For the past 72 months — six years — since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, members of the Telluride community have gathered for a peace march.
At noon on the 11th of each month, through empty off-seasons, crowded festival weekends and powder days, a group assembles on the steps of the county courthouse and walks solemnly down Colorado Avenue. With drums, banners, and signs they march down the street, and people join in along the way, stepping into the group and making it larger. At the end of the walk, people share their own experiences with the war or their thoughts about peace.
The first peace walk in 2001 was conceived by locals Art Goodtimes and Michael Saftler. In the wake of the Sept. 11 tragedy they came together to start the event, putting aside their political and ideological differences.
"If we want to have peace in the world we have to overcome those differences," said Goodtimes.
The first march happened before the war in Afghanistan had started, in hopes of preserving peace and to honor the victims of the Sept. 11 attack. Since that time the U.S. got involved in a war in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and appears to be on the verge of another in Iran. More than 4,000 people have signed the "Telluride For Peace" banner that precedes the monthly march, and the same banner has traveled with protestors to Washington, D.C. and San Francisco.
Chris Meyers, founder of the local socio-political group "This Republic Can," is one of the regular marchers. Despite how long the peace walk has gone on, he is hopeful.
"We need to change the world and, as trite as it sounds, it starts with us. We all need to be participating in a new world," he said.
