Rural Vacation Towns Made It Through the Summer. Now What?

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DENVER — The pandemic hit Colorado’s ski towns first. As spring breakers headed to the slopes, they brought the coronavirus with them. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis shut down the state’s ski resorts in March, triggering a wave of furloughs and layoffs in mountain towns.

Some resorts didn’t reopen to tempt tourists with summer gondola rides and alpine coasters until July. Meanwhile, public health orders forced event organizers to cancel weddings, conferences and marquee events from music festivals to Oktoberfest celebrations.

But despite all the closures and cancellations, summer visitors came anyway.

“We were pleasantly surprised,” said Ryan Kelsey, director of revenue for Antlers at Vail, a 91-unit condominium, hotel and conference center. The property’s summer revenues were buoyed…