We Are Chaffee Podcast

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Zac Baird. Zac is a keyboardist and composer. He’s known across musical genres for his electronic talents, including his use of synthesizers and computers. He has toured the world far and wide, playing with various artists and bands for more than 30 years, including for more than a decade with the metal band...

n this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Jed Selby, co-developer of South Main in Buena Vista, Colorado. That includes the Surf Hotel, the bar and restaurant Wesley & Rose, and the concert venues of the Ivy Ballroom and the Lawn, among other things. Jed is a former professional kayaker and former U.S. Freestyle Kayak team member. He’s a passionat...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Rob Dubin, an international keynote speaker and former filmmaker who has become an expert on happiness and resilience. Rob and his wife, Dee, made national news 30 years ago when they survived several days in the backcountry during a phenomenal blizzard near Aspen, Colorado. Adam talks with Rob about that exp...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Alpheus “Alf” Rudd, a master blacksmith with a family lineage in the trade, dating back to at least the 1600s. Adam and Alf take a ride through history and stories of a time gone by, personal, family and otherwise. Alf was abandoned by his father from the get-go, and his stepfather was lost at sea in the Paci...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Keith Baker, Chaffee County (Colo.) Commissioner, retired U.S. Naval Commander, and former owner of The Trailhead (Buena Vista, Colo.), to name just a few chapters in Keith’s story. Keith talks about his country roots in Georgia and his perception of life as a child in the Sixties, a decade that had its chall...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Eddie Sandoval. Eddie might be most known as chef and owner of the Asian Palate (Buena Vista, Colo.), along with his wife, Brynn. In recent months, he also became concert manager for the Surf Hotel. In this conversation, Adam gets to know more about where Eddie comes from, his Midwest upbringing and his young...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Mars and Ashley Fite. The Fites are married digital creators who were early to living adventures on the road before #vanlife became a thing on social media. Ashley and Mars share fantastic insights and perspectives on life, travel, parenting and creativity. They tell how their van life actually started with a...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with historian and rancher Suzy Kelly. Suzy is a local historian and nearly lifelong resident of the Arkansas Valley here in Colorado. She holds a wealth of knowledge on the history of the area, and has built a legacy of preservation as a founding board member of the local Heritage Museum for the past nearly 50 ye...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with entrepreneur, author, speaker and coach Laurie Benson. Laurie talks with Adam about her experiences working on climate issues around the world. They talk about her connection with indigenous women, and her work with mothers and children seeking safety and support at the U.S. border with Mexico. They talk abou...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with entrepreneur and activist Kimi Uno. Kimi shares about the influence of the movement on her life when she was coming up in the Pacific Northwest. She and Adam talk about female empowerment and feminism, multiculturalism and anti-racism, and her history of activism. They also talk about the U.S. government’s in...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Joe Parkin.  Joe was a pioneering American professional cyclist in Europe in the 80s and 90s. He also has been a professional and/or highly competitive BMX, mountain bike and motorcycle racer. He’s been an aerobatic pilot. He spent several years as a highly accomplished long-range rifle shooter. He has been o...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Rick Bieterman and Katy Welter. Rick Bieterman and Katy Welter. Katy and Rick are married partners in a life of ranching and historic renovation, and other adventures. They met on a 75-day outdoor leadership adventure in the mountains. They had come to that experience as individuals, strangers, who unwittingl...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Eric S. Lee, executive director for Full Circle Restorative Justice. Eric has a rich history of entrepreneurship and service to others, including as a chef and restaurateur, life coach and fitness trainer, book author and restorative justice facilitator. He and Adam talk about Detroit and the Motown era of Er...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with professional endurance athlete and author Travis Macy. Travis has a new book out, “A Mile at a Time.” It’s a collaboration with his father, the legendary endurance athlete, Mark “Mace” Macy, and Patrick Regan. Adam and Travis talk about the impact of Mace’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and the ambiguous sense of lo...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with artist Brinkley Messick. Brinkley dropped out of art school, yet here he is, one of this area’s most recognizable artists with work that is known up and down the Arkansas River Valley and beyond. Brinkley describes himself as “naturally subversive.” He and Adam talk about how that, his study of anthropology,...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Elisia Parham, poet, activist and social worker. Elisia is a poet who grew up in unconventional circumstances. She and Adam talk about how those circumstances helped her to develop resilience and her voice, which she has used not only as a performing slam poet but as an activist. Adam talks with Elisia a...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Sophia Herzog Gibb, a two-time Paralympic medalist swimmer. Sophie retired from world competition after the Tokyo games were held in 2021. She grew up in Fairplay, Colo., at first with dreams of being a competitive skier. We talk about what led her from skiing to glory as a swimmer. We talk about her gro...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Wendell Pryor, the retired former executive director of the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) in Chaffee County, Colo. Wendell tells about growing up in what was then a rural area outside Denver, coming up in a two-room schoolhouse without indoor plumbing, and spending weekends in the city with cous...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Monica White, founder of the Colorado Tick-Borne Disease Awareness Association. Monica enjoyed a career as a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Forest Service for a number of years, and then experienced a life-changing illness that took years just to get support for diagnosis, let alone treatment. It’s her...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Andrea Carlstrom, director of Chaffee County (Colorado) Public Health. Andrea and Adam reflect on the recent past, with the three-year mark of the first COVID case noted in Chaffee County in mind. During the time that would follow, Andrea lived not only her own version of what everyone experienced with t...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Amy and Lenny Eckstein, the married couple and entrepreneurial energy behind the craft distillery Deerhammer. Lenny and Amy tell about their East Coast origin story, how they met and made their way west, and why they left behind successful careers in other realms to buy a building on Main Street in a rur...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Jonathon Stalls, author of the book, “Walk: Slow Down, Wake Up and Connect at 1-3 Miles Per Hour.” They talk about Jonathon’s 242-day walk across the United States as a pivotal experience for him, and the deeply painful buildup, including a suicide attempt, that led him to that mental and emotional space...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Les Messamer, a 96-year-old World War II veteran who one might swear has lived multiple lives simultaneously. Adventurous ones and otherwise. Les tells about his upbringing in a fundamentalist religious farm community in Iowa, and why he defied its wishes and enlisted to serve in World War II, only to be...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Tayte Pollmann. Tayte is a writer, trail runner, Nordic skier, traveler and, it turns out, a lover of Liège waffles, artisan cheese and many other things. Adam and Tayte talk about a roving range of topics, including food and their shared love of living in the mountains, and memories they both have of th...

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Dominique Naccarato, executive director of the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association (GARNA) and city council member in Salida, Colo. Dominique’s story is Salida’s story, at least in part. She talks with Adam about growing up in Salida in the pre-Internet era and wanting to leave and never come back....