SAGUACHE COUNTY — The 35th Crestone Energy Fair will be held in Crestone this weekend. It will showcase innovative, sustainable, and regenerative ideas in construction, lifestyle, and community.
The event is free and run by volunteers. Most panels and presentations will occur on the Main Stage in the downtown park, the stage is the brainchild of local resident Nick Navares. The fair will also offer home tours, an artisan marketplace, kids' events, and a Wellness Village.
In early 2022, Crestone resident Nick Nevares announced that he had raised an initial $10,000 needed to begin constructing a new and permanent stage in the town park in the small village's center.
In late June of that year, the project began to take shape as the wooden logs and other pieces of the stage were delivered, and an eager team of workers began assembling the stage.
Navares said that in 2022, the "$10,000 needed to begin construction on the new Crestone Town Stage has been raised. Nevares expressed his gratitude to the donors, Saguache County and to the Town of Crestone for agreeing to the stage's construction.
"The stage canopy is a parametric design based on sacred geometric Fibonacci triangles on both sides, providing extraordinary strength and stability. Resident artist Tom Lyle originally designed it for a rooftop stage on a Denver skyscraper. It was created with high altitude mountains in mind," according to Nevares.
The Crestone Energy Exchange will facilitate this project, which needs a few finishing touches.
This is not the end of the fundraising campaign, however. To ultimately build out the stage cover — a fully functional stage platform with drawers, drapes, and overhead truss — Nevares will continue raising funds until it is complete. The stage has come a long way and will host numerous events this weekend.
The stage project received a Saguache County Sales Tax Grant, a donation from Joyful Journey Hot Springs Spa, and several community donations, which raised the first $10,000 needed to purchase the wood from Mountain Valley Lumber in Saguache. The lumber has been curing for several months and has already been skinned and treated to ensure that the wood lasts for decades or longer. The structure has largely been built, and additional donations are needed to finish the project.
The project still needs financing, checks can be made payable and mailed to Crestone Energy Exchange at P.O. Box 83, Crestone, CO, 81131. Donors who give $250, $500, $1,000, and $2,500 will be honored with an acrylic plaque upon completion of the stage. Several of the plaques have been added to the structure.
