Over the summer, the Roaring Fork Valley has had some changes—six of which include the completed Pitkin County Library renovation, the Aspen Clark’s Market renovation, the Roxy’s Market renovation, the new roundabout in Snowmass Village, the end of the drive-thru at Wells Fargo Bank in Aspen, and a fire in Willits.

The Pitkin County Library, which was temporarily based at the old art museum during construction, is back in its original building, but with some changes. The library has been renovated which gives it a more clean and open feel. There is a deck, 7,000 square feet of new space, shorter shelves, updated electronics, and many more workspaces.

Clark’s Market in Aspen was renovated recently as well. The market’s previous congested look has been transformed into a perfectly organized modern store. In terms of interior design, it looks very similar to the Clark’s Market in the Snowmass Center. The Clark’s in town, however, stands out in comparison as it offers a huge variety of ready to eat meals. With its deli foods, bakery items, pizza, soups, pastas, sushi, and make your own salads, Clark’s might even stand a chance against Whole Food’s wide selection of ready to eat foods.

The Roxy’s Market and Cafe, like Clark’s Market, went through construction. Roxy’s was expanded and a cafe was added. Shoppers now can take a break and munch on some yummy pastries before finishing their errands.

There is a roundabout construction underway in Snowmass Village. The construction is close to being complete and should be ready for traffic heading into the Snowmass Center or the lower and upper villages of Snowmass shortly. Once done, there will be no delay turning into Snowmass Village.

Wells Fargo does offer use of its drive-thru anymore. The bank did not have, but wanted, an ATM in its drive-thru, but they were not granted permission for the installation of the ATM because of the no drive-thru law in the city of Aspen. Because there is no ATM, the Wells Fargo made the decision to not use its drive-thru anymore. U.S. Bank, on the other hand, still uses its drive-thru because it already had one in use before the law. The law was created in part of the concern of the idling cars in line.

Unfortunately, there was a wildfire in Basalt this summer. In the evening of July 15th, the fire started and spread, fueling itself by burning several cottonwood trees around where the sparks initially formed. The cause is not known, but thankfully the consequences of this were not massive. Sadly there were a few damages–a firefighter got a burn and was sent to the hospital where he got treatment– and a toolshed was burned.

“On July 15th. at 6:15 p.m. Basalt & Rural Fire Protection District (B&RFPD) was dispatched to a reported wildland fire at Willits Lane & Evans Road,” Division Chief Richard Cornelius wrote in a report. “Initial dispatch information indicated there was a wildland fire rapidly spreading into cottonwood trees. A plume of smoke could be seen from incoming resources and active flames were observed in the densely wooded area. B&RFPD apparatus and personnel were on-scene within 4 minutes. Firefighting efforts were aggressive and crews were able to contain the fire to approximately 1.5 acres, preventing further spread to adjacent structures and neighborhoods. Eight fire apparatus, two ambulances and 23 personnel from B&RFPD were on scene working for several hours to extinguish the fire and perform overhaul operations.”

A lot happened over the summer, some good and some bad, but it’s good to know because some of these changes might affect you or your peers at AHS.