Marshall Fire fundraiser at Après-Ski celebration

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 be serving alpine-style mac n' cheese, Italian soup,and croque monsieur.

While you're eating your heart-warming meal, stop by the Emporium and enjoy a live musical performance. Blessings Day Spa in Cottonwood Square will be giving out lip and hand treatments.

Inkberry Books will be hosting a photo competition. Co-owners Keith Waters and Gene Hayworth want people to submit their best Colorado ski trip or Colorado winter photos for a chance to win prizes. All photos will be displayed in the storefront on the day of the celebration, so please submit to gene@inkberrybooks.com before Jan. 29.

Niwot's other beloved bookstore, the Wandering Jellyfish, will be hosting a children's book reading all afternoon.

The event will host a fundraiser in collaboration with Niwot High School and local businesses to benefit victims of the Marshall Fire. The NBA organizing committee is asking for people to donate ski and snowboard gear to the Left Hand Grange; then they will sell that gear and use the money to help the victims of the fire.

"We are asking people to drop off donated ski and snowboard items in the morning at the Grange between 8 a.m. and noon, then from noon to 4 p.m., the items will be sold with all profits donated to the fund benefitting the Marshall fire victims," Deborah Fowler, NBA vice-president said.

Niwot High School students are volunteering at the Grange to provide assistance. Fly Away Home, a home decor and gift boutique, will be serving blizzard brownies; Little Bird, another local boutique, will be selling warm, cozy socks; and the floral design studio, Belle Terre Floral, will donate 5% of sales that day towards the fundraiser.

"The goal by the end of the day is to bring the community together," according to Fowler, a realtor at DRF real estate, Colorado Landmark. "It gives us all an opportunity to donate towards the fire, bring more businesses together, and you know, to have some fun."