Ritz gets into giving

The Ritz-Carlton Club at Aspen Highlands donated $10,000 Monday to the Aspen Historical Society. For Ritz-Carlton, it's the first major donation to a community nonprofit in Aspen.

The money is earmarked to educate visitors and second-home owners, including the 600 members of the Ritz-Carlton Club who received membership to the Aspen Historical Society in exchange for the gift, about the various programs and educational resources the historical society manages.

"I want to welcome 600 Ritz-Carlton members to the historical society's membership rolls," Georgia Hanson, executive director of the Aspen Historical Society said. "The money will be used specifically in the resort community."

Hanson's relationship with the Ritz-Carlton dates to the late 1980s, when she worked to gain approval for construction of a Ritz-Carlton hotel in Aspen. That building is now home to the St. Regis, which took over from Ritz-Carlton in the mid-1990s.

Tina Necrason, director of sales and marketing at the Ritz-Carlton Club, added another historical nugget when she pointed out that the donation comes on the 100th anniversary of the opening of the first Ritz-Carlton hotel, in London.

Necrason said the $10,000 gift is the largest donation her employer has made to a nonprofit in Aspen. She said plans are in the works for annual gifts to the historical society and perhaps other nonprofits.

The gift came on the first day of historical society's annual "Celebrate History Week."

The schedule includes free admission to the Wheeler/Stallard House museum today. There's an après-ski at the Ritz-Carlton Club at Aspen Highlands at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday with TV announcer Bob Beattie and Aspen Highlands ski patrol director Mac Smith. On Thursday, the Holden/Marolt Mining and Ranching museum is open to the public all day, with direct, half-hour bus service from Rubey Park. And on Friday the history party moves to the Wheeler Opera House, with another après-ski party at 4:30, followed by vintage film clips of Aspen and skiing from the 1940s and '50s.

For more information, call (970)-925-3721.



Allyn Harvey's e-mail address is aharvey@aspentimes.com