Help this Victorian Beauty Look Good for her 150th

Built as a single family home in 1886, our Victorian home has witnessed Aspen's rapid evolution from a mining town to a magnet for thought leaders, to a haven for artists, musicians, writers, athletes, and hippies, to an international tourist destination.

Since 1977, 221 East Main Street has anchored Explore Books in the Roaring Fork Valley. Much like The Little House in Virginia Lee Burton's classic children's book, it has provided shelter and constancy for local and visiting readers. One woman recently told us she got married here over 40 years ago; one man told us he lived out his teenage years here, using us as a pit stop in between school, sports practice, and dinner. 

And it has provided Explore with a much needed base from which we, like all independent bookstores, confront the challenges and opportunities that come with progress -- E-readers, one-click shopping, smart phones, social media, streaming entertainment,  the sky-rocketing cost of doing business in Aspen, and the changing nature of our immediate neighborhood.

We are lucky to call this our home. We have a long list of 'needs' and 'wants,' and we need your help to ensure we take good care of it. 

NEEDS: Our list of regular vendors is grows longer by the month: plumbers, water treatment specialists, painters and carpenters, arborists, 'dumpster patrol' and 'bear patrol,' snow shoevelers, and landscapers.  In the past six months, our walls have sprung four leaks during rainstorms; some much needed storage space got damaged because one of our gutters was in need of repair; we have several areas on the outside of the building that need some attention from a carpenter and painter; we are just starting to make better use of our upper deck, and there are spindles that need to be replaced and painted;  we have a couple of mysterious electrical panels that we’d love to know more about. And don’t get us started on the swamp cooler and heater situation. 

WANTS:  We’re finishing upgrading our old audio visual system (‘it sounded like a transistor radio,’ said one local expert); we've just installed some shades upstairs to help with the heat and glare that comes in through our gorgeous windows; we'd love to give the inside walls their first coat of paint in at least 10 years; some day we need to replace the interior carpet. 

221 East Main Street is 140 years old this year. Let's get her to 150 looking better than ever. 

In the immortal words of Dolly Parton, “I often joke that 100 years from now I hope people are saying, ‘Dang, she looks good for her age!’”