We need to act now to save Summit County from becoming another Aspen.

I’m a frequent reader of both Summit Daily and Aspen Daily News, and although both sites have their fair share of whiny baby boomers griping about how far we’ve strayed away from “the good ole days,” the professional complainers over at Aspen Daily offer a special type of pathetic nostalgia. 

Aspenites can’t say enough about how great their town used to be, while simultaneously writing off their down-valley commuter culture as the way things are supposed to be today. They’re essentially upset that they didn’t act soon or diligently enough to avoid the ever-growing cesspool of wealth that is the Roaring Fork Valley, and sadly Summit County is going down the exact same myopic trajectory. 

Main Street in Breckenridge might not be decked out in Gucci, Prada and Dolce & Gabbana like Aspen is, but it only takes a few more Lulu Lemon-like stores to start a slippery slope that’s not all that fun to ski on. We can’t allow our community to make the same retroactive mistakes as Aspen, and that means we need to start thinking about what Summit County will look like in 2030, 2040 and even 2050. 

Sure, the county’s established master plans are absolutely nothing to neglect, but I don’t hear anyone talking about these plans. We have to give these types of cultural initiatives a name that all of our Karen’s and Jerry’s can get jazzed up about. We need bumper stickers. We need t-shirts. If Trump taught us anything about cultural movements, it’s that they’re not shit if they can’t even push merchendise. 

I propose that this initiative be titled something like “Save Summit,” and God knows we won’t unless we start trying today in 2023.