Cheers to 69 Years!
Share
At the end of each season, Don and Anne allow me (Jamie) the pleasure of writing our farewell post. As the sun sets on another beautiful season in Estes Park, our hearts are full. This season has brought new faces, returning friends, unique challenges, sweet memories, and countless stories shared inside these four walls. From the three of us, thank you — to our incredible staff for their dedication and to our customers for making this season successful.
Estes Park’s impact will never be measured on this side of eternity. On October 24th, I read an obituary that gave me great pause and served as a powerful reminder of the gift we have here. The obituary of a 92-year-old pharmacist from Nebraska, married to his beloved wife for 70 years, read: “Pete shared a love of music and dancing with Phyllis, with whom he had a large and loving family. He had a passion for gardening both at home and at the family cabin in Cedar Creek. One of Pete's greatest joys was spending time in Estes Park, CO, where our family vacationed annually.”
It hit me like the cold Rocky Mountain wind on a February day. I wondered how many obituaries over the years have included this same sentiment about Estes Park. Four paragraphs summarized the life of a man who, by all standards, achieved the American dream. He lived long and well, his quiver full of children and grandchildren and great grandchildren, and his legacy rooted in his Italian, Catholic heritage. From his birth, to his schooling, to his military service, to his career, to his large and loving family — tucked into the details of his life was the one place that left an indelible mark on his soul. Estes Park was not his home. But Estes Park was always in his heart, just like it is for innumerable others.
This season has reminded us that this place is not just another tourist town. It beckons people back again and again. It is where memories are made and mountains are climbed. It is where families unite and nature heals. It is where generations create traditions and guests feel at home. At the core of it all is hospitality. We are not just selling t-shirts, dishing ice cream, cleaning a lodge, waiting tables, stocking grocery shelves, or emptying trash cans. We are cordially and generously inviting friends to the table of our community.
So today, we give thanks — for our staff, who worked tirelessly with zeal and delight, for our customers, who make Brownfield’s part of their Estes Park tradition, and for this town, whose beauty and spirit continue to change lives.
From my heart — thank you, Estes Park, for giving my Grandpa Peter, and countless others, some of the greatest joy life offers. Estes Park is truly without compare. Let's keep her that way.
Cheers to 69 years of memories — and to the many more yet to come.
— Jamie & the Brownfield’s Family