Today's Features

Buchanan Rec Center on Sunday morning was inundated with kids swimming, running and biking in a triathlon that was meant to simply be fun.

Nearly 130 children ages 5 to 13 swam laps in the pool, ran around one of the Bergen ponds, and biked through Bergen Park. No one timed the event, though lots of parents cheered, waved flags, rang cowbells and took pictures.

Artist Larisa Aukon spent her childhood years staring at the gray winter skies of Latvia. Fifteen years ago, when Aukon landed in Arizona, she found herself inspired by the explosion of color in the American Southwest. Today, Aukon’s monotone childhood memories are a far cry from the color- and light-imbued canvases she produces. At Mirada Fine Art Gallery in Indian Hills, Aukon’s first solo exhibition in Colorado, “color of LIFE,” reflects on the vibrant life she has built in her adopted home.

The first day of school is just around the corner. Perhaps it’s been a joyful summer of memories that will be recorded in your family scrapbook, or perhaps you’ve been counting the minutes until the little ones are thrown back into a daily routine. Either way, summer vacation is a bit like improvisational comedy — you spend three months with people who have no filter, and you make things up on the fly to keep them entertained. You can only hope that at the end of it all you find yourself laughing.

Evergreen is 1,400 miles from New Orleans, but from July 25-27, our mountain community will become Bourbon Street with altitude as it hosts the Evergreen Jazz Festival. Now in its 13th year, the Evergreen Jazz Festival has become nationally known for its combination of top bands and intimate venues. Attendees will enjoy more than 75 hours of live traditional jazz ranging from Dixieland to ragtime to blues, boogie-woogie and swing.