The Buzz: Some had to fight for their right...

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

By Ben Cannon

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-It was a day that most attendants will mainly remember for the pluses: warm sunshine, plenty of snow and, yes, a crowd moving to a deejay’s music until the daylight waned.

Yet the closing day of the winter season at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort on Sunday had a decidedly different feel it than years past, some observed.

On-mountain properties were prohibited from selling alcohol, and a de facto ban on snowball throwing in the base area successfully put a halt to a tradition that in recent years has drawn the ire of not only JHMR officials, but also some business owners. If snowballs had been tolerated in the past, the April 1 (“Gaper Fool’s Day”) damage a snowball inflicted on the new $31 million tram, breaking a window, promptly changed resort policy.

A resort spokesperson said the decision to bar alcohol sales on the mountain was not an attempt to deny a crowd remembering a season that welcomed back the Tram and went out with a banner month for snowfall. The move was made, according to communications manager Lisa Watson, to prevent people from bringing alcoholic drinks onto lifts, which violates the terms of federal land use.

Following the April 1 snowball incidents, resort brass shut down Nick Wilson’s Cowboy Café earlier than usual closing day. Nick Wilson’s in years past served food and drink into the evening hours, though the venue was closed by 4 p.m., Sunday.

“I hope people understand the goal was to stop property damage, not to stop people from partying,” Watson said. “There’s sort of a stepping up on our side to better communicate what we expect with regards to alcohol.”

Across from Nick Wilson’s at the Village Café, in previous years the site of an outdoor dance party, no deejay would spin music.

VC owner Dom Gagliardi said, in light of t the party at Nick Wilson’s called off, he and building management agreed it was best to keep things light. “We didn’t want to draw all the attention to our building, which can’t handle that many people,” Gagliardi said.

He had agreed with one resort official to halt alcohol sales if things got seriously out of hand, but the request was never made.

“Every year this gets bigger, and with that comes a bigger responsibility,” said Gagliardi, who noted that a week earlier the resort put on a free show headlined by a Grammy award-winning act. “We can’t forget that, they spent a lot of money and brought in [the band] Ozomatli,”

Four off-hours sheriff’s deputies requested by resort officials (up from two last year) made no arrests Sunday, an official said.

The music that did thump Sunday? It was brought to Teton Village by a rogue production unit determined to play.

“In a time of recession, when people are jobless and moving out of town, don’t you want them to have a good time,” said “Richie Beats” Goodwin, a deejay. PJH

Photo by Michael Bills

DJ?Richie Beats performed at the edge of Cody lot, away from the Tram.

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Reader Comments
What's this?! The owners of the resort curtailed alcohol sales and the throwing of snow balls in an effort to prevent damage to their property and injury to patrons?! This based on previous behavior demonstrated by said numbskuls?! How dare they!? stoopidfied
I continue to do everything I can as a local to keep my money far away from JHMR and Jerry Blann. These people are buffoons. Greg
Please tell Jerry Blann I'll be spending my money elsewhere in future. I've lived in Jackson a few seasons and it upsets me more every time I return to see the evolution of the for profit ski (real estate) business. Making JHMR a nice safe family place with zero tolerance of one day of fun? I'm sure it makes lots of corporate sense to drive away locals so as not to have any character that might offend the tourists. Good luck with your continued sanitation efforts and selling luxury condos on the back of a fun wild west ski culture you'd like to see anywhere but near your delicate glass. You'd seem to prefer the Village would have appeal of a bigger Smuggler's Notch. If I wanted to go somewhere with restrictions on beer I'd go to Utah. John
Who would purchase a tram that couldn't withstand a snowball....who would design one? People not too bright. If you ever want to put a damper on a party---invite the SO fuzz. eyeson jackson
I THOUGHT IT WAS WEIRD PULLING INTO THE VILLAGE AND SEEING 9 POLICE CARS AND PADDY WAGONS IN FRONT OF THE BEAUTIFUL NEW TRAM. I UNDERSTAND THAT SECURITY MAY BE NEEDED, BUT TO MAKE THAT KIND OF STATEMENT TO YOUR MOST LOYAL PATRONS ON A DAY THAT THEY CAME OUT TO CELEBRATE YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS WAS PATHETIC. THE OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT SHOULD BE OUT THERE CELEBRATING WITH THE PEOPLE AT A FUN EVENT. I BET IF YOU HID THE COP CARS AND THE COPS AND WERE OUT HAVING A CELEBRATORY DRINK WITH THE LOCALS YOU WOULD HAVE GOTTEN MOSTLY HIGH FIVES AND THANKS. INSTEAD YOU TOTALYY F%%$CKED IT UP. YOU BLEW IT. WE WILL FORGIVE YOU BUT YOU NEED TO LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES. I THINK PEOPLE RESPECTED THE REQUEST TO NOT THROW SNOWBALLS AT THE TRAM. THEY LEARNED FROM A BROKEN WINDOW THAT THIS WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA. NOW IT IS YOUR TURN TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE. NO COP CARS PARKED IN FRONT OF THE AWSOME NEW TRAM BUILDING UNLESS SOME SERIOUS SHIT IS GOING DOWN. RESPECT. Policestateofjh

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The Buzz: Some had to fight for their right...

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Reader Comments