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Sheriff’s Office to host benefit party at Breckenridge facility

Jane Reuter

SUMMIT COUNTY – Late this month, local residents are invited to drink up, party down, then crash for the night at the Summit County Jail – for a far more nominal cost than most jail guests must hand over.

The Summit County Sheriff’s Office will host its first and only Jailhouse Rock Party at the facility March 29. The arresting evening of entertainment kicks off with a cell-block buffet, cash bar, silent auction, live music and dancing. Guests will also have a chance to take a Breathalyzer, do roadside sobriety tests and have a (temporary) jailhouse tattoo drawn onto their bodies.

After the party is over, the jail will lock down a select group of people. For $200 each, 35 people will be allowed to spend the night, have a leisurely jail breakfast and take home some party souvenirs.



Those who attend shouldn’t expect to party with the inmates. They’ll be gone.

The jail is upgrading its security system, which means it must empty the facility for about three weeks. During that time, most of the inmates will be housed over the pass in Park County.



“This is an opportunity for the community to come and see their jail,” said Summit County Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Phibbs, who oversees jail operations. “We manage a really clean, fair jail.”

County residents pay $1.5 million in taxes each year to operate and maintain the jail, which opened in 1986.

Alcohol will be served during the event, but those who can’t drive won’t, Phibbs said.

“I look at it this way,” he said, tongue in cheek. “Give me the $200 now. If you leave, you’ll take the chance of coming back, and this thing won’t be over in the morning.”

To prevent that kind of an unhappy ending, the sheriff’s office is working with the Summit Prevention Alliance to provide free rides home to party guests.

The event is a fundraiser for the Summit-Lake Dillon Optimist Club and will help fund local youth programs. Proceeds from the party will be matched by a grant from the Focus on Education Foundation.

Jane Reuter can be reached at (970) 668-3998, ext. 229, or by e-mail at jreuter@summitdaily.com.


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