Author: maryhistorian

Fall Festival 2021

September 25 was a beautiful day at the Kelley House this fall. The weather was perfect and our Fall Festival drew Aspen leaf-peepers off of Hwy 7 to linger for a while. They shopped in the boutique and the white elephant, they wandered down and visited the Historic Bunce School House. Then they returned to Kelley House for lunch provided by the Hilltop Guild ladies. Lunch offerings were several different types of homemade chili, toppings, beverages and pie slices from You Need Pie in Estes Park. Members and guests all had a great day. Pictures say it best – as usual.

Leadership transition for the new fiscal year

September 1, 2021 was the date of the first Board and General Membership Meeting of the Hilltop Guild’s 2020-21 new fiscal year.

The first order of business was to thank and recognize the hard work and dedication of the Board Members who served so faithfully in the year just completed. Here they are accepting the applause of the membership.

From left to right: Jen Bell – Director at Large (W) , Diane Turechek – Past President (S), Colette McDonald – Past President (W), Kitty Burton – President (W), Barb Coles – Treasurer, Elisabeth Sherwin – Vice President (W), Roz Doak – Recording Secretary, Carol Halsey – Education/Philanthropic, Donna Squyres – President ( S), Marta Dowell – Corresponding Secretary

The next order of business was to install the New Board Members for 2021-22. You will notice that a lot of the same people are in this picture. Their continued dedication to the Hilltop Guild is just fantastic.

2021-22 Board of Directors
Left to Right : Kitty Burton – Past President (W), Jen Bell – President, Elisabeth Sherwin – Vice President, Emily Balduzzi – Director at Large, Barb Coles – Treasurer, Carol Halsey – Education/ Philanthropic, Marta Dowell, Corresponding Secretary, Donna Squyres – Past President (S), Roz Doak – Secretary

Jen Bell then conducted her first Monthly meeting of the Board and General Membership. She and the Board have exciting plans for the new year. Please check out the calendar of upcoming events.

At top left, Donna hands off the gavel to New President, Jen Bell.

It was a great day at the Kelley House as members gathered with their sack lunches inside the building. Masking was encouraged unless eating. It just felt so great to be gathering for a meal again.

Christmas Time 2020

The continued pandemic of 2020 has forced changes to the Hilltop Guild’s Christmas time routine this year. As we look forward to promising vaccines on the horizon, our annual Holiday markets and festive Holiday meal at Kelley House had to be cancelled.

Our Guild has still made its’ presence known in the area this season. The Old Gallery has been open on weekends with “A Happy Colorado Christmas Art Show and Sale.” The Old Gallery graciously invited The Hilltop Guild to display and sell our handmade items along with their other local artists’ works.

Dec. 19 and 20 are the final days for this Show and Sale. Perhaps you and your friends and neighbors will stop in and do some last minute Christmas shopping. There are many additional treasures to be found in addition to our Hilltop Guild items.

Here are some pictures of the lovely displays. We wish you a very blessed Christmas season and we look forward to seeing you all in 2021.

Our Tree Stump will soon be “Hilltop Guild Woman”

On November 17, 2020, Faye Braaten, the “Chainsaw Mama” started carving our large Ponderosa Pine Stump into a proud Hilltop Guild Woman. The top of this 30″ diameter tree toppled over during a windstorm in the fall or winter of 2019. A donation was made to the Guild to cover the expense of having this talented artist from Loveland, Faye, design and create Hilltop Guild Woman. Hilltop Woman will be joined by several craft items and forest animal friends before she is completed.

Faye said the process would take about three days to complete. By the end of the first day she was doing detail sanding on the sculpture’s head and face. It was fun to watch her work her magic. Guild Woman should stand proudly for many years to come – welcoming member, friends and guests to Kelley House.

Winter President Kitty Burton chats with Faye as the artist sets up her scaffolding and readies her chainsaw and tools.
The sun is already setting behind the trees as Faye uses a leaf blower to clean sawdust from her work area.
Blowing bits of sawdust from Hilltop Guild Woman’s neck.
Smoothing out those wrinkles with a sander. Hmmm. I think she is onto something there.

You can see many more of Faye’s creations at her website: http://www.chainsawmama.com

Check back soon to see photos of the finished product. And have a blessed Thanksgiving next week.

Final Mini-Bazaar of 2020

Saturday, September 12 was the Hilltop Guild’s third and final Mini-Bazaar of 202o. Like the two previous Mini’s, this one was a big success. The early September snowstorm’s blanket of white from earlier in the week was only a memory and the sun and blue sky made for a perfect day.

Our COVID affected summer season was very different from normal ones and we missed seeing all of our members and friends weekly. We were glad, though, to gather for our fund raisers. Between discouraging the visiting BEAR and repairing his/her damage to the windows and interior, our members and “honeys”were kept quite busy. It was a banner year for Ponderosa pine cones, small rodents (mice, chipmunks, squirrels, etc,) and miller moths. We hope that next summer will bring a more “normal” season for the Hilltop Guild in what will be our 73rd year.

Check out some pictures from this fun day. Caption creation has evaded me, but the pictures tell the story pretty well…..

Christmas Party 2017

The Christmas Party at Kelley House on December 2, 2017 was a gathering to remember!  The Hilltop Guild joined forces with the Allenspark Area Club for the party and about 85 people enjoyed a delicious meal of turkey and all the fixings.  A fun gift exchange, festive Christmas music with carol singing, fabulous decorations, and friends in conversation filled the cozy Kelley House for several hours.  Many members of the Hilltop Guild and the Area Club worked long and hard to make it all go smoothly.  Thanks to all who helped and attended. Merry Christmas everyone.

 

Officers & Board members Installed

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New Officers were installed for the 2017-18 year at our September 2017 meeting.

Here  Donna Woolley, far left, leads the applause for new officers and Board members from left to right,

Diane Turechek  – Summer President

Darlene Thompson – Winter President

Roz Doak – Summer Recording Secretary

Joan Rogers – Corresponding Secretary

Barb Coles – Treasurer

Claudia Osa – Director at Large

Marta Dowell – Past President

Donna Squyres  – Education and Philanthropic

(not pictured – Jan Peters – Winter Recording Secretary)

All members want to thank our Board of Directors for the upcoming year for filling these positions to keep the Hilltop Guild running smoothly.  We also thank the outgoing Board for all their hard work over the last year.

 

Chokecherry tag team

Guild members collect wild fruit in the fall to be frozen, juiced, and made into delicious jelly to sell at the next annual Bazaar in August.

Here, Diane Turechek finds slim pickings of ripe chokecherries (we did manage to collect 3 gallons of the little berries) as most of the ripe fruit had been processed  by a neighborhood bear recently as evidenced by this nearby scat. There is still a lot of fruit that is ripening.

We will tag team with the bears in the next couple of weeks in the hopes that we can all procure enough fruit for our needs. Luckily, the bear(s) were not guarding their fruit when we were there.