The mountain area’s newspaper since 1958
WEEK OF OCTOBER 24, 2024
VOLUME 65 | ISSUE 49
$2
Evergreen Fire/ Rescue welcomes its first paid firefighters Six men include two career and four former volunteers BY JANE REUTER JREUTER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Six-year-old Mila Bouchez, who’s dressed as Pennywise from “It,” swats at bubbles with her Halloween bag during Ralston Elementary School’s Fall Fest on Oct. 12. Hundreds of students and their families attended the annual fundraiser, which goes toward some of the teachers and aides’ salaries.
Evergreen Fire/Rescue welcomed its first paid firefighters this month. The six men, including four former EFR volunteer firefighters and two career firefighters hired from the Chicago area, met the EFR board during its Oct. 15 meeting. They started training Oct. 7 and will take their first shifts Oct. 27. “It’s an honor and a privilege to present these six career firefighters,” said EFR Chief of Operations Kristian Kazian. “They all come with experience. It’s an amazing blend, exactly what we need to kick this off.” EFR decided earlier this year to add paid firefighters, moving away from the allvolunteer neighborhood response model used since 1948. A master plan adopted in early 2024 recommended shifting toward a combination of paid and volunteer firefighters. The six additional staff will support
PHOTO BY CORINNE WESTEMAN
SEE EFR, P6
Ghouls just wanna have fun Ralston Elementary School families enjoy frightening fall fundraiser BY CORINNE WESTEMAN CWESTEMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Once a year, Genesee’s ghouls and goblins take over Ralston Elementary School for a few hours, collecting candy
and snatching up toys wherever they can and then reluctantly returning home with their parents. On Oct. 12, the school’s PTA hosted its annual Fall Fest, drawing hundreds of students and their families to a trunk-ortreat-style event with games, inflatable obstacle courses, a dance floor and more. Each class hosted a trunk-or-treat station with themes ranging from “Ghostbusters” to “Bad to the Bone” with games like skeleton Plinko and pumpkin bowling.
VOICES: 10 | HAPPENINGS: 11 | LIFE: 14 | SPORTS: 21
Six-year-old Lilyanne Meinhardt, who wore a matching “Where’s Waldo?” costume with her mom, said her favorite part was the toys she won, along with the snow cones. Seven-year-old Finley Herlihy, who was dressed as a ninja, also liked the candy and toys she collected and was proud of her class’s haunted sunken pirate shipthemed station. The event’s silent auction is the PTA’s SEE HALLOWEEN, P4
SCHOOL OF CHOICE Special pull-out section
CANYONCOURIER.COM • A PUBLICATION OF COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA