Them on Us

Thursday, May 21, 2009

By Jake Nichols

Springtime for Jackson

Aaah, springtime in the Rockies; you can tell by the press. The Boston Globe ran a travel piece on GTNP and the Rockefeller preserve. The St. Petersburg Times carried a nice Yellowstone article. The Casper Star-Tribune wrote about the new Craig Thomas Discovery & Visitor Center. And The New York Times previewed the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra’s upcoming Fourth of July show, Fire in the Hole.
And it’s not all summer vacation press, either. Web site visitors at www.OnTheSnow.com named Jackson Hole as the Best Downhill Terrain resort in North America. The ski and snowboard web site is the most visited winter sports web portal in the world, generating 1.6 million unique visitors per month during the winter season.
President and Publisher Rob Brown warned that the rankings should not be used as comparisons of one resort to another, “since all visitors to OnTheSnow have not visited every resort, and expectations of the ski experience vary greatly in regions throughout North America.” Whatever, where do we pick up our plaque?

Yellowstone mass transit?
 Is mass transit coming to the Greater Yellowstone region? A feasibility study is underway this month to determine whether a viable transportation network could be established in the 25 counties surrounding Yellowstone NP, including Teton County. The Yellowstone Business Partnership (YBP), a Bozeman-based organization of businesses in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, will conduct the study.
The state of Idaho is kicking in $500,000 in federal stimulus money. The YBP hopes to receive additional support from the Wyoming and Montana departments of transportation. If the project is green-lighted, a two-year pilot demonstration will begin. The story appeared in the Powell Tribune.

JH to the Max - Youtube it
While most movie-goers are talking Star Trek or Angels and Demons, we were giddy over the trailer for Jackson Hole to the Max. Catch it on YouTube, posted by producers Wink Inc. News of the 45-minute DVD commercial for Jackson Hole was everywhere around the region in press releases.
“There’s a sassy energy loose here unlike anywhere else,” show host Reba McEntire says in the trailer. “Jackson Hole’s story plays like a runaway rollercoaster. You lucky people best buckle up … Jackson Hole to the Max is gonna be one wild ride.”
Reba’s own web site (www.reba.com) chronicles her four-day stay in Jackson Hole, shooting the documentary which will play all summer in the Pink Garter Theatre. The redheaded country music legend is an avid Twitterer and she started ‘tweating’ as soon as she got off the plane: “Okay...when does spring hit Wyoming????? It's freezing up here!!!!”
While she was here, Reba admitted to watching the Joy Luck Club on DVD during shooting down times and was the typical tourist, judging from the pictures she uploaded to her web site: Reba under the antler arch, Reba on the stagecoach, etc.

Ponzi JH connection
An Associated Press story on Ponzi bilker Bernard Madoff is making the rounds throughout the country. Writer Tom Hays got a hold of a 30-page American Express statement for Madoff that included examples of extravagant spending sprees. Hays called Bernie’s weekend ski trip to Jackson Hole “lavish,” though the numbers were hardly eye-popping for anyone who has tried to live here.
“They spent thousands at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, hundreds more for car rentals, and ate and drank at places like a Mexican restaurant where they rang up a $2,879 bill. They also ran up a $254.38 tab at the Nikai Sushi Bar, but they left a tip on the card of only $15,” Hays wrote.
It doesn’t prove Madoff is a spendthrift, but it does paint him and other high rollers as awful tippers.

2nd oldest profession
They’re crazy about blacksmithing in Bozeman. The Northern Rockies Blacksmith Association conference was held last weekend in Bozeman. The Daily Chronicled ran a story about the second oldest profession in the world (assuming ‘hooking’ is No. 1), and about one of its heroes – Steve Fontanini.
Fontanini wowed attendees with his magic anvil and hammer. “The tools have changed a bit over the years, but swinging a hammer is still swinging a hammer,” the Jackson blacksmith told the local paper.

Tree-hugger
Some nut in Michigan just spent three days living in a tree. All right, maybe he’s not a nut. He’s a science teacher at a middle school in Rockford named David Buth. And his reason for acting a squirrel was to help raise $6,500 for a school trip to the Teton Science in Kelly, Wyo. The Grand Rapids Press ran the piece last week, and we felt really bad thinking Buth was crazy at first. PJH


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Them on Us | Planet JH News Article: General News

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