Big
ideas often start in small places. Tom Willis and Tod VanDewalker,
owners of local convenience stores, were always talking about ways
to help the local economy. Tod was sitting on his front porch one
night looking at the stars and came up with a simple idea. At
their next cup of coffee meeting he asked Tom, "Why don't we
build an observatory?"
The
idea, recalls Willis, was the first of what he calls magic
moments. Something about the idea rang true and a vision was born.
The
same day, Tom said, "I'll check the Internet and see what one
would cost to build, maybe we can pull it off." The first
'hit' on a search was when they found a 30-inch Cassegrain
telescope for sale. Paul VanSlyke of the Black Forest Observatory
near Colorado Springs was retiring from education and had listed
his custom telescope on his website. He was pleased to sell the
telescope for an educational endeavor under clear skies without
light or air pollution. Tod and Tom then organized The Science and
Technology Center at Gunnison as a not-for-profit educational
institution.
There
is very little astronomy education on the western slope of
Colorado, and we would like to change that. Gunnison has two major
products to offer -- tourism and education. This project will
combine these two perfectly, Willis says.
Business
owners, educators, scientists, city, state, and county officials
quickly backed the idea of the observatory project. Gunnison
County designated land near W Mountain, south of Gunnison, for the
Gunnison Valley Observatory. The combined efforts of Tod,
Tom, Gunnison County Manager John Devore, and Community Banks
President Woody Duncan facilitated the purchase, transport, and
local display of the telescope.
The
project is a joint effort of Western State College, School
District RE1J, Gunnison County, The City of Gunnison, and the
Gunnison Valley Economic Development Corporation, as well as many
interested local citizens.
We
want to make the Gunnison Valley an astronomy destination for
students, educators, as well as the average family.
To
read about the HISTORY of our telescope click
here.
