The sky was blue in Estes Park on Wednesday afternoon, but the streets were quieter than usual. There were fewer cars and less pedestrian traffic, and road construction that’s been the bane of downtown businesses two summers in a row had ground to a halt.
“I definitely know what a day in July should look like, and it’s not this,” said Diane Muno, who has owned gift and retail shops in Estes Park for 18 years.
About 12 miles northeast of town, the Alexander Mountain Fire had burned over 6,000 acres and was at 0% containment. Fifteen miles southeast, the Stone Canyon Fire blazed through 1,500 acres, destroying five structures and causing one fatality. (Those numbers have since increased to more than 9,100 acres and at least two dozen structures damaged or destroyed by the Alexander Mountain fire.)
U.S. 34, which runs east through Big Thompson Canyon to Loveland, was closed. U.S. 36, which runs southeast through St. Vrain Canyon to Lyons, had closed and then reopened. But most residents, including Muno, were waiting it out in Estes Park, judiciously checking the Watch Duty app and listening for communications from town officials.
They knew better than to panic, but they also knew better than to be lulled by the blue skies. “We always keep an eye on the wind here,” Muno said.
When tourist season and fire season collide
July and August are the heart of Estes Park’s tourism season, a time that supercharges local business and generates important tax revenue for the town.
Last year, Visit Estes Park launched an “Extend the Season” campaign to try to promote visitation beyond summer and fall. They revamped and marketed Frozen Dead Guy Days in March and the Catch the Glow holiday events beginning in November. The efforts generated decent revenue for local initiatives — close to $30,000 for workforce housing, nearly $10,000 for the high school band, a few hundred dollars for the Estes Park Nonprofit Network and a couple hundred for the high school prom.
But summer is still peak season for Estes Park by a mile. In 2023 almost half of the town’s lodging tax revenue for the year was generated in June, July and August alone, and a majority of the town’s 2.1 million annual visitors (part of the roughly 4.1 million who roll through town to get to Rocky Mountain National Park), visited during summer and fall.
On Thursday, Rocky Mountain National Park implemented a stage 2 fire ban, meaning no fires of any kind are allowed in the park, not even in designated firepits. The last time the park issued a stage 2 fire ban was August 2020, during the Cameron Peak fire, Colorado’s largest wildfire on record.
At the time of writing, the park is still allowing travelers to enter, but they are encouraging people to travel with caution and remain highly aware of information from public officials.
Events planned for this weekend and next are being canceled one by one.
As of Friday, the Community Art Festival, the Westernaires Wild West Show and the Rocky Mountain Half Marathon have been canceled. So has programming by the Rocky Mountain Conservancy scheduled to take place Aug. 6 and Aug. 13 in Rocky Mountain National Park.
“We’ve been here before”
Kimi Nash, owner of Kind Coffee in Estes Park, said that energy in the town is reminiscent of fall 2020, when the Cameron Peak fire and the East Troublesome fires forced the whole town to evacuate.
“That October there were only two ways out of town,” Nash said. “So when they shut down highways 34 and 36 (earlier) this week, everyone just became very concerned.”
The coffee shop’s social media account encouraged travelers to keep the roads clear for first responders, but let everyone already in Estes know that they would be open during regular business hours.
Trying to keep things as normal as possible, for as long as possible, was a recurring attitude among business owners in town.
Back in 2020, when the town was evacuated, the then-owner of Kind Coffee stayed behind to make drinks for firefighters and first responders. Nash said that if evacuation orders are issued she would close the shop for sure, but until then, they are offering free drinks to those fighting on the front lines.
More than anything, Nash is impressed by the community’s response to the tough situation.
A local diner, You Need Pie, posted on Facebook that they’d provide a free meal to anyone who was evacuated or fighting the fire. Across the street, the family-run Reel Mountain Theater posted that they’d give free movie tickets, popcorn and a drink to all evacuees.
“Unfortunately, we’ve been here before,” Nash said. “We’re calm but freaked out.”