2025 Year in Review

CC Home Rule Effort Strikes Jackpot

Maybe, some ideas just take a couple of decades for community acceptance.

During the 2025 November elections, Cripple Creek voters gave an overwhelming nod to forming a home-rule charter committee and taking a stab at forming its own mini-constitution and finalizing a much-needed divorce with the state over a number of its regulations.

In essence, Cripple Creek residents said yes to home rule, a type of governance implemented in most larger cities and in major resort and gaming hubs. Welcome to 2025. This marked a drastic 360-degree turn from the stance previous leaders took, who viewed home rule as a sneaky way in which the town could assess more taxes and fees and have a much more powerful city council. The effort was nixed years ago, shortly after legal betting started in Cripple Creek; and for years, it got the cold shoulder from the gaming community.  But how things change, as the town is now striving to become more of a destination, gaming tourist area. Unlike past home rule efforts, this time the town conducted a variety of town hall forums, featuring experts who have done successful home rule charters in other Colorado communities. In the end, the idea of more local control and a way to distance the town from a state government, which loves to adopt more strenuous regulations, became the main selling point.

But despite this victory, home rule proponents don’t have much time to celebrate as a new nine-member charter committee must come up with an actual document within the next six months. The proposed city charter will then be voted on by the citizens in 2026.

In an unrelated development, but one with a typical political about-turn movement, the town in 2025 also took a major step in trying to become a Main Street community, as part of a plan to revive the downtown district more. Again, this is an idea that in the past was not that popular. But through what has occurred in nearby Victor and what almost occurred in Woodland Park, Cripple Creek is poised to wave the Main Street banner. In the last year, it hired a Main Street coordinator, Amanda Benson, and formed an actual Main Street board. Through both its home rule and main street efforts, city leaders are intent on reviving and fixing up empty and vacant buildings in the commercial core of town, which in the past have deteriorated and given the city a black eye.

A Push for Special Events

The city of Cripple Creek also continued to move forward in the push for better special events and festivals. This movement culminated with the return of the Salute to American Veterans Rally and motorcycle ride, an event that in the past brought thousands to the area. This event took a detour to Woodland Park over the last few years, following some political infighting locally.  But regardless of any past conflicts, most Rally supporters admitted the event belonged in Cripple Creek, where it was held for the majority of its several-decade run. It returned partly due to a more pro-Rally city council and a sense that Cripple Creek was the place for this tribute to active and former military veterans. Besides the Salute Rally, Cripple Creek again hit the special events jackpot with its Ice Castles attraction during the winter and several gala festivals during the summer, such as Donkey Derby Days.

SSR Mining Arrives to the District

School District Scores Key Election Victory

In a year that was quite difficult for any town or district trying to pass or even continue a previous tax proposition, the Cripple Creek/Victor RE-1 School District, was one of the exceptions.  Voters gave a proposition for continuing a previous mill levy, which reached a sunset level, an overwhelming victory, with much of the money planned for retaining teachers and making key improvements.

Green Mountain Falls

Art Hub of the Pikes Peak

The little town of Green Mountain Falls continued to shine as a growing art hub in 2025, mainly due to the success of the Green Box Arts festival. The town’s signature display last summer and in the early fall was a rare and extremely unique installation, resembling “luminous brushstrokes dancing across the sky,” according to the project architects. It was entitled “Off the Beaten Path,” with what appeared like a giant kite-like formation suspended over the Gazebo Lake. The display turned into a national sensation, which was even featured on the Kelly Clarkson talk show and drew crowds of 100,000-plus over its several month stint. The 6,000-foot aerial sculpture was created by multidisciplinary artist Patrick Shearn of Poetic Kinetics and was part of the celebrated Skynet Series.

The display and the overall festival did much to put Green Mountain Falls on the map as an art hub. Green Box has become a growing force in the community, with its previous Skyspace installation still on the radar among national art exhibit-goers.  On the culinary front, the town’s new Southwestern-style restaurant, Cantina Verde, gained much popularity.

New Town Manager and Crackdown on Speeders.

And in late fall, the town implemented a huge crackdown on speeders by doing a contract with a Louisiana company, which used visible state-of-the art cameras to detect and ticket people for driving at least 10 miles over the posted speed limit.

This campaign could become a revenue gold mine for the town, based on the initial months of reporting. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, a record number of tickets were recorded. Response has been mixed regarding this program with many residents and shop owners admitting the town has a serious problem with speeders in its downtown core, while some are accusing the town government of trying to target local residents and using this as a tool to generate revenue.  This could become a big issue in 2026, as the last time GMF declared a major war against speeders, several ticketed violators took matters into their own hand and scorched the original town hall building.