Willoughby: 1980 — A milestone year

The nation was focused on President Carter’s bailout of Chrysler in January of 1980, but Aspen had more pressing and interesting items to focus on. It was Aspen’s centennial year, so organizers, led by Ramona Markalunas, created a theme for the celebrations, Aspen Centennial: A Century of Change. The kickoff event was Wintersköl.

The coming Winter Olympics at Lake Placid also garnered attention. It was a coincidence that there was a connection to A Century of Change, but one of the founding partners of the Highland Bavarian group that started skiing in Aspen, Billy Fiske, led the American bobsled team to a gold metal the previous time Lake Placid held the Olympics.

Another former Aspen Olympian, Bill Marolt, was the director of the U.S. Alpine Ski Team in 1980. Locals were optimistic for results in both alpine and cross-country events. No locals won medals at the Olympics, but the Aspen Rotary Club minted a Centennial Dollar, and the Aspen Historical Society created a Commemorative Centennial belt buckle.

The country was enjoying Queen, U2, the fifth episode of Star Wars, and the newest craze, Pac-Man. Aspen turned out to hear John Denver with the Aspen Festival Orchestra for a fundraiser. 

On the more serious side, Buckminster Fuller delivered speeches at Windtstar and one at the International Design Conference, “Humans in the Universe.”  He stated something just as relevant today: “The use of the mind is by itself the essence of mankind. But the individual has to become articulate and effective in this world where muscle is power. Corporations don’t have minds. Only individuals do.”

The Centennial Celebration brought back “an old-fashioned, fire hose cart race.” Teams from nine Colorado communities participated. The Aspen Fire Department team took the honors.

Another event that brought back the past was one I was involved in. Aspen Country Day School revived the musical “I’ve Had It.” The play was written and staged in 1952 to provide much needed live entertainment for tourists. Locals Joe Marsala and Fred Glidden wrote it. Glidden was known nationally as a writer of westerns under the penname Luke Short. Marsala had been a clarinetist and jazz band director in the 1930s and had composed a couple of nationally popular songs. The ACDS version featured high school students Amanda Reed and Michael Craig in the key roles.

History was a year-long focus, but just to let you know that history repeats itself, traffic dominated the news in 1980. The Colorado Department of Highways logged 185 traffic accidents in the county in just the month of January, including 21 injuries. When traffic picked up in the summer months, locals were focused on pedestrian safety. The police increased issuing tickets, the City Council talked about better painting of crosswalks, and it voted to ask the state to study the idea of more traffic lights on Main Street.

Here are some interesting numbers for 1980:

Aspen’s schools opened with 925 students. You could buy a one-bedroom condo in Snowmass for $119,500. You could rent a one-bedroom apartment for $595 or a studio apartment at 5th Avenue for $375. Lunch at Hogan’s at Buttermilk was a bargain at $3.75, and spareribs at City Market were on sale for $1.39/pound. The season ski pass at Aspen Highlands sold for $225. The Aspen Times was a weekly paper then, and while it was near the city election time so there were many candidate ads filled many pages, there was much more local news than now. The Sept 4 edition had 87 pages!

CNN began in 1980 and had much to report, like the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens that killed 57 and a hot summer heat wave that killed 1,700. The worst Aspen had to endure was a shortage of snow in the early season.

Tim Willoughby’s family story parallels Aspen’s. He began sharing folklore while teaching at Aspen Country Day School and Colorado Mountain College. Now a tourist in his native town, he views it with historical perspective. Reach him at redmtn2@comcast.net.