Author - News

Feature

Spotlight on the Arts: The Closet Potter

When Joan Gibson-Bevier first sat down at a pottery wheel in 1976, she knew she had found her passion. Forty- nine years later, she runs her own busin...

July 23, 2025

Feature

Meet your neighbor: Robert Stoufer

Name: Robert Stoufer Age: 73 Lives in: Ouray When did you come to Ouray? I studied to be a geologist, but I never did geology for a living. I went to ...

July 2, 2025

Feature

Meet your neighbor: Amy Exstrum

Name: Amy Exstrum Lives in: Ouray Age: 61 What’s your profession? Well, I’m retired now, but I spent many years as a vocational home economics teacher...

June 11, 2025

Feature

Meet your neighbor: Rob Rose

Editor's note: During focus group discussions we held earlier this year, to gather feedback for our upcoming redesign of the newspaper, we heard from ...

May 14, 2025

Feature

Seed money helps teens sprout businesses

Neva Hines spent hours looking for internships her junior year at Ridgway Secondary School. She contacted at least eight businesses, and most of the t...

February 26, 2025

Feature

Students to showcase work at fair

The public will be able to view a showcase of student inventions, science experiments, art projects and beyond at the second annual Uncompahgre STEAM ...

January 29, 2025

Feature

Mexican eatery adds second location in county

Editor's note: The interview for this business feature was conducted in Spanish and translated by Chloe Kiparsky. A new taste of Mexico came to Ouray ...

December 25, 2024

Feature

Nature photography exhibit opens in Ouray

A new photography exhibit will transport viewers to nature landscapes at the Wright Opera House. Shanda Akin and Betsy Botsford’s photography show, "S...

November 6, 2024

Feature

‘Constitution’ play takes stage this weekend

Playwright Heidi Schreck earned her college tuition by traveling the country doing speeches on the U.S. Constitution for prize money. Her award-winnin...

November 6, 2024

Feature

ONCE TEAMMATES, NOW FRIENDLY RIVALS

The track and field and cross country athletes from Ridgway and Ouray who once were teammates now compete against each other. The split in the teams e...

October 23, 2024

Main, News...

‘Pinched on every front’

Historic drought, wildfires, high feed prices strain local ranchers

By Chart Riggall

August 12, 2026

One breezy afternoon in mid-July, Mike Potter's phone started making all kinds of noise. “It goes, beep, beep, beep, beep!” shouted the Ridgway rancher, brandishing his flip phone from the pocket of h...

Main, News...

Flood work could begin within week

By Chart Riggall

August 12, 2026

Ouray County officials said Tuesday that flood mitigation work below the Gold Mountain Fire’s burn scar could begin as soon as next week, while warning that storms in the coming days could trigger fur...

News

Firefighter base moves to Gunnison

Fairgrounds empty as focus shifts to Elk Fire

By James Hanlon

August 12, 2026

The incident command post for the Gold Mountain Fire relocated to the Gunnison County Fairgrounds Saturday as Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 2 took over for Team 1 and combined effort...

Feature

County fair carries on

Fire doesn't stop 4-H kids from showing their animals this week

By Erin McIntyre erin@ouraynews.com

August 12, 2026

The night the Gold Mountain Fire started, the Cornell family anxiously watched the fire spreading toward their fenced livestock, the billowing smoke filling the canyon. They decided to load up their h...

Letters, Opinion...

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

We need to stand firm to preserve alpine tundra

By Dianne Eschman

August 12, 2026

Dear Editor: The July 23 guest column by Sue Dreamweaver Spielman was excellent and brings up so many issues that we regular backcountry users experience. I have been recreating in this area since 197...

By Chloe Kiparsky Plaindealer intern

Remote-triggered avalanche in San Juan Mountains

First responders receive first COVID-19 vaccines