A letter to part-time residents and visitors

Dear Part-time Residents and Visitors,

As we move along with the State of Colorado’s next phase, monitoring and adjusting our response to the Covid-19 pandemic and prioritizing community health, we are writing to express our deepest gratitude to you, our part-time residents and visitors, for your deep affection and regard for Telluride, Mountain Village and our surrounding communities in San Miguel County.

While you do not live here full time, we understand your hearts and minds often do. We also know that when the call went out that our remote, rural San Miguel County might not be the best place to be during a global pandemic, you graciously accepted this while still remaining fully engaged in this community and its needs.

That level of engagement, alongside your abiding love for Telluride and our surrounding communities, saw you donate to local food banks and to the Telluride Foundation’s Covid-19 Response Fund. You contributed masks and hand sanitizer. You supported our independent, local businesses by ordering from them online from afar. You committed many acts of kindness, sometimes by simply checking in on your friends here. Whether your contribution was big or small, seen or unseen, you have had a key role in making our communities stronger.

We think it’s safe to say that our community fabric stretched far beyond our borders during this challenging time and we have never been more in awe of what we have accomplished together. We look forward with authentic resolve and anticipation to all that each of you will bring to help our community stay safe while offering much-needed support to our local residents and businesses.

We are approaching the summer season with a mix of caution and hope. We will continue to prioritize the health and wellbeing of our residents, part-time residents and visitors, and look forward to a time when we can come together.

Until that time, we ask that you join us in our efforts to protect our neighbors by embracing physical distancing, face coverings and a higher level of hand washing and hygiene, and by staying up to date on state and local health orders via www.sanmiguelcountyco.gov and covid19.colorado.gov.

With our sincerest thanks, and on behalf of our respective elected bodies,

Laila Benitez, Mayor, Mountain Village

Delanie Young, Mayor, Telluride

Hilary Cooper, Chair, San Miguel County Board of Commissioners