Golden's Ongoing Events Are Changing This Weekend!

This weekend is your last chance to see some of Golden's summer art collections. Plus, the Farmer's Market is back and it's opening weekend at Miners Alley. Here are more details about this weekend's events:

Opening Friday, July 31st: Enchanted April Directed by Richard H. Pegg
Two frustrated English housewives travel to Italy for a holiday from their bleak marriages. Recruiting two other women to share costs and the experience, all four rediscover themselves in very unexpected ways. Don’t miss this Tony Award-nominated play.
Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 6:00 p.m. Tickets: $20. Guests of the Dove Inn B&B get a $5 discount. For reservations call 303-935-3044. For more information visit http://www.minersalley.com/.

Saturday, August 1st
15 Decades of Quilts and Water Challenge
In celebration of Golden's 150th Anniversary quilts from the pioneer days to present day have been on display this sumemr. The collection of 75 small quilts showcases the traditions of early quilters technique and beautiful fabrics of each decade. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday-Saturday, Ends this Saturday. General admission charge applies. Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, 1111 Washington Avenue. https://rmqm.org/zz/index.php

Golden Farmers Market. You will find fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, fresh jams, sweets & snacks, potted plants, cut flowers, beef, pork, lamb, salmon, buffalo, and the list goes on. 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Parking lot by the Golden Library, 1019 10th Street. A good place to park is on 11th Street at Illinois and take the Clear Creek walkover bridge to the market. Click here for more information about the Golden Farmers Market.

Sunday, August 2nd
Charles Parson: Personal Echoes on the Horizon
View the singular poetic vision of Colorado artist, Charles Parson. In Parson's 55th solo exhibition, he will translate his fascination with the western landscape, the horizon, and our personal place within it.
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Ends this Sunday. $5.00. Foothills Art Center, 809 15th Street. http://www.foothillsartcenter.org/

Check out our website http://www.doveinn.com/, and thank you for reading our Innkeeper's Blog.
Becky the Assistant Innkeeper

Adding a Personal Touch

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my time at the inn it’s how important the little things are. Bill and Annette (and KC and Kirk too!) always add their own personal touch whenever possible. Little things like a teddy bear on the bed and a hand written note when you have to take breakfast to go help make everybody feel welcome. Even though I’m the newbie around here, I’ve found a way to add my personal touch as well.

As I mentioned in my introduction, I love baking. We shared red, white and blue cupcakes with our guests on the Fourth of July and everyone seemed to enjoy the little breakfast treat. This week is Buffalo Bill Days which gives me another excuse to bake! I think cupcakes with sugary sweet bandanas on top are the perfect way to celebrate. KC and Kirk have been passing them out to guests as they check in.

I’ll be keeping you updated on things I’ve learned here this summer. In the meantime, check out our website http://www.doveinn.com/ and thank you for reading our Innkeeper’s blog.
Becky the Assistant Innkeeper

Music, Art, Wine -- and Pioneers in Golden This Weekend

Golden is full of art and music this coming weekend, as well as a wine tasting and a taste of pioneer life. Here are some of the events:

Final Weekend: Over the River & Through the Woods. Featuring the brilliant comedy team of Sue Leiser and Roger Simon. Don’t miss this uproarious, charming, and beautiful story of family and love. Saturday at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Tickets: $20. Guests of the Dove Inn B&B get a $5 discount. For reservations call 303-935-3044. For more information visit http://www.minersalley.com/.

Thursday, July 16

Table Mountain Inn is hosting Wine'd Up Your Summer with 21 different wines of the world, featuring a variety of reds, whites, blends, and imports. Many of the wines are paired with delicious southwestern appetizers. 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Thursday. $20.00. 1310 Washington Avenue. For more information visit http://www.tablemountaininn.com/.

Thirsty 3rd Thursday at the American Mountaineering Museum. Hear great acoustic music, sample good local brew, and hang out at the museum! 5:30 p.m. $1 admission and drinks. 710 10th Street. http://www.mountaineeringmuseum.org/.

Friday, July 17

Foothills Art Center hosts Open Studio Fridays. This open studio session is an opportunity to paint with a group of active artists meeting once a week. Drop ins welcome. While there is not an instructor present, the camaraderie between fellow artists can provide an exciting jolt to one’s artwork. 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. $12 per day. 809 15th Street. http://www.foothillsartcenter.org/

Clear Creek Concert Series - Holden Young Trio. A concert series of music featuring a wide variety of genres and local talent. Expect to see and hear a mixture of the best the area has to offer in jazz, bluegrass, folk, and world music. Free. 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. For more information please visit http://www.thegoldenhotel.com/.

Music at Vintner's Cellar Winery - David Leonard. 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. No cover. For more information call 303-216-9463 or visit http://www.vcgoldenwinery.com/. 700 12th Street, Suite 105.

Saturday, July 18

Golden Farmers Market. You will find fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, fresh jams, sweets & snacks, potted plants, cut flowers, beef, pork, lamb, salmon, buffalo, and the list goes on. 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Parking lot by the Golden Library, 1019 10th Street. A good place to park is on 11th Street at Illinois and take the Clear Creek walkover bridge to the market. Click here for more information about the Golden Farmers Market. Note: There will be no farmers market July 25 because of Buffalo Bill Days.

4-H Livestock Days at Clear Creek History Park - Cattle. Ever wonder what it takes to raise a hog or what a cow smells like up close? This is your opportunity to find out from local experts at Jefferson County 4-H. At least twelve 4-H families will be on-site at Clear Creek History Park to showcase some of the animals they’re raising for the Jefferson County Fair held in August. Animals and their owners will be around from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. with presentations at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Free. Animal demos will be held near the corral and barn. For more information visit http://www.goldenhistorymuseums.org/ or call 303-278-3557.

Hands-On Woodstove Cooking at Clear Creek History Park. Drop in and learn the art of cooking on a woodstove with our master of the domestic arts, Linda Griffin. Help her cook up a storm in the Pearce Cabin as you learn what went in to putting dinner on the table for a frontier family. 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. $5 suggested donation for materials (cash only). No pre-registration required.

Check out our website http://www.doveinn.com/, and thank you for reading my Innkeeper's Blog.

Annette

Our Wonderful Innsitters Will Be Here Soon

I've talked before about KC and Kirk (right), our fabulous innsitters, who come and run the B&B for us when we go on vacation, but I can't say enough good things about them. They really know how to come in and "become" us. The key to good innsitting is being willing and able to run the business the way the owner/innkeepers run it. Ideally, guests should notice no difference between being hosted by us and being hosted by innsitters.

We've had great feedback from repeat guests who have stayed with KC and Kirk (well, except for the guests who tell us we should go away more often...). It's such a luxury to be able to take a couple weeks and forget completely about business. Really, it's more than a luxury -- it's a necessity for innkeepers to be able to relax, refresh, and renew. Nationwide, the average length of time people own a B&B is four years. That takes into account the folks who do it for 25 years and the folks who look at each other six weeks into the reality of working every single day and say, "What have we done?"

The fact is that most innkeepers do work every day. We don't work every hour of every day -- each of us structures our business and our life in the way that works with the demands of the business and with our own personalities. But every day that we are at home in our inns is a work day. So it's important to get away -- far away -- so we can really take a breather. Some innkeepers never do it. Other innkeepers have family members, friends, or staff run the inn for them. Others close down. But however we deal with it individually, we have to somehow stack up all those weekends we don't take during the year and get away.

The trade-off for all this work is that we are our own bosses, that we can sometimes take a few hours off in the afternoon and, for instance, go to a movie where we're the only ones in the theater. Or in the winter we can serve breakfast, then jump in the car and go skiing for a few hours and be back in time for check in. Or we can go out for a great meal at 2 in the afternoon. And in the last 2 1/2 years, since we discovered KC and Kirk, we've taken 6 to 7 weeks of vacation a year -- not bad.

This time we're going to Michigan for two weeks (with one night in Chicago tacked on to both ends) to see family and friends and some of the places I grew up. We'll actually get to be B&B guests in Holland and Alma. (We never confess to being innkeepers when we travel -- it causes too much shop talk -- we just want to be guests.) We're looking forward to seeing lakes (one of the few things I miss about the midwest, being here in Colorado). Mosquitoes and humidity -- not so much. But that's just all part of it.

Becky, our assistant innkeeper, will be keeping up the blog and the Twitter and Facebook postings while we're gone. We'll have the laptop with us, so we might check in now and then, and I'll probably do some posts about our trip on my travel blog.

KC's website is http://www.kcsinnsiting.com/, if you're interested in checking it out. Ours is http://www.doveinn.com/. And thank you for reading my Innkeeper's Blog.

Annette

Advice on Buying a Bed & Breakfast

Often, guests will chat with us at breakfast about the fact that they have thought about owning a B&B, and they'll ask our advice about how to get into the business. Our most important advice for prospective innkeepers is "Be in a college town." (At right is a picture of the Colorado School of Mines Campus.)

We are two blocks from the Colorado School of Mines, and more than half of our business is directly related the the School. CSM is a world-class science and engineering college, and we get parents, prospective students, candidates for professorships, visiting lecturers, industry partners, and conference attendees from all over the US and the world who stay at our inn. We meet people from all the great universities and scientific research centers of the world and have the most interesting conversations at breakfast. Most importantly, the School provides us with a steady, year-round business.

Many of our CSM-related guests return to stay with us many times, and they become part of our inn family.

We always enjoy talking to our guests about the B&B business. Before we bought the Dove Inn B&B, many innkeepers very generously shared their advice and expertise with us, and we're happy to do the same for other prospective innkeepers.

Check out our website, http://www.doveinn.com/, and thank you for reading my Innkeeper's Blog.

Annette

Discount Tickets to the American Mountaineering Museum

We have a limited number of discount tickets for guests who would like to visit the American Mountaineering Museum http://www.mountaineeringmuseum.org/.

According to their website, the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum is the first and only museum in the United States dedicated to the heroism, technology, culture and spirit of mountaineering.

The museum brings visitors into the world of mountain and rock climbing and honors the achievements of mountaineers from America and around the world. Exhibits on climate, science, cultures and the humanities as they relate to mountains promise to make the visitor experience rich, exciting, and interactive.

They invite you to visit their blog for updated information, from the lighter side of the museum.

Check out our website, www.doveinn.com, follow us on Twitter, www.twitter.com/doveinn, or become a fan on Facebook.

Thanks for reading my Innkeeper's Blog.
Annette