Grand Mesa Story Share

STORY ONE

Storyteller Carol Ann Rasmussen

Carol Ann Rasmussen moved many times for her husband Dave’s career before they retired and settled in Cedaredge, Colorado in 2004. She is an accomplished alcohol ink artist who says that she is so thankful for her family. She has had a wonderful life filled with love. She is content.

Videographer Phillip Berghauser

Phillip Berghauser is a Colorado-based landscape photographer and videographer currently residing in Eckert, Colorado. Deeply rooted in the rugged beauty of the Western Slope, Phillip focuses on capturing the raw, resilient spirit of the natural world. Through high-definition videography and still photography, Phillip invites viewers to see the world not just as a cinematic backdrop, but as a living story that “doesn’t always end where we thought it would.”

Musician Natalie Spears

Natalie Spears brings listeners in touch with the warmth of community, the quiet awe of wild places, and the intimate corners of humanity. With a quiver of instruments (banjo, piano, guitar), she threads opposites together: love with loss; tradition with innovation; and the human experience with the more-than-human world.

Artist Elizabeth Bonzani

Elizabeth Bonzani grew up on a farm in Connecticut before heading out West to spend nearly 40 years in Flagstaff, AZ, where she studied ceramics under Don Bendel.  She is currently the Chief Mudslinger at GMAEC’s Art Garage. 

Writer Kierstin Bridger

Kierstin Bridger is a Colorado writer. She has  authored two books, All Ember (Urban Farmhouse Press) and Demimonde (Lithic Press), which won the Women Writing The West's WILLA Award for poetry.  Her most recent essay is a finalist for the Dogwood Literary Award in non-fiction. Find her work at Poetry, Swwim, Raleigh Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, Prairie Schooner and New York Quarterly. 

STORY TWO

Storyteller Don Paul Benjamin

Donald Paul Benjamin is an award-winning novelist and freelance cartoonist. He grew up on a Colorado farm and enlisted in the U.S. Army where he served three years as a journalist, including a tour in Korea. He worked at colleges and universities in Arizona until retiring in 2014 to move to Cedaredge.

Videographer Phillip Berghauser

Phillip Berghauser is a Colorado-based landscape photographer and videographer currently residing in Eckert, Colorado. Deeply rooted in the rugged beauty of the Western Slope, Phillip focuses on capturing the raw, resilient spirit of the natural

world. Through high-definition videography and still photography, Phillip invites viewers to see the world not just as a cinematic backdrop but as a living story that "doesn't always end where we thought it would."

Musicians Wayne McKinzie & Martha Ditto

Wayne McKinzie is a musician and fine artist living in Cedaredge. He and his wife Rene’ toured the Midwest and Southwest performing their original music as the duo Bittersweet Highway.  His paintings have received awards in group shows and galleries in Colorado, Utah, Texas and New Mexico.

Martha Ditto is a professional cellist from Nashville Tennessee where she worked in the music business for over forty years. She moved to Colorado in 2014, mentoring students in the Valley Youth Orchestra, providing private cello lessons, and continuing to perform and record music. With violinist, Leigh Mahoney, she is half of the duo known as The Mesa Strings. She also raises some pretty spectacular goats!

Artist Jane Dupree

Jane Dupree is a Colorado-based artist specializing in fiber, whose work is deeply influenced by the natural beauty and quiet rhythms of life on the Western Slope. Living and creating in Cedaredge, she draws daily inspiration from the dramatic landscapes of the Grand Mesa, open skies, orchards, and the changing mountain light that define the region.

Writer Judy Fairchild

Judy Fairchild, a Colorado native, grew up in Gunnison, CO.  She received her MA from Western State in education.  She is married and has two daughters, three grandchildren, and one great grandson.  She has lived and worked as an educator for Delta County.  Now retired, she writes, hikes, plays pickleball, volunteers for the Grand Mesa Arts and Events Center and enjoys her family and friends.  

STORY THREE

Storyteller Alan Bull

Alan Bull is a fourth-generation rancher with lifelong ties to the Cedaredge community. He and his wife, Linda, continue to live and work on the family homestead on Bull Mesa, settled by Alan’s great-grandfather in the late 1800’s.

Videographer Heidi Weissner

Heidi Weissner is a retired paralegal now enjoying the creative aspects of working as a website/graphic designer and marketing manager for non-profit organizations in Cedaredge, Colorado. She and her husband moved to Cedaredge in 2019 and enjoy hiking, biking, camping, skiing, tennis, kayaking, horseback riding, and pretty much anything outdoors.

Musician David Starr

David Starr is an Americana/Folk musician with his roots in the blues. He is a critically acclaimed internationally touring musician who has released over 11 albums and shared the stage with acts like America, John Oats, Jim Messina and more. An Arkansas native, he made his way to Cedaredge, Colorado in 2001. He is the owner of Starrs Guitars, a founding member of the Grand Mesa Arts and Events Center, and the producer of the annual Grand Mesa Songwriter Festival.

Artist Jean Stortz

Jean Marie Stortz is a visual artist working with paint, collage, assemblage and drawing since 1992. Nature and abstraction are her “go-tos”. She sees each new piece of art as a path to follow, a process of resolving rather than finishing.

Writer Rene' Janiece

Rene’ Janiece is a wordsmith, a wonder-gatherer, a cow-whisperer and a bittersweet witness, always exploring what it means to meet the world with the heart of a poet. Her self-published poetry chapbook, Rosemary and Rust, was released in 2025. She lives in Cedaredge, Colorado where she is the Curator of Grand Mesa Story Share, and the host of When Words Become Breath – a monthly spoken word open mic forum at the Grand Mesa Arts and Events Center.

All Stories will feature the CU Impact Playback Theater Troupe

This project is supported by the CU Boulder Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship