Mountain Village Merchants Meeting Notes 5/10/17
In an effort to keep all Mountain Village Merchants better informed, we will be sharing the meeting notes from each monthly meeting on an ongoing basis.
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Merchants Association Meeting 5/10/17 @ 2:00 p.m. TMVOA
Present: Anton Benitez – TMVOA and Acting Chairman, Heidi Stenhammer – TMVOA, Laila Benitez – MV Town Council, Bill Kight – TMV, Erica Jurecki – Tracks, Jimmy Doyle – Market at Mountain Village, Matt Windt – TSG. Annie Carlson – TTB. Ruth Ann Weisner – TSG, Teddy Errico – Telluride Society for Music, Chris Gamage – Telluride Festival of Cars and Colors
The meeting was called to order at 2:03 p.m. on Wednesday, May 10, 2017 in the TMVOA conference room.
Sunset Concert Series Calendar and Line Up
Teddy Errico, Sunset Concert Series Booking Agent, reported that all 8 sunset concerts have been booked except for one. He noted that this is the first year in quite a while that there has been such diversity in the genres. He reviewed the bands that are currently booked and their genres and asked that this information be kept confidential until the official press release on May 24th. Teddy also noted that his wife Sutton will help with the social media marketing to further boost the web presence of the series.
Cars & Colors – Taste of Mountain Village Proposal
Chris noted that there will be a taste of Mountain Village component to the Festival of Cars and Colors which will be held September 21 – 24. Many of the festival’s venues are in Mountain Village this year and will include the golf course, Heritage Plaza and the Ski Plaza Members Lounge. The festival owner, Ray Cody, is currently touring the country in a 40’ motor coach wrapped with Cars and Colors advertising images. Jimmy noted that the Market could potentially host a wine tasting with cars staged in the parking lot along the back wall. Chris welcomed any other partnership ideas from other merchants. She can be reached at .
TSG Update
Matt reported that the golf course will open May 26th. The newly expanded practice facility will open by July 4th weather depending. The opening day for the ski area will be the Thursday before Thanksgiving as usual however, closing day will be on April 8th which is one week later than usual. The resort is continuing to build a destination app for the ski season which will include GPS coordination, mountain ops updates, merchant and event info.
Other updates include the doubling of the size of the sales team at the Peaks, sales focus shifting from Phoenix to Dallas, year-round flight service from Dallas and Phoenix to Montrose and the booking of several large groups this winter.
Matt noted that the master development plan that included all capital upgrades for next 5-7 years is in the EPA permitting process. The resort will continue to build out bike flow trails however, none of the master plan projects have delivery dates at this time.
TMV Update
Bill noted that the construction project in Sunset Plaza is going well and is currently at 50% of completion. The wayfinding program is being implemented. Installation of the new signage go through the summer. Trail maps for the summer are completed and being printed. Disk golf will be open by Memorial weekend depending on the trail and snow and the bike park will open on June 19th. The Farmers Market will run the same dates as the Sunset Concert Series from June 14th to August 16th. He was unsure of the status of Gravity Play activities but stated he would report back later this week.
5/16/17 Update from Bill:
Here is an update on Gravity Play’s Plaza Use, our Disc Golf course, and our Trails.
All of our hiking trails except for the Ridge are officially open including Jurassic, Meadows, Big Billies and Boulevard Trail. The Ridge Trail will officially open on May 25 with the gondola opening. As you know, Prospect and Village Trails are controlled by the forest service. Prospect will open July 1 and the Village Trail will open by Bluegrass weekend (unless temps continue to warm up!).
For the Disc Golf course, it will open May 25 weather permitting for the entire course.
Regarding Gravity Play, they have been permitted for the existing ropes course. Sam mentioned that it would run in the same area of Heritage Plaza for 3-years. Additionally, their permit went in front of DRB to report on the mining sluice, which will also be in operation for 2017.
Village Vibrancy Initiatives
Anton noted that TMVOA is working with TSG to bring regular, weekly activities to Mountain Village. Sunset Concerts fill Wednesdays and other musical acts will be brought in to fill in the other days. The movie series will be continued with an additional day so there will be movies under the stars on Thursday and Saturday evenings. Anton asked for feedback regarding the Sunset Concert Series name and whether a different name should be considered. The consensus was that the name should remain as it has been used for the past 12 years and describes the event perfectly. Anton noted that music has been segmented into concerts which are the large Wednesday night events, shows which aren’t as large as the concerts but still on a stage and acts which are smaller, one to two person bands that play most days under a portable tent and move locations.
There is also an effort to create more relaxation clusters throughout the core to encourage people to linger. Erica noted that reflection plaza is popular with guests most-likely because of the artificial grass. Incorporating boulders, faux animals and other items for kids to play on and around would encourage people to linger. Strategically placing games through the plazas would help as well. Other ideas included utilizing the village pond more with boats, having remote control off-road cars at the beach, installing a pump track and a play fountain. Magic shows were also noted as being very popular with the kids. It was noted that a common consumption area would be beneficial to encourage people to linger however Erica noted that Tracks would not participate in the as there are too many negative issues and liabilities in dealing with the liquor authority. Anton encouraged all merchants to email him any other ideas at .
New Business/Other Business
Annie noted that Top Chef will be filming in Telluride and Mountain Village the week of June 5th to the 14th which will bring 120 more people to the area. TTB has taken over the regional map which combines the Town of Telluride, Mountain Village, hiking trails and the San Juan Skyway. Scott from Telluride Delivers oversees distribution and can be reached at . Anyone interested in having a box or more of the maps delivered to their establishment should reach out to him directly. There are 375 to a box. Annie also noted that there will be visitor center staff at Oak Street and Heritage Plaza this summer.
Next Meeting Date and Adjournment
The next Merchants meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 14th at 2:00 p.m. in the TMVOA Conference Room.
The meeting adjourned at 3:07 p.m.
Posted on 2017-05-17