Day 51: 4th of July Celebrations, Baldpate Style

The Fourth of July is a holiday celebrated in rich tradition and style at The Baldpate Inn. 

Both the Smith and Mace families have a strong history of military service, and we are all very grateful for our nation and the service of our troops.  We've always tried to honor our active duty military with a discount when they visit, but July 4th calls for even more Baldpate fun.

To celebrate, staff dresses festively and quite patriotically! 

We add a few decorations, think flags and lots of bunting on the front railings and special snacks (think jigglers in the shape of stars!)  for our guests as well.





Not sure how many gals have had the honor of wearing what we call the "Betsy Ross" dress, a polyester holdover from the nations bicentennial in 1976!

As dusk deepens over the Rocky Mountains, guests and staff gather on the deck to enjoy special 4th of July snacks, and gaze down into Estes valley, where fireworks are launched over Lake Estes.

In the early days, once we got the guests in bed, the staff enjoyed a smaller scale pyrotechnic celebration: a shared moment of childlike delight, twirling sparklers against the darkening sky.

Come join us for the festivities this 4^th of July!

Written by Liz Rodgers

Day 41: Find Your Keys Day! (National Make Your Own Holiday Day)

In honor of today’s holiday, National Make Your Own Holiday Day, The Baldpate Inn would like to declare it “Find Your Keys Day!” Oh, the joy and relief that suddenly comes upon you as you at last discover those mysteriously deposited keys!

In a collection of over 30,000 keys, we can be quite certain that there are many keys here holding stories of joy at being found. Most stories of keys being found include the owner searching quite intently for them, and in fact The Baldpate Inn staff has assisted many people in finding the keys that they are searching for in the vast collection. Read the story of an amazing find in our previous blog, Six Degrees of Separation in the Seven Keys.

Here are two additional stories from our Key Collection that were quite unexpected.

Our first story from Innkeeper Lois, who recalls a woman visiting the Key Room for the first time, who initially seemed unimpressed by our Key Collection. Browsing the keys, she suddenly screamed! She had found a key that had belonged to her grandparents. She didn’t even know they had been to Colorado. The woman, now clearly fascinated with the collection, said it was like seeing a ghost from her past.

In this second story, The Baldpate staff were the ones who were surprised at the finding of a key of their own – 6o years after it had been lost! In 1952, young Timothy Johnson “borrowed” the key to Room 7 of The Baldpate Inn, while visiting with his family. He returned it 60 years later, finding the key to a clear conscious.

Imagine the stories and potential joy these keys hold! Could one of them be yours?

Do you have a story of a key lost and found? Perhaps one that now hangs in The Baldpate Inn’s famous collection? Please tell us about it!

Written by Liz Rodgers