COS Town Tidings #25-330

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🤣 Today’s Chuckle

🌟Local Feature: ✨ From Disability To Purpose: The Story That Will Change Your Heart 🦸‍♀️

📰 Holiday Hours: County Updates + Meeting Changes🦃

📰 Busy Roads + Extra Enforcement 🚗

📰 500 Pies Needed for Thanksgiving 🥧

🛍 New: Bargain Box Weekly Sales, Nov 25-30! 

📆 Local Events + Concerts & 🤶 Holiday Fairs/Festivals

🌤 COS Weather - Partly cloudy with cool temps

🌟 Let’s Feature YOUR business!

How many bakers does it take to make a pie?

👉3.14 🤣

🥰 Why We Spotlight Local Businesses

Every Wednesday, we shine a light on the local entrepreneurs who make Colorado Springs vibrant and unique. When you support these featured businesses, you're investing in our neighbors' dreams and helping build a stronger community by creating jobs and keeping our city thriving. 🤗

✨ From Disability To Purpose: The Story That Will Change Your Heart 🦸‍♀️

🤫 Michelle Alt's secret to saving nonprofits

Have you ever felt like you’ve lost your footing? A time when the future you planned suddenly vanishes, leaving you searching for a new direction? For Michelle Alt, that feeling was all too real. When health issues forced her onto disability, she felt she had lost her purpose, her career, and her social life.

Looking for connection, she joined a local ladies' group. It was there, among new friends, that a spark ignited. While organizing charity drives like a Teddy Bear Picnic that supplied stuffed animals to every fire and police station in the city, Michelle saw a critical gap in our community. The smallest local non-profits, doing vital work, were struggling to get the funding and recognition they needed to survive.

Her personal journey of finding her way back from loss gave her a profound empathy for these organizations. In 2022, she took a leap of faith, transforming the social club into the Colorado Springs Ladies Events (CSLE), a public charity with a focused mission. Her vision was for the charity to partner with one small, local non-profit for an entire year, pouring all its energy into raising funds and awareness for that single cause.

The results of her new focus are powerful. In 2024, her work culminated in a $5,000 donation to the Lotus Foundation. This year, she is championing Harley's Hope Foundation. Her success is powered entirely by community generosity and the volunteers she rallies for the main fundraiser, the Candy Cane Craft & Gift Show (Dec 13 & 14).

Michelle transformed her search for purpose into a powerful force for community good. Now she invites you to join her. She needs volunteers like you to make magic happen for Harley's Hope Foundation. Every hour you give, every ticket you buy, every friend you bring directly helps Michelle lift up our community's hidden heroes.

Be part of this story:

• Website: CSLadiesEvents.com

• Volunteer for CSLE or Candy Cane Craft & Gift Show

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook

Don't wait – volunteer spots fill quickly, and our smallest nonprofits need champions right now.

🎉 Let's celebrate and support our local businesses!

🛍 Bargain Box: This Week's Hot Deals! (Through Sat Nov 30)

A new week means new treasures! We're giving you a first look at the incredible finds and amazing sales hitting the floor through Nov 30. Watch now to see what's waiting for you!

Located at 405 S Nevada Ave, Open Tues - Sat 10am-2pm (closed Thanksgiving Day). (719) 475-1029

• —> 🤲 They Have 5,000 Reasons to Work for Free

🦃 Holiday Hours: County Updates + Meeting Changes

El Paso County administrative and elected offices will close on Nov 27–28 for the Thanksgiving holiday, though essential services like 9-1-1, patrol, and detention operations will remain fully staffed.

Departments including the Clerk & Recorder, Assessor, Public Health, Human Services, the District Attorney’s Office, and others will pause operations, with some offices closing early on Nov 26 and the North Branch staying closed Nov 29. Residents needing assistance with benefits can still access services through Colorado PEAK online.

Several Board of County Commissioners and Land Use meetings are also canceled during this period, with regular meetings resuming the week of Dec 9.

🍞 Fresh Baked Sourdough breads, pastries 
📍3312 Austin Bluffs (Inside The Cupcake Doctor): 
M-Sat, 9am-6pm
*Come in Today for Holiday pies, rolls, bread and more!

🚗 Busy Roads + Extra Enforcement

If you’re hitting the road for the holiday, just note that Southern Colorado law enforcement agencies will step up patrols today, “Blackout Wednesday,” one of the year’s busiest nights for drinking and driving, with added focus on DUIs, speeding, and reckless driving throughout the holiday weekend.

At the same time, AAA anticipates the busiest Thanksgiving travel season on record, with more than 73 million people driving and over six million flying. Yesterday and Sunday are expected to see the heaviest traffic, and travelers are encouraged to plan ahead, allow extra time, and make sure your vehicles are ready for potential winter weather. Full Story

🍕 Poor Richard’s

🎟 Colorado Springs Just Got More Rewarding

Colorado Springs Town Tidings VIP PASS, a FREE digital wallet pass you can easily add to your Apple or Google Wallet. (Click image below to find out WHY I created this for you!) 

🙋‍♀️ Yes, I want my VIP Pass

🌡 Pendleton Heating & Cooling
Brandy’s Warning

🥧 500 Pies Needed for Thanksgiving

With a regular sponsor unable to provide pies this year, the Salvation Army is asking the community to help supply desserts for its Free Community Holiday Meal. They’re seeking store-bought, fully cooked, sealed pies of any flavor—no homemade or frozen items—to ensure food safety. Donations can be delivered to 908 Yuma St location today from 9am to 5pm. Their goal is to gather 500 pies so guests at the Thanksgiving meal can enjoy the same warm tradition they look forward to every year. Can you help?

🎯 The Secret to Financial Confidence You Deserve

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🎉 Events Calendar! (More events including FREE, click here)

Have an event to share? Click on calendar above and add it

📆 Sample Local Events

*Weather permitted

• Nov 26, 28-30, 1-4 PM: 3-Hour Original Colorado Springs Food Tour @1 Tejon St $69-$87

• Nov 28-30 - Dec 28: Mary Poppins @ Fine Arts Center, 30 West Dale St $18-$70

• Nov 29, 6-9pm: Murder Mystery, The Game Over @Great Wolf Lodge, 9494 Federal Dr $79.95 (8 Tickets Left)

• Dec 6-7, 13-14: The Ringmaster`s Christmas @The MAT, 1626 S Tejon $26.50

• Dec 12 & 29, 9am-5pm: Dog Days at the Zoo @ Cheyenne Mtn Zoo

• Dec 17, 6-8pm: Pedestal Flip Calendar Class @ Meraki Springs, 2703 W Colorado Ave $40

• Dec 21, 10am-Noon: Beginner Dot Mandala Painting Workshop @ Treehouse Cafe, 5965 N Academy $50 (6 Seats Available)

🎶 Fall Concerts - Weather permitting

• Nov 28-30, (2 & 7pm): COS Philharmonic: The Nutcracker @Pikes Peak Center $57-$100

• Nov 29, 7pm: On a Winter's Night - A Christmas Handbell Concert @ St Michael's Episcopal Church, 7400 Tudor Rd FREE

• Dec 3, 4, 9, 6pm: Holly & Ivy concert @ Air Force Academy FREE (must register for ticket)

• Dec 6 (7pm) & 7 (2:30pm): Chamber Orchestra of Springs: Dances With The Winds @ Ent Center for the Arts $18-$41

• Dec 21, 3pm: Pikes Peak Philharmonic: Jazz @ENT Center for the Arts, 5225 N Nevada $14-$20

🤶 Holiday Festivals, Fairs & Activities

• ⛸ Through - Jan 18: Skate In The Park @Acacia Park $15

• 🕯 Through Jan 4, Fri & Sat (5:30-10pm) & Sun - Thurs (5:30-9pm): Magic of Lights at Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR) $28-$72/vehicle

• 🎄 Nov 28 - Dec 27: Christmas at Forest Bend @ Black Forest, 9525 Burgess Rd $15 (Tickets Sell Out Fast) 

• Dec 5-23, 25-Jan 1, 5-8:30pm: Electric Safari @ Cheyenne Mtn Zoo $21-$24
  

• 🦃 Nov 27, 12:30-2:30pm: Community Thanksgiving Dinner @ 828 E Pikes Peak Ave FREE for those who need a meal

• Nov 29, 11am-3pm: Holiday Art & Gift Market @ Cottonwood Center for the Arts, 427 E Colorado Ave FREE entry

• Nov 29, 11am-4pm: Holiday Craft Market @ OCC, 1 S 24th St FREE admission

• Nov 29, 4-7pm: Christmas Stroll @ OCC, Bancroft Park FREE to attend

• Nov 30, 9am-3pm: Holiday Market At The Hill @ The Pinery, 630 W Bijou FREE

• Dec 3, 10-13, 17-20, 26-27, 5:30-8pm: 🎄 2.5-Hour Holiday Lights & Bites Progressive Dinner @ Downtown COS $99

• Dec 4, 5:30-8:30pm: Electric Moonlight @ Cheyenne Mtn Zoo $70-$80

• Dec 5-6 (10am-4pm), 7 (10am-4pm): Holiday Food & Gift Festival @Norris Penrose Event Center 1045 Lower Gold Camp Rd $8 (get $1 <coupn code HFGF25> or bring a can food item)

• Dec 6, 3:30-6pm: Christkindl Fest @ Ascension Lutheran Church, 2505 N Circle FREE admission (Must RSVP)

• Dec 7, 2:30-4pm: Grinch Mosaic Class @ The Glass Collective, 828 East Fillmore $45 (Going Fast)

• Dec 13, 2-3pm: Evergreen Wreath Workshop @ Phelan Gardens, 4955 Austin Bluffs $35 (3 Ticket Left)

• Dec 13, 4-8pm: Holiday Evening @Rock Ledge Ranch $8

• Dec 13 & 27, 6-9pm: Murder Mystery, The Hollywood Hit - Holiday Show @Great Wolf Lodge, 9494 Federal Dr $79.95 (12 Ticket Left)

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👋 Colorado Springs Town Tidings is for you, our readers. We encourage you to share your news, local hero stories, events, and more with us! Email us at [email protected]