History

 

On October 11, 1998, Snowmass Chapel and Community Center held a formal dedication of their new Memorial Garden named in memory of John Denver who died in a plane accident October 12, 1997. Many stories abound about John Denver’s life, business, and activities in Snowmass Village. 

 

One of the direct connections to our chapel came through Kenn Roberts. Kenn, a resident and a chapel regular, organized the fund-raising and building effort that saw the Chapel admin building rise from the ground in March 1998. Kenn a guitarist, songwriter, and lifelong musician was a member of The Hard Travelers. Their specialty was sixties music with a nineties blue grass style. They conducted concerts for many charities including the Chapel. For 35 years, they opened for such luminaries as Kenny Rogers, The Oak Ridge Boys, Barbara Mandrell and Willy Nelson and Alabama. They worked closely with John Denver and Bill Danoff, author of Afternoon Delight, Guess He’d Rather be in Colorado and Take Me Home Country Roads. 

 

The request for tree donors for the John Denver garden was met with great response and the result is a beautiful area of spruce and aspen trees that the entire community enjoys. All those who donated $500 for an aspen or $1000 for a spruce had their names and dedications etched in granite boulders placed at the site. The Town of Snowmass Village generously donated $10,000 to the project. John McCarty volunteered his expertise as the landscape architect and carried out the vision of this new grove.