COS Town Tidings #26-272 | 9/29/26

Gmail will clip so click to 📖 READ ONLINE

🤣 Today's Chuckle

🤗 Our Community: 😳 What Would You Do in That Cockpit?

📰 Last Call for Briargate Market 🍑

🌉 TRIVIA: The 1935 Disaster Beneath Our Daily Drive 🚗

🛒 NEW Bargain Box Deals

📅 Local Events + Concerts, Farmers Markets & more

⛅ COS Weather - Cooler temps with possible isolated PM Storms

🙋‍♀️ Want Us to feature your business - Apply Today

The whole reason Saturday's Gala exists is because we have no idea what the world is going to ask of the next generation of leaders, and neither do they.

That thought hit me differently when I learned the story behind the plane we will be standing next to.

Imagine it is April 1942.

You are 24 years old, sitting in the cockpit of a B-25 Mitchell bomber on the deck of an aircraft carrier in the middle of the Pacific. The plane you are strapped into was never designed to take off from a ship. Nobody has ever tried it. And you already know, before the engines turn over, that you do not have enough fuel to make it back.

You volunteered for this.

Four months earlier your country was attacked at Pearl Harbor. Sixteen crews, eighty men, have been asked to fly the first American strike on the Japanese mainland. It is called the Doolittle Raid. None of you will land where you took off from. It is a one-way mission as there is not enough fuel to get back.

The engines start. Now it’s your turn to take off.

What is going through your head?

Those men were not born leaders. They were farm kids and mechanics and schoolteachers who woke up one morning in a world that suddenly needed them to be something bigger than they thought they were.

That is exactly what the Rocky Mountain Youth Leadership Foundation is preparing local high schoolers for. Not to fly bombers. To be ready when their moment shows up, in whatever shape it takes. Every ticket to Saturday's Gala funds a student's week at that program.

I am only scratching the surface of this history, but the National Museum of World War II Aviation's expert guides will be there Saturday to tell the full story and make you feel like you are truly living it. At 8:00 PM the museum will fire up the engines of one of those exact B-25s about thirty feet from where we will be standing. One raffle winner gets to sit in the cockpit while it happens. Twenty-four-year-old you would have taken that shot.

Only a few complementary seats left from Monday's issue and will close tonight or when all are claimed.

Come find me Saturday. I will be in jeans and my pink Town Tidings shirt, and the people at my table are my subscribers, so if that is you, please say hi. Meeting you in person is genuinely my favorite part of doing this.

~Sandy

P.S. Air Force vs Navy football game is the same day, and here is something interesting. The Doolittle Raid was Army pilots (what became the Air Force in 1947) taking off from a Navy carrier. The two branches taking the field are the exact two that pulled off the mission this B-25 flew. Make Saturday a full circle moment. Cheer the rivalry at kickoff, then stand beside the aircraft that turned both branches into legend and helped turn the tide of a war. Reserve your seat.

Trade the daily grind for the crisp, alpine peaks of Breckenridge or the sunset-soaked charm of Santa Fe. Check availability and book your stay now!

After 18 years of serving northern Colorado Springs, the Briargate Farmers Market is wrapping up its season this Wed, from 9am-2pm at 7610 N Union Blvd. About 35 local vendors will be there, and this is your last shot to grab Palisade peaches and Rocky Ford watermelons before they're gone until next year.

The vibe is already shifting toward fall. Think apple cider drinks, pumpkin spice, Halloween crafts, and handmade earrings made for the season. It is that in-between moment where summer and fall overlap, and there is really no better place to feel it than an outdoor market with good food and familiar faces.

No word yet on the 2027 schedule, but organizers plan to announce dates by March. If this is your market, go say goodbye properly. Full Story

A new week means new treasures! We're giving you a first look at the incredible finds and amazing sales hitting the floor for Sept 29-Oct 3 (50% off many items!). Watch now to see what's waiting for you!

👉 Remember, you can donate items here too!

Location: 405 S Nevada Ave, Open Tues - Sat 10am-2pm. (719) 475-1029

🙏 They Have 5,000 Reasons to Work for Free

Did you know the bridge now closed at Mesa Road and Cache la Poudre Street was built because its predecessor was swept away by floodwaters? The familiar Monument Valley Park crossing, which links the Colorado College area with the Old North End, dates to 1936, but its story begins with disaster. A devastating Memorial Day flood in 1935 washed out the earlier bridge over Monument Creek.

Question: How long is the historic Mesa Road and Cache la Poudre Street Bridge?

During the Great Depression, Colorado Springs rebuilt the crossing with funding from the federal Public Works Administration. Rather than build a plain utility bridge, the city created one with an Art Deco design that stood out nearly 90 years later. Its geometric details, graceful lines, and setting above Monument Creek have made it a small but distinctive piece of the park's landscape.

That is why today's construction is more than a road project. The City is carefully removing and replacing the historic bridge deck while preserving the structure beneath it. The work also includes wider sidewalks, roadway and drainage improvements, new lighting, and accessibility upgrades, helping the bridge continue carrying drivers, cyclists, and walkers for decades to come.

It is easy to see a detour and only feel the inconvenience. But this bridge has already survived a flood, nearly a century of daily crossings, and enormous changes around it. Now Colorado Springs is choosing to preserve it instead of simply replacing it. That feels fitting for a city that has always found ways to build forward without forgetting what came before.

Answer: 232 feet. *Source

👵 From "Too Fragile" To Daily Adventures... with Kristen Nielsen

Would you do us a favor? We need your HELP! Please share Colorado Springs Town Tidings with 1 friend who would enjoy reading.🤗

👉 Are you on Nextdoor? Share our newsletter there too!

*Add events directly to your Google or Apple calendars, submit events, and mark & save favorites!

🍕 Poor Richard’s Downtown, grab a slice

Don’t want to be up to date on the latest Colorado Springs news, events, and more with our daily newsletters? Reply to this email with “2-3 Times/Week” and we’ll only send you Wed, Sun and if we do a special issue.

PLEASE DON’T MARK US AS SPAM! This negatively impacts those who DO want to receive this newsletter. Remember, YOU signed up, there’s a link at the bottom to unsubscribe or reply with “please unsubscribe.”

📍 4935 Centennial Blvd, Suite A, Colorado Springs, CO 80919
⏰ Hours: M-Fri: 7:00am - 4:00pm, Sat: 8am-2pm. Closed Sundays

🎫 Colorado Springs Town Tidings VIP PASS, a FREE digital wallet pass you can easily add to your Apple or Google Wallet.

Be the FIRST to receive EXCLUSIVE offers, special savings, and the latest announcements from businesses and events in our area, delivered straight to your phone. (Click image below to find out WHY I created this for you!)

🙋‍♀️ Yes, I want my VIP Pass

🙋‍♀️ OWN a local business and would like to be featured? 👇Click below:

✅ Own a local Business? Apply

🎤 Prefer something easier? You can record your answers by voice and let the system turn them into written responses.

👋 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]