Ask and you shall receive

The Park

Last Wednesday, I had a day that made me love Carbon County a little bit more.

My morning started having me take stock of our town parks in Hanna. I am on the Recreation Board and that morning we were taking stock on what needed to be fixed. It was a pleasant day and I found myself walking around, enjoying the scenery.

Fall is knocking with its changing of the leaves and the colors around me getting ready for the coming of winter. I was glad I was taking in the beauty of the harvest hues. A park is a good place to do this.

After walking Hanna’s two parks in the early morning, I got ready for my day.

The Tourism Focus Group

There were two events on my schedule.

The first, was a focus group for tourism held in Rawlins. It was to go from 11:30 a.m. until 2 p.m.

The group had Carbon County people representing industries aligned with tourism. There were many ideas put forth and I walked away from it feeling it had been worthwhile to attend.

I did make a comment during the meeting that might not be politically correct, but I pointed out there were sometimes biases amongst different communities in Carbon County and this could sometimes filter towards visitors.

These strong ties residents have for their particular town is understandable, especially when it comes to high school teams. When a community member starts talking badly about another Carbon County town or area, the visitor has little incentive to travel to that place.

I was remembering how cool it had been to walk in Veterans Park in Hanna and I couldn’t help but wonder how many people in Carbon County had ever taken the time to see it.

Working for the Sun has had me in almost every park of all the communities. I will never forget seeing a moose walk through Elk Mountain’s park as a flea market was going on. I have special memories of all I visited—well I usually was there to get a story — and I sort of wish all Carbon County residents would visit the different communities. Not only visit the parks, but also the museums.

I thought it would be great to see representatives from all the communities get together and show much they cared for Carbon County without any prejudices spilling over and enjoy themselves.

What is that saying?

Ask and you shall receive?

The Victor Anderson Building

The meeting on tourism ended.

Immediately, I ran off to purchase some fresh juices for a couple of punches I was creating for a dedication I was involved with at the Hanna Basin Museum.

I am pretty sure all my feelings about Carbon County residents coming together was because of this museum event.

For several weeks, I had been getting in touch with people from all over the county that knew Nancy and Victor Anderson. It was a sad day when Victor passed away a couple years ago.

Nancy and Victor Anderson have been key players for decades in keeping history recorded with all their efforts in Carbon County. Since the article on the dedication is in this weeks edition, I encourage it to be read so I don’t have to repeat how remarkable this couple has been to many towns and museums.

I will say, the Hanna Basin Museum’s newest building was being named after Victor and Nancy had no idea. I told everyone I called to keep it a secret.

Back to purchasing the makings for the punches.

I took this assignment very seriously as I grabbed the ingredients. Both were recipes from the 1930s and, although they didn’t have alcohol, they were unique. One punch’s base was pomegranate and the other peach. Both had sherbet in them.

I had two crystal punch bowls with little glasses and dishes to match. I am going into detail about this set up because, once I got everything together, I realized I had no ladles for the bowls. The museum had one and I improvised with another cup.

Next to me was Danny Burau, owner of Firewater, setting up his dips, chips and apps. I realized I should be there in the beginning as people approached to explain my punches as Danny explained what his fare was.

I had hoped there would be a decent turnout, but I was surprised as I realized that the crowd was approaching 100 people. I know this because I ran out of cups and plates at 75. We got more, so there was no danger of not serving guests. While I was handing out the drinks, I saw people from all over the county. From as far north as Medicine Bow to as far as Encampment, residents from all over showed up. I was floored.

Plus, the secret had been kept by all these wonderful guests.

Nancy was surprised.

All my ruminating earlier in the day on how Carbon County residents needed to be supportive of other communities went out the window.

It is a credit to Nancy and Victor Anderson.

It is also a credit to Carbon County.