Teller Features Slew of Events and Gathering Spots for Local Vets
Trevor Phipps
Teller County has gained a growing niche as a hub for military veterans, and more importantly, for hosting more opportunities for these old-time heroic “warhorses,” and their circle of family members and friends.
Some attribute this pro-veteran trend to the high number of Air Force and Army bases in Southern Colorado, while others attribute this rise in ex-military personnel who call Teller County home to the beauty and remoteness of the Ute Pass region.
Whatever the case, one out of every four male residents in Teller County are certified military veterans, while one out of every nine female residents falls into this distinction too. Many local veterans participate with each other in the various organizations, such as the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. These groups have sported a growing membership in the local area.
But many local vets find camaraderie with their fellow veterans in other more informal gathering spots within the community. For an extended period, a group of local veterans banded together to start offering a free breakfast to military vets once a month to give them a chance to network and tell stories in which those who have experienced similar situations can hear.
The monthly gathering first started at The Historic Ute Inn restaurant in downtown Woodland Park and served as a place where local veterans could meet other vets and get information about what was happening within the local military community. Once the Ute Inn closed its doors, the group started going to the Soi 24 Pool Hall just down the road.
The breakfasts continued at the pool hall for several months, until ownership of the establishment changed hands, and the group had to take some time off. But that break in informal veteran-gathering times is over.
Now that Jess’ Place is back up and running with new owner Jessica Nichols, the veterans have been meeting again on the first Saturday of every month.
“The amount of veterans that show up there for a get-together, buddy checks, or camaraderie, those are the veterans male and female that typically didn’t go to the other meetings (the American Legion and VFW),” event organizer, cook and former Woodland Park City Councilman Frank Connors said. “They don’t go to either one of those meetings, but they want to come to breakfast. They stay there for several hours talking to people. We have people that come from all over Teller County and even El Paso County and as far away as Hartsel. At times, we have 30 or 40 (participants) and one time we had 65 people.”
During the past few meetings, friends were reunited, newcomers were welcomed, and some business was discussed. During the October breakfast, a number of local veterans voiced their concerns over the news that the annual Veterans Day parade in downtown Colorado Springs was being cancelled due changes in the way the city funded special events.
The local vets urged each other to put their heads together to come up with ways to help save the parade. After a storm of criticism hit the Colorado Springs community, city officials changed their tune and decided to make the parade happen this Saturday at 11 a.m.
The last free breakfast event was held on November 2, where the vets reached out to others in their community for help with their annual Veterans’ Day festivities. The next free breakfast for the local veterans’ community will be held on December 7 starting at 8 a.m.
“Why do we do it? It’s just another avenue to bring veterans back together for a sanity check and to do something halfway fun for the month,” Connors said.
Veterans Day Highlights in Teller County
Ever since World War I ended at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, Americans have been celebrating either Armistice Day or Veterans Day every November 11. Locally, the holiday is more than just a day where banks and government offices are closed due to the fact that veterans are highly regarded and supported county-wide. In fact, a number of elected leaders have served in the military and are actively involved with veteran organizations.
According to Connors, the holiday officially begins for many of the local veteran volunteers when a number of them wake up early in the morning to put flags up in Woodland Park’s Lion’s Park located at the intersection of Highways 24 and 67 at 6:30 a.m. The flags stay out all day until the volunteers remove them at around sunset.
Many of the local veterans then head to one of the county’s high schools to participate or listen to a special Veterans Day assembly. At the Cripple Creek-Victor High School the 2024 Veterans Day program takes place from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. The Woodland Park High School Veterans Day assembly will occur from 9:30 to 11 a.m. inside the school’s gymnasium.
After the assembly, many of the veteran volunteers will then reconvene at the Ute Pass Cultural Center in Woodland Park in the early afternoon that day for the annual free Veterans Day dinner offered to local U.S. military vets and their families. Doors to the Veterans Day event open at 4:30 p.m. with dinner catered by Roy’s Crew BBQ. After local veterans and their family members eat their free dinners, they get the chance to enjoy live music by Ray De Mers with special guest Zene Gurley.
Connors said that they are expecting more than 250 people to attend this year’s Veterans Day dinner taking place next Monday night.
