The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — To grow up in Steamboat Springs during the 1970s — just as the town was turning from a dot on the map to an international tourist destination — was to know freedom and outdoor fun unlike anything available today, say graduates from the decade.

To celebrate their shared experiences and reconnect with old friends, the 1970s graduates will hold a reunion Aug. 2 for anyone who went to Steamboat Springs High School in the decade.

“It was born out of the idea that some of us always felt like it was a unique time to be a kid in Steamboat. It never leaves you, so to speak,” said Doug Finney, one of the reunion organizers. “You can leave Steamboat, but it’s going with you.”

Finney, Class of ’78, said one of the defining characteristics of the town at that time was the sense of independence the high school students enjoyed.

“The freedom, you know? There were really no boundaries in what you wanted to do or what you could do. The outdoor lifestyle and sports and skiing and hunting and the whole shebang,” he said.

Announcing the reunion, Kari Nelson, Class of ’75, wrote that although Steamboat was going through major changes in the decade, the high school students were more focused on having fun — and they succeeded more often than not.

“We were part of a community laying ground for the international resort we have become, but nobody knew or cared. We were just kids enjoying the best snow on earth, rodeos and stock car races, Jeeping and hunting, foosball, Hackey Sack and muscle cars.”

On Sunday, Nelson said the town may have changed but that students in the schools, including her own children, still enjoy the same traditional Steamboat activities.

“One thing that remained the same is the fact that everybody knows everybody,” she said. “It’s really neat when you go to the high school and people have these big groups of friends who still like to do the same things that we used to do.”

Classes from the 1960s have been holding collective reunions for years, said Harry Thompson, Class of ’74 and another of the organizers.

“We’re going to have food, libations, music, volleyball, croquet and all those kinds of activities,” Thompson said. There also will be activities for children.

The reunion will be held at Brown Farms, 33066 Colorado Highway 131, two miles south of U.S. Highway 40. The cost for attendees is $40 for individuals and $55 for couples if it is paid before the event, or $50 and $70 at the gates. Teachers and parents of ’70s students will be admitted for free.

More than 100 graduates, not including spouses and children, already have signed up for the event.

The gates will open at 4 p.m., and a live band, Loose Change, will perform from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Nelson said the festivities will go late into the night and Alpine Taxi will be available to drive attendees home. Several people also will camp out on the farms, she said.

— To reach Zach Fridell, call 871-4208

or e-mail zfridell@steamboatpilot.com