June 12, 2024 |
Photo – The Dirt Diggers pose with new tepee canvas – By Matt Copeland Bigfoot99
The Visitor’s Center at the south end of the Platte Valley is sporting a brand-new tepee cover. The Dirt Diggers Garden Club paid for and installed the covering for the bare tepee frame outside of the local Carbon County Visitor’s Center.
Dirt Diggers Vice President Kathy Campbell said the tepee frame has sat uncovered for five years. Campbell said garden club president Vonda Weiburg suggested they purchase a new tepee covering.
Campbell said the club had enough money to purchase a custom-made canvas covering. With permission from the Carbon County Visitor’s Council, Campbell said the garden club moved forward with the project.
The Dirt Diggers ordered the buck-skin colored canvas covering from Montrose, Colorado yurt makers, Secret Creek. Campbell said the tan colored canvas will remain unadorned for the time being.
The Riverside and Encampment Visitor’s Center tepee is of the Ute-style, featuring a wooden frame made up of long poles arranged in a circular pattern, with the top left open for ventilation and to allow smoke to escape. The structure is cone-shaped to allow rain and snow to easily slide off the sides.
Led by Encampment resident, Bimbo Nation, it took a team of nine Dirt Diggers volunteers roughly an hour to put up and secure the tepee cover.
The finished tepee can be seen at the Riverside Carbon County Visitor’s Center, located at 207 Highway 70. Campbell said the cover will remain in place until sometime in November, when it will be removed and stored for the winter.
Visit Bigfoot99.com later today to see a picture of the completed tepee.
