Happy Birthday USA

The GoPro games in Vail at the beginning of June are the warm up for the main event that truly kicks summer into gear in the valley - the 4th of July week. The towns come alive with the return of tourists and second homeowners, many of whom become part-time residents for much if not all of July and August.

And the whole valley gets into the spirit of things with a variety of events and activities (see the guide to it all below). If you are planning to be here we hope you enjoy every minute of it.

And if you are anywhere but here this coming 4th we hope you can take advantage of whatever is on around you to celebrate the 250th birthday of the USA - but make sure you get here next year!

Dana Gumber, Mike Connolly, and Jean-Claude Moritz

If you're planning to be in the Vail Valley for Independence Day, there are two major celebrations that draw the biggest crowds:

Vail America Days – Vail's annual America Days celebration on July 4 will include:

The Town of Avon hosts one of the largest family-oriented celebrations in Eagle County at Harry A. Nottingham Park on July 3:

The 4th of July is always a fun time in the valley but it carries a bit more significance this year as it is not only the country’s 250th year, but also Colorado’s 150th year!

The Local’s Favorite Stop in Avon: R Farmers' Market & Kitchen

If you haven't wandered into R Farmers' Market & Kitchen on Beaver Creek Place in Avon yet, consider this your official nudge.

What looks from the outside like a specialty grocery store is actually one of the more interesting food destinations in the valley — part gourmet butcher shop, part European-style café, part culinary love letter to Eagle County. The market is family-owned and operated by locals Riley and Valerie Romanin, who are passionate about food and community. Riley also owns Hooked in Beaver Creek, and his ambition here is even bigger: his goal is for Eagle County, Colorado, to be known as a culinary destination. Bold words — but one visit and you'll think he might just pull it off.

The Market

Much of the meat is sourced from their own R Farm in Eagle, CO, and their fish is flown in fresh from Japan, supplying world-class sushi-grade options. The butcher counter is the real showstopper — they break down whole animals in-house, using as much of the animal as possible, with dry-aged cuts that will make you rethink your usual grocery run. Fresh seafood arrives twice a week, and the shelves are stocked with imported Italian and Spanish specialties — mussels, tuna belly, gluten-free pastas, and more. They also have a nitrogen-preserved wine system so the last glass is as good as the first — a 100% Italian wine collection curated to complement everything from a prime ribeye to delicately prepared salmon.

The Café

The kitchen side opens at 7 a.m. and delivers the kind of breakfast that makes you feel like you made good decisions. Mornings feature fresh pastries and croissants, fruit cups and parfaits, and handmade sandwiches — everything made from scratch, including house-made deli meats like R Farm pastrami and peachwood-smoked ham. Lunch brings a French dip with a Gruyere crust, a griddled Italian sausage piled with peppers and onions, and a Reuben built on house-made pastrami and sauerkraut. There's also a poke bar for those craving something lighter, built with the same sushi-grade fish stocked in the market cases.

The pastry case alone is worth a detour — lemon blueberry gateau, flourless chocolate decadence with caramel popcorn, buttery European viennoiseries — baked fresh daily.

The Vibe

This isn't a grab-and-go kind of place, even though you can do that. It's the kind of spot where the butcher wants to tell you how the animal was raised, the chef wants to show you the crumb on the bread loaf, and the staff will re-open the door if they see you walking up at closing time (yes, that actually happened — check the reviews). As their butcher Aminadad Rosario puts it: "When you come here, you're stepping into our home."

Open 7 days a week, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. | 51 Beaver Creek Place, Suite 3, Avon | rfarmersmarket.com

It's 4:45 on a Saturday, the regular crowd shuffles in…

For four decades, that lyric has been more than a Billy Joel song in Vail. It's been a ritual. Anytime Phil Long sang "Piano Man," he'd shout out to the crowd to ask what time it was and adjust the lyrics to fit the moment. The crowd always knew the answer. They'd been shuffling in — ski boots still on, cheeks still flushed from the mountain — to hear Phil Long do his thing.

Now, after 40 years of that beautiful, boot-stomping routine, the curtain is coming down. The legendary après ski entertainer will play his last show at Vail Chophouse in Lionshead on July 4. Fireworks and a finale — fittingly dramatic for a man who never once did things halfway.

From Broomfield to Bridge Street

Long, a native of Broomfield, Colorado, came to play music in Vail in 1987. "I told my parents when I graduated from college that I just wanted to try music. And my dad said, 'OK, well, make sure you have your health insurance,'" Long said.

Dad's advice was sensible. What happened next was something else entirely.

Phil Long started playing music at the Red Lion in the heart of Vail Village during the 1987–88 ski season. The Red Lion — that legendary ski bar that had been slinging drinks since Vail Mountain's very first season in 1963 — became Phil's living room, his stage, and eventually his business.

Name Dropping at 8150 feet

As a mainstay of Vail's social scene for four decades, the famous found their way to Phil’s stage. Long got to play at President Gerald R. Ford's house for New Year's Eve, and Bill Gates — an avid tennis player who knew Long was a former collegiate tennis player — once asked him to set up a match after attending one of Long's après ski sets.

Then there was the Gloria Estefan moment. "Just last year there was a huge group sitting in front of the stage and I thought, 'That looks sort of like Gloria Estefan.' Next thing you know, she's on stage singing with me and her 11-year-old grandson and we are singing 'Desperado,'" he said.

The Vail Valley Insider played a season of local rec league basketball with Phil and he had a jump shot that was nearly as consistent as his musical act!

The Lionshead Gamble

In 2015, Phil made his boldest business move yet, purchasing the Vail Chophouse in Lionshead. Moving the après ski party away from the familiar gravitational pull of Bridge Street was a genuine risk. "Lionshead was tricky. People were so used to the Bridge Street shuffle. To get them to come down to Lionshead we were like, 'C'mon, give it a try, it's OK over here,'" Long said. "And I feel proud that it went from literally having 10 people in there to having full reservations overflowing for shows."

Going Out on Top

Long announced his retirement in a social media post, writing: "I, with great emotion, health, happiness, support of my beautiful wife Vivian and family, am announcing my retirement from entertaining effective July 4, 2026. 40 years of entertaining seems a perfect crescendo AND with 19 great shows left!!"

The reasoning is as Phil Long as Phil Long gets. "I always wanted to go out on top. I never wanted someone to look on that stage and go, 'Oh, my gosh. Bless his heart. Is that what he's still doing?'" he said. "I still love to perform, I love the people, but I haven't had a New Year's Eve off since I was 18 years old."

"Whatever my little combination of being a decent player and being a good entertainer and working as hard as I can, it all paid off in ways that I never could have imagined," Long said. "I'm happy to end on a high note."

Vail won't be the same at 4:45 on a Saturday. But for everyone who shuffled in, boots still on, cold drink in hand, and sang their hearts out — those memories are permanent. Phil Long didn't just play music. He played Vail.

Phil Long's final show is July 4 at the Vail Chophouse in Lionshead.

The Sweet Spot of the Vail Valley

With the passage of time since its inception in 1973, it has become difficult to label the community of EagleVail a “hidden gem”.

Originally envisioned as a locals neighborhood surrounding a golf course, it existed in a bit of a bubble for a long time, tucked as it is between the resorts of Vail and Beaver Creek - heck, it wasn’t until the early years of the new millennium that the neighborhood got it’s own (partial) interchange with I-70.

As the neighborhood as matured, it has become an attractive option for second homeowners seeking proximity to the resorts (Vail is 7 miles east and the main gate to Beaver Creek is 2 miles west) without the price tag.

And EagleVail offers alot in return - golf, swimming, trail access, pocket parks, racquet sport courts, a community garden, and a popular event venue in its Pavillion. It still has a sizeable population of locals and walking Stone Creek Drive or Deer Boulevard in the mornings provides numerous opportunities to catch up with your neighbors.

Between the two of us, we have lived in Eagle Vail for a total of nearly 50 years, so we are a little biased!

A chance to join the ‘hood

250 Larkspur Lane has just come to market in the last week. It is a 3 bedroom half duplex on one of the quietest streets in EagleVail. The two car garage is a bonus, as is the outdoor garden space and the open views across the second fairway of the golf course that perfectly complement the nearly 1700 square feet of living space.

Please reach out to me for more info on this fabulous opportunity to become part of the EagleVail community. You can reach me on 970.390.2787 or at [email protected] Click here for all of my current listings.

Something significant is taking shape on the north side of Avon, and it's worth a closer look. Two major developments — one luxury residential, one mixed-use retail and residential — are converging in ways that could meaningfully reshape what it means to live, own, and vacation in the Vail Valley's most underrated town.

Meet Skjól

Skjól is a new luxury residential development positioned between Vail and Beaver Creek, rooted in Scandinavian design philosophy and aimed at buyers who want something more intentional than the typical mountain resort condo. The name itself — a Norwegian word meaning shelter or refuge — telegraphs the brand promise: this isn't a party chalet. It's a sanctuary.

The community follows in the footsteps of Frontgate Avon, the successful residential project from the same development team. With Skjól, the developers say they learned from Frontgate that today's mountain buyer wants more than a residence — they want a lifestyle that feels connected, balanced, and convenient.

The amenity package reflects that ambition. Owners will have access to a year-round resort-style pool with waterslide, multiple spas and hot tubs, landscaped courtyard gathering spaces with fire pits and grilling areas, and an elevated amenities terrace overlooking the surrounding mountains. A Scandinavian-inspired wellness retreat includes a state-of-the-art fitness center, Finnish sauna, and yoga studio. Social and recreation spaces include a private club room, café and coffee bar, golf and multi-sport simulator, outdoor pickleball court, and a first-of-its-kind indoor pickleball simulator.

A dedicated ski shuttle provides access to both Vail and Beaver Creek. For buyers who want a true dual-resort ownership experience without choosing sides, that alone is a meaningful selling point.

The Whole Foods Piece

About a hundred yards away — figuratively and, depending on final site plans, potentially literally — a separate development is underway that gives Skjól buyers something few luxury mountain communities can claim: walkable access to a world-class grocery store.

Kensington Development Partners, partnering with Traer Creek's affiliate Jasmine Development Inc., is bringing Phase I of a mixed-use project to a 6-acre portion of Traer Creek's undeveloped 40-acre valley floor parcel. Phase I includes a 26,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market, additional retail space, and approximately 100 market-rate condominium units, with the aim of creating a walkable, trail-connected community.

Kensington has described Whole Foods as the "anchor tenant," a model the firm has used successfully over the past decade — pairing strong retail with adjacent residential to create symbiotic demand. The logic is straightforward: the grocery store draws residents and visitors, the residents support the grocery store, and everyone benefits from a more complete, livable neighborhood.

Phase II of the project, planned for the 6 acres directly east of Phase I, would layer ground-floor retail beneath additional residential units — a more vertically integrated approach reflecting the kind of urban-feeling mixed-use that has long been absent from the valley floor in Avon.

Why It Matters Together

The Avon Planning and Zoning Commission formalized the connection between these two projects last summer, listing both the Skjól residences and the Whole Foods mixed-use development together under a single planning reference. That's not a coincidence — it reflects how the town is thinking about this corridor as a unified neighborhood-building effort rather than two isolated projects.

For buyers considering Skjól, the Whole Foods component is genuinely additive to the value proposition. It solves one of the perennial pain points of mountain resort living: the absence of a premium, walkable grocery option.

For the broader Avon community, the development represents a meaningful step toward the kind of density and walkability that town planners have been pushing toward for years. The Avon Downtown Development Authority, which collects tax increment from new development within its boundaries — including this site — is required to direct at least half of those funds toward community housing. So even the luxury and retail development will contribute, indirectly, to workforce housing efforts.

The Bottom Line

The Vail Valley has always had luxury. What it has often lacked is livability — the kind of day-to-day convenience and neighborhood cohesion that makes a place feel like home rather than a resort. The combination of Skjól's hospitality-driven ownership model and the Whole Foods-anchored mixed-use development in Avon is a meaningful step in closing that gap. Watch this corner of the valley closely. It's becoming something new. And please use the Contact Dana button above if you want to get more info on Skjól!

The FIFA 2026 World Cup - A Truly Inspiring Event

The antics of Scotland’s Tartan Army and the rowing prowess of Norwegian fans has highlighted the power of international sport to bring the human race a bit closer together.

People congregate to watch matches between teams from countries some have never heard of (or can’t find on a map!) and share the “thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat” - if you know that phrase, you are getting a bit old 😉

If you are planning your next watch party, The Manual suggests featuring a cocktail of Mexican origin, the Buchanita.

The drink clearly takes its name from Buchanan’s, a blended Scotch Whiskey with fruity notes. Mixing the 1.5-2 ounces of whiskey with 5 ounces of pineapple juice and adding a pineapple leaf for garnish produces a light, refreshing cocktail that can be made in big batches as needed!

As a single-malt whiskey aficionado, the Insider feels a bit strange recommending mixing even a blended Scotch whiskey with pineapple juice (the horror!), but having recently taken in the Johnnie Walker Experience in Edinburgh, we are feeling a bit less persnickety about how one uses blended whiskey!

Party on, Garth - and Let’s Go USA!