coach Kelly Christensen for their outstanding season, which included not only a state Class 4A state title, but also a national cross-country championship. After the state high school championship, the squad traveled to Huntsville, Ala. for the national cross-country championship, and came back with a victory....
Although much of the publicity has died down in the month since the Marshall Fires, Niwot community members are continuing to rally to help victims of the tragedy. Stepping up now is as important as it was before. It may be more important. "The needs of the victims are a lot clearer," said Deborah Reed Fowler of DRF Real Estate whose office has been collecting donations for victims. "We've been talking with Boulder Community Foundation, Boulder County and with victims directly or with friends...
Sofiya Ivanova has always been creative, dabbling in creative writing and songwriting, but poetry is what really captures her interest. "It feels holy," she said, almost wistfully, describing the writing process as something akin to flying, or an out of body experience. "Art," and poetry specifically, she said, "Is the way positive energy can be channeled." For Ivanova, poetry has been present throughout her life–whether she was trying to make sense of a Lyme Disease diagnosis or make sense o...
It has been three long seasons since the Niwot girls swim team has had a home pool, but with the opening of the Aquatic Center of St. Vrain Valley earlier this month, its wandering days are over. On Jan. 21, the Cougars tested the new waters against league rival Roosevelt, and, for head coach Kyle Bachrodt, having a place that the team can officially call its own is nothing short of "amazing." "To be 15 minutes from school is so convenient for us," he said of the new facility, located next to...
With five individual state championships and a Class 4A record to her name, there isn't much territory left for standout Mary Codevilla to conquer in high school swimming. But she still has lofty goals for her senior season, and not just in the pool. "Since I've already committed this year, it's just about fun," the fourth-year varsity and Notre Dame-bound swimmer said between events at a recent meet. "It's about being a good leader to the team, and passing down the knowledge that I've gained...
Jenna Kate Olschlager Williams (37) passed away peacefully with family by her side on December 11, 2021, in Aurora, CO, from complications of multiple autoimmune diseases. Jenna was born on March 7, 1984, in Harvey, ND, to Terry and Sandra (Wittenberg) Olschlager. She grew up on a farm near Fessenden, ND, and graduated from Fessenden-Bowdon High School in 2002. She earned a degree in Music Education from North Dakota State University and a Master of Music Education degree from Colorado State... Full story
It’s two weeks into the New Year and everyone knows what that means–New Year’s Resolution time. Many Americans will make some sort of decision related to health and wellness, especially with the ever-present COVID pandemic wreaking havoc in our lives. “New year, new me,” as the saying goes. But in speaking with Scott Meier of Haystack Muay Thai and Maurice Henriques of REAL Training, “new me” seems like it’s extending beyond one’s physique. “Sometimes people get caught up in all the results,” said Henriques, a former CU athlete who is also t...
On Jan. 29, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. the Niwot Business Association is hosting the second annual Après-Ski Pop-Up Celebration. Come to Downtown Niwot with your family and friends to enjoy all the frigid festivities, such as hot meals, horse-drawn carriage rides and live music performances. Restaurants and businesses will be serving special meals and selling merchandise for the occasion: Niwot Tavern will be serving chili; there will be a mulled wine tasting at Inkberry Books; other vendors will...
After a truncated 2021 high school season, full-scale wrestling tournaments are back in 2022, and, locally, that means a packed house at Niwot High for the ninth annual Gary Daum Classic, held Jan. 8. More than two hundred wrestlers plus their fans and coaches turned out for the all-day event, named for legendary Cougar wrestling coach Gary Daum (1977-2005), who passed away in 2013 after an illness. On the mat, Cougar wrestlers delivered mixed results, landing Niwot in the bottom quarter of the...
