August 01, 2009 Progress Report
Our street lamp is finally in place!
You’ve all heard of the Tour de France? We now have our own version. It’s called the Tour de Bear Dance. And in spite of how many times we’ve talked about tours in the past, this past month in particular has helped us get exceedingly good at it. This has most certainly been the month of giving tours, whether it’s a real estate sales tour, or a scheduled tour by Ron or John Mark or the Olsons, or impromptu tours; this has been our single-largest activity in the month of August.
To clarify, we haven’t necessarily gotten better at giving tours, or learned more about our project to tell people about, or figured out new ways to say the same thing. Our enthusiasm and demeanor are evident just like always. The creativity and craftsmanship are just as evident now as before.
So what’s changed?
Most notably, this past month has been the first full month to let people see Bear Dance in such a completed state. We’ve been giving tours to people here for more than two years, and during that time, there required a certain level of imagination on the part of the viewer. Folks were able to see plenty of creativity, and the responses were certainly very positive. But there was always something unfinished, something yet to be completed.
Looking Glass’ courtyard now has its
final element of distinctive craftsmanship
in the wrought-iron fence and gate
But as July came to a close, we were nearly finished with our landscaping, driveways and sidewalks among the waterfront buildings. Just in time, as we were scheduled for our first major event since the Sundowner back in May. John Olson was about to be surprised by a few dozen guests for his birthday – 45th or something like that – and as much as his birthday means to us, we were also quite anxious to hear the responses.
Of course, John & Marilyn’s place was the central location, but we also opened up the other waterfront buildings for people to be able to meander through. It’s difficult to eavesdrop on people without looking obvious or annoying, but we made an effort to stroll casually behind and around the groups as they walked around. Of course, everyone was so kind and complimentary, but we couldn’t be sure i they were just saying that because it was John’s birthday. The tours that continued through the month answered that question with absolute certainty: They were being sincere.
Now that things along the waterfront are completed, people are able to walk around and more easily imagine what it would be like to live here. A large part of that response is due to the decision that was made back in May to furnish and decorate Red Rock and Looking Glass (Boulder and Yellowstone for us old-timers) once construction was complete. The furnishings, accessories and artwork selected and placed by Carol Nelson and her crew have achieved their goal perfectly. All along, we’ve been repeating our theme – Old World European Mountain Village Fusion – but if the furnishings, that final touch, had been off, all of it could have been ruined. In our Camel Committee meetings, we were constantly challenging ourselves to make sure we were maintaining our character – Old World instead of Old West; European Architecture instead of Montana Lodge.
Not that we dislike the Montana Western look; many projects around this area (projects we ourselves have worked on) have that look and turned out beautiful. But if that finishing touch had contained even a hint of those Western or Montana-Lodge elements, our efforts to that point would have been negated. So when we gave these tours, and people imagined themselves waking up inside these residences each morning, this was our most critical element. And the comments confirmed the success of this final element – the classy, traditional furnishings received as many compliments as the craftsmanship and architectural elements.
Just like we said last month, when we talked about the finishing touches on the exterior providing the perfect complement to everything up to that point, this month has shown us the same thing inside. One element would be incomplete without the other. Even though the character and craftsmanship leading up those finishing touches had been impressive in their own right (and quite sufficiently generating a lot of buzz and excitement), we look back after those final elements and wonder how we were content before.
Which leads us to our look ahead: We still have the interiors of the five residences in the Manor House, and the lessons learned in these past couple months are ever-present as we make our design decisions. We continue to conduct our Camel Committee meetings, working through the finite details, making sure that once we proceed with these interiors, everything is decided and we run with it.
There were a few monthly reports over the past two-plus years where we made reference to the frenzied pace just barely allowing us to keep up with design decisions. Now our Camel Committee has caught up with the pace and applied the lessons from Tour de Bear Dance. We’ve seen people’s responses to a finished product, and we are applying those experiences to our design decisions in the remaining interiors. It seems like a long way off, but before long we’ll be talking about how much people like how the furnishings in the Ruby complement the character and design.
It’ll happen sooner than we think.