CREATE All Season Sports and Fitness

In the Big Inning God Created the Rally Cap! At Valley Parks and Recreation there is a season. A time to pitch, a time to fling, a time to drive down the lane and a time to sing. A time to plant, a time to bring, a time to live and let die and a time for everything. Yet in our big valley with the two little bookended towns there is a short season to plant, to grow, for the economy and tourism. There is a short season for commerce, farming, events and just about everything under the sun. This year, as many communities have experienced, we are under a cloud of smoke. To everything we add Wildfire Season. Our valley is bustling with tourism this July. The festivals, the fairs and the evacuation camps. The community radius that we have designed extends to and with the residents of Pueblo County, Huerfano County, Custer County, Chaffee County and Fremont County. We are Colorado Strong and Sangre de Cristo tough. We have been bolstered by firefighters from all over the country. And we are grateful for their work.

The Short Season — May 31–September 3

The "season" starts with a parade up Main Street from the edge of Silver Cliff to The Bluff in Westcliffe. It is festive, reflective and surrounds the end of Spring and the start of Summer, and remembers those who gave their lives in serving our country. It also is the beginning of outdoor fairs, festivals, farmers' markets, parks and recreation, and traditionally starts a short season of seeding, growing and harvesting crops and produce, stock and animal husbandry. By September and October we gather to celebrate the fruits of our labor and work.

Proposing an All Season Mindset

At CREATE Daily our cause is to be an All Season Community. With Community Organizations for Responsible Entrepreneurship, the Main Street idea is to develop Home Economics, Work Economics and Community Economics that are centered around All Ages and All Season Recreation, Education, Arts, Transportation, and Entrepreneurship. As it is now, seasonal activities are stacked heavily from June to September. The Children's Health Fund raises funds for most of these activities. As the Chairman of Valley Parks and Recreation, the need for activities from September to May — and for families and neighbors — is clear.

Breakthrough Solutions

The need for a community center with indoor/greenhouse farms, indoor sports with wiffle ball, courts and fields, a kinetic non-equipment fitness center, a community nutrition kitchen, an Art and Audio/Visual Recording Studio, a Travel and Transportation Center, and an Entrepreneurial Center that focuses on holistic health for all seasons and all generations comes to mind. And the wise way to do anything like this is to plan like a farmer and rancher. Partnering with organizations already fostering entrepreneurship to face the challenges of our community and our radius communities — at home in Custer County and CREATE Radius Communities in Fremont, Pueblo, Huerfano, and Chaffee counties — that work together.

Peripheral Vision

The Aspen Acres Fire becomes a model for proactive and cooperative All Season Radius Communities, as did the fires last season in Buena Vista and Chaffee County. While we do react quickly to emergency and crisis, it is too often reactive and not proactive. Solutions for our challenges and crises are not found in politics or through corporations — breakthrough occurs by asking the right questions and communities thinking and acting creatively and proactively. My editorial and consultant advice may be great thoughts, yet if I am not proactively mitigating and creating solutions that are activated, then we are siloed sitting ducks helplessly watching terrain-driven winds and praying for rain without lightning.

All Seasons — Perennial Process: January 1–December 31

1. Soil Preparation, Planning and Plowing

2. Seeding, Process, Planting

3. Starting, Proactive Pruning and Protection

4. Sustaining, Produce, Presenting

In media we call it Create–Produce–Share.

The fields are ripe for stories and songs, to feel a type of glorious strong

that speaks uniquely to our core, you can sing along,

we are community strong.

To be part of the CORE Respondent Group or to start one in your community — email richardbeattie809@gmail.com or respond to this column. Schedule a skills assessment and community stewardship session online, on stage or on air!