Editor’s note: The Estes Valley Voice is excited to announce a partnership with professor and veteran journalist Beth Potter, founder of the Colorado Student News Service. The EVV will provide student journalists under Potter’s editorial direction with opportunities to hone their reporting skills and publish news stories of interest to readers in the Estes Valley.
ESTES PARK – Most voters – 84 percent – say they are proud to be Colorado residents, according to a recent survey done in preparation for the state celebration of its 150th birthday today.
Pollsters at the nonpartisan, nonprofit Colorado Polling Institute surveyed 655 people in Colorado and found that not only are they proud to live in the state, but they also overwhelmingly agree on a common set of values focused on protecting the state’s beauty and preserving its history.
In Estes Park, residents and visitors talk about the mountains, when asked what being in Colorado means to them. We recently talked to residents and some J-1 visa holders, most of whom did not know that Colorado is celebrating its 150th anniversary as a state this year.
The state has some official festivities planned to mark Colorado Day, the state’s annual Aug,1 celebration of statehood. And for those who don’t know why Colorado is dubbed “the Centennial State,” Colorado joined the Union and became the 38th state on Aug. 1, 1876 — 100 years after the United States declared its independence on July 4, 1776.
Velina Davidson, owner and curator at Aspen and Evergreen Gallery on Elkhorn Avenue, said her family lived in Colorado for one year when she was in third grade before moving to Texas, but she always wanted to come back. Davidson and her husband visited a few Colorado towns when they decided to make the move, but they fell in love with Estes Park.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re in our bathroom; it doesn’t matter if you’re in a Safeway parking lot; the view is amazing,” Davidson said.
Jack Snyder, 16, has lived in Estes Park his whole life. He said he remembers when he was little that he thought the whole world was made up of mountains. Snyder, who works at Brownfield’s souvenir store, said he wants to stay in Colorado as long as he can afford it.
He said people in Denver can see both skyscrapers and 14,000-foot peaks (Pikes Peak, Mount Blue Sky, formerly Mount Evans, and Longs Peak are all visible from downtown Denver on a clear day), while people in other big cities around the country, for the most part, just see skyscrapers.
“You can’t get much better than that,” Snyder said.
Bojan Bozhevski, a J-1 visa holder from Macedonia, said he had such a good time working in Estes Park a year ago through the Summer Exchange Visitor Program that he decided to return this summer. Estes Park businesses employ more than 500 international college students involved in the U.S. Department of State’s educational and cultural exchange program, according to the Estes Chamber of Commerce.
Stefan Dinovski-Chontev, also a J-1 visa holder from Macedonia, said “the nature” and the hiking trails in and around town have inspired him.
“I love the place, the nature and the friends I have made,” Dinovski-Chontev said.
Pollsters found that all demographic groups who took the survey consider protecting the state’s lands, waters and wildlife important to the Colorado way of life.
“Natural beauty and outdoor recreation define Colorado’s identity and activities,” Kevin Ingham, a principal at Aspect Strategic, one of two polling groups that worked on the survey, said in a press statement.
“Respondents most frequently cited the state’s mountains, landscapes, and outdoor recreation when asked what made them most proud about the state; and hiking, skiing and Colorado’s outdoor lifestyle were identified as uniquely Coloradan traditions.”
But while people who took the survey overwhelmingly want to protect the state’s beauty, preserve its history, and expand opportunities for people who live here, 58 percent had a major criticism.
They felt that state educators place too little emphasis on teaching people about government and democracy. And 91 percent of the survey takers felt that understanding how state government works is key to being a Colorado resident.
For anyone interested in learning more about how the American government is structured, University of Denver law professor Marty Katz will discuss the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 2, at American Legion Post #119.
Presented in partnership with the American Legion as part of the nation’s semiquincentennial and the state’s sesquicentennial observances, the program will examine how the Constitution divides authority among Congress, the president, and the courts to prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful.
Other takeaways from the survey – 70 percent of Coloradans believe they have more in common with each other than not and 66 percent believe the state’s best days are still ahead
Across Colorado, just 30 percent of the people polled knew that it was Colorado’s 150th anniversary this year, according to the survey. Pollsters asked voters questions in the last week of June. The nonprofit Rose Community Foundation and the Daniels Fund also were involved in the survey.
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