Stories
We Want You--- to turn in your gas-powered lawn equipment and trade up to electric! Green for Green starts this Saturday at Ace Hardware in Carbondale. Every piece of small engine gas-powered lawn equipment including push mowers, edge trimmers, leaf blowers and even chainsaws will qualify for a $50 gift card towards the purchase of a new electric replacement. Now's the time to do yourself and the planet a favor and save money at the same time (first with the gift card, then later with cheaper electricity!) Come join members of the Carbondale Rotary Environmental Committee at the locations listed on the image above and thanks to our partners at the Carbondale Environmental Fund, CLEER, and Trinity Recycling for making this happen. Starting this way you could walk away with cleaner, greener landscaping options! See you there!
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Fireball Drop at Village Smithy a Big Hit! Fireball Drop sponsored by Ace Hardware was another great success!
The Carbondale Rotary and the Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection District teamed up once again to drop up to 1,000 colored ping pong balls (or more) from a fire ladder truck on First Friday, May 3rd at 5pm! What was new this year is that the whole spectacle moved downtown on Main Street outside the Village Smithy! As before, the ball closest the center target w0n the $5,000 grand prize and belonged to Carbondale resident Anna Vitali! Congratulations Anna! We'd like to extend a special thanks to our Title Sponsor Ace Hardware and our Lead Sponsor Alpine Bank. Corporate sponsors include ANB Bank, Bookbinders, the Cowen Center, Coldwell Banker Mason Morse Realtor Brian Keleher, Herschel Ross DDS Family Dentistry, Sotheby's International RVR Realtor Karen Peirson, Lulubelle, Martin Insurance, Modern Day Media, Obermeyer Wood Asset Management, The Pain Center of the Roaring Fork Valley, RJ Paddywacks Pet Outfitter, Rivers Dentistry, Sopris Liquor and Wine, Umbrella Roofing, Thunder River Theatre Company, Whitsitt Law Office, Glenwood Springs Post Independent and Mike Waski. Balls were purchased for $20/each online at paybee.io/@fireballdrop or at City Market Carbondale (every weekend and the full week prior) or through our partners at Ascendigo Autism Services and the Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection District. We raised over $40,000 and all proceeds after expenses go to local volunteer projects, scholarships, Rotary youth exchange and social programs! Thanks to everyone who bought a ball (or 3 or more!) |
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Potato Day Pancake Breakfast 2023Calling all hungry Potato Day fans! Rotary will be firing up the grill for pancakes once again on Saturday, October 7th in downtown Carbondale! Join us at the park at 4th Street and Main Street in downtown Carbondale for delicious pancakes (and potato pancakes) from 8:30am to 10:30am. Regular pancakes are $10/plate (or potato pancakes for $15/plate) including sausage, orange juice and Bonfire coffee! All proceeds went to benefit the Rotary Club of Carbondale and our scholorships, grants and service projects. Hope to see you there! |
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Fireball Drop 2023Our 2023 Fireball Drop fundraiser was a success!
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Potato Days Pancake BreakfastWe had a great time at Potato Day on Saturday, October 1st in downtown Carbondale! The park at 4th Street and Main Street in downtown Carbondale was busy with Rotarians serving pancakes from 8:00am to 10:00am. Regular pancakes were $10/plate (or potato pancakes for $15/plate) including sausage, orange juice and Bonfire coffee! All proceeds went to benefit the Rotary Club of Carbondale. All in all we raised $900! |
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Scenes from the Fireball Drop 2022Our Carbondale Rotary/Ace Hardware Fireball Drop 2022 was a success, raising over $27,000 to support our student scholarships, Rotary Youth Exchange, community and international projects and grants. Thank you to everyone who partcipated!
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Fireball Drop is Back for 2022!We're excited to announce the return of the Fireball Drop sponsored by Ace Hardware!
Come join the fun as Carbondale Rotary and the Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection District team up to drop up to 1,000 colored ping pong balls (or more) from a fire ladder truck at Sopris Park in downtown Carbondale on First Friday, May 6th at 5pm! Which ball will hit the center target and who will win the $5,000 grand prize? Corporate sponsors include Alpine Bank, Sopris Liquor and Wine, Umbrella Roofing, Sotheby's International Realty River Valley Ranch Office, Wealth By Design, Glenwood Springs Post Independent and Mike Waski. Balls can be purchased for $20/each online at paybee.io/@fireballdrop@1 or at City Market Carbondale (at select times starting in mid-March) or through our partners at YouthZone, Roaring Fork Soccer Club, Ascendigo and Roaring Fork Pickleball Association. All proceeds after expenses go to local volunteer projects, scholarships, Rotary youth exchange and social programs. |
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Support Carbondale Rotary's endeavorsOur club is involved in several community, district and global programs and projects. Contributions specifically to our club's student scholarships, community and international grants and service projects, and our Rotary Youth Exchange program are welcome and can be sent to the Rotary Club of Carbondale, P.O. Box 538, Carbondale, CO 81623. 202Fall 2021 Rio Grande Trail cleanup.
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Announcing the Fireball Drop 2021!The Rotary Club of Carbondale has created a one-of-a-kind event this spring and we'd like to invite you to participate in the first ever Fireball Drop on May 7th, First Friday in May at Sopris Park in Carbondale! We’re going to drop up to 1,000 ping pong balls from a Fire Ladder Truck onto a field of targets! The ball that lands closest to the center target wins the Grand Prize of $5000 Cash!!!! Other prizes are including $500 cash are available too! You can help support local scholarships, local community projects, non-profits and international relief efforts all by purchasing 1 ping pong ball for $20 or 3 for $50 by going here: www.paybee.io/@fireballdrop@1! Here's our shiny new QR code too! You can also contact any Carbondale Rotarian if you’d like to buy a ball (or three or more) and pay by check or cash. The drop happens this May 7th at 5pm and you can watch from a distance at the park or online on Facebook Live! Don’t miss out on something this unique! Huge thanks to our title sponsor Ace Hardware and featured sponsor Alpine Bank! All the proceeds are tax deductible and the more money we raise the more we can help our high schoolers, first-responders and others during this time! |
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Join us virtuallyIf you can't join us in person, please consider joining virtually at 6:45 a.m. each Wednesday via Zoom for our weekly club meetings and to hear special guest speakers and presentations. To receive the meeting link, please contact John Stroud at jtstroud@comcast.net
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Running of the Balls 2019We had our second Running of the Balls fundraiser on Sept. 6, 2019, as part of the Carbondale First Friday festivities downtown. The evening began with our Running of the Kids race, where children ages 3-8 were invited to be chased by large rubber balls down Main Street in a just-for-fun event. Then, ticket holders and other spectators lined the street to watch as members of the Roaring Fork Youth Soccer Club kick-shuffled the big, bouncy balls down the street to see which ones would enter the finish chute first to determine the winner. Congratulations to Kevin Lundy of Carbondale, who held the winning ticket and won the $5,000 grand prize! This event raises needed funds for our student scholarships, community grants and support for global Rotary projects. |
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Running of the Balls 2018Carbondale Rotary’s first-ever Running of the Balls last Friday was even better than we imagined. Locals of all ages came out for First Friday and lined Main Street to watch. We had a kids fun run for ages 3-6, a great parade and lastly the main event when 89 of our big rubber balls got blown down the street by giant fans and leaf blowers. Jack Brendlinger (on the ATV) We had perfect weather and amazing, crews of volunteers to make it all happen. The vision of our hard-working event architect, planner and chairman Jack Brendlinger truly became a reality.
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Congratulations to our 2018/2019 Scholarship RecipientsCarbondale Rotary 2019 Scholarship recipients Carbondale Rotary Awards 2018 Scholarships to Local High School Students RFHS and BHS Seniors Receive $1,000 each for College Jim Kenney (third from left) passes the mic to the 2018 Carbondale Rotary Scholarship recipients The Carbondale Rotary Club proudly presented ten outstanding local high school seniors with $1,000 scholarships to put towards their college tuition at the weekly Club meeting this past Wednesday morning, May 14th at the Carbondale Fire Station. The students were chosen out of a field of 38 applicants based on their academic record, their demonstrated need and their commitment to Rotary’s Four Way Test and motto of Service Above Self. Seven recipients currently attend Basalt High School and three go to Roaring Fork High School.
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Welcome to our New Rotary Exchange StudentsCarbondale Rotary Club welcomed this year's Rotary Exchange Students at the Aspen Airport in late August. Both Stefan Platzer from Austria and Thunyakrit "Ou" Chutiphornphongchai from Thailand arrived to spend the year living with local families and attending High School through the Carbondale Rotary Mountain and Plains District 5470 Rotary Youth Exchange! Stefan's Carbondale Rotary Greeting Committee at the Aspen Airport! Thunyakrit "Ou" Chutiphornphongchai is welcomed to Aspen by his host family the Mitchells and Carbondale Rotary members! Both students will be running cross-country for their respective schools. Ou has already visited the top of Aspen Mountain and Stefan spent his first weekend fly fishing. They're certainly wasting no time settling in to life in the valley! Special thanks to our very own John Stroud for the countless hours organizing the Rotary Exchange program here and making these life-changing experiences possible! |
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The Time Travelers - Free ScreeningOn Wednesday, July 19th at noon the Carbondale Rotary Club proudly presents a free screening of "The Time Travelers" a documentary film by director Forest Woodward and Brendan Leonard.The event will be at the Carbondale Fire Station and includes a presentation by crew member Ian Anderson.
In January 2017, the USA Men’s Rafting Team set their sights on making history by attempting to break a legendary speed record down 277 miles of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Their goal was 34 hours. 34 hours…straight. Throughout 2016, the filmmakers sporadically followed these scrappy, determined guys on their quest…training hard, designing their custom boat, and gaining perspective on what it means to attempt something extraordinary on one of the world’s most breathtaking stages. |
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Great Weather, Great All-Valley Rotary Ride on July 9th |
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Have Interesting Information to Share?Our new website has a tool for creating articles that can be posted on the website's Home page and or News tab and or in the Weekly Newsletter. Please email Steve Skinner at if you are interested. |
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The HAPPENING!!Saturday, June 20, at the Orchard in Carbondale. VIVA MEXICO!! |
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Rotary Club of Carbondale Fighting Proverty in AfricaCarbondale Rotary Club partners to Fund a Women’s Tree Nursery in Niger
The Rotary Club of Carbondale is helping to tackle poverty, hunger and malnutrition through its support of the Farmers of the Future program. The goal of Farmers of the Future is to help impoverished farmers of Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, escape the poverty trap of subsistence farming. It teaches modern agricultural practice to primary school children and creates profitable farming businesses for their mothers. The project, now in its pilot phase in three villages in Niger, is being implemented through the non-profit organization, Eliminate Poverty Now, which was founded by Carbondale Rotarians John and Judy Craig to promote economic opportunity in Africa, especially for women.
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Carbondale Rotary 2013 Grants
Rotary Club of Carbondale ….Celebrating Through Service the Diversity of Our Community
The Carbondale Rotary Club is proud to recognize our 2013 Grant Recipients:
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CARBONDALE ROTARY PRESIDENT
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The Green TeamCommunity Sustainability in the Roaring Fork Valley: High Altitude Permaculture and Greenhouse Design and Implementation Involving Youth Participation and Planning |