Author: By Jennifer Mulson [email protected]

Girl George is giving visitors the side eye from a branch in her warm, humid, leafy enclosure in Scutes Family Gallery at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Not just a side eye, but a backward eye and a forward eye. She’s giving all the eyes one might expect a veiled chameleon to give. The kelly-green 5-year-old has…

From his house, Chris Jeub can peer out over his 6.5-acre kingdom that sprawls across unincorporated El Paso County. He and his wife, Wendy Jeub, are king and queen, ruling over their newfound glamping empire that borders Monument. Monument Glamping I offers eight units for rent: three safari tents on platforms, one tiny house, one…

Imagine making art in a box factory. A machine spits out 500 boxes per minute in the 100,000-square-foot building as you imagine your large-scale installation into reality in a corner room. This 400ish-square-foot space is the home of P.E.A.R. Gallery, the new artist residency at Packaging Express, one of the last independent custom corrugated box…

Hoosier, a barn owl with a gorgeous, snowy heart-shaped face, also is a puppy at heart. On a frigid late winter morning at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, the 15-year-old owl has checked off a couple of his daily husbandry tasks, including getting on a scale so keepers can make sure he stays at a good…

Thomas Blackshear II has a knack for painting Black cowboys and the American West. Over the last half dozen years, the Colorado Springs Black artist has floated to the top of the Western art market in the U.S. His self-coined “Western nouveau” style is on fire, and requests for his pieces and presence regularly flow…

Jerone Penrose III’s gloved fists fly at the punching bag. His older sister, Starr Penrose, is nearby, working combinations. In the boxing ring, Troy Nash holds a body bag to his chest and braces himself against the practice punches from a young boxer. Twelve-year-old Jerone is a two-time national champion who’s ranked No. 10 in…

Hearses are like Pringles to Art Prince — you can’t have just one. Through the years he’s owned half a dozen, one of which he sold last year to some folks operating a haunted house in Pueblo. The quirky hobby makes his house near Fort Carson hard to miss, though he’s never had complaints from…

Billy Ondo likes to tell bicycle jokes. He’s got one at the ready as soon as you enter the apartment he shares with his wife, Jolynn Ondo, close to the Old North End near downtown Colorado Springs. “If you step past the plastic you’re in the garage,” he said. He’s not kidding. On the far…

The ways to usher in the new year are endless. A little festive bubbly in your glass, actual blown bubbles at a kids’ party, adult dance parties, comedy, black ties, no ties, irreverent original theater, fireworks on Pikes Peak — take your pick and make a memory as you bid farewell to 2022 and open…

Marie Richard wanted to give the ladies a reason to put their high heels on. So when the downtown space that last housed Epiphany, a Latin-American fusion restaurant and club that closed in June, came available, she grabbed it up. Prior to Epiphany, the space housed Thirsty Parrot and 32 Bleu. The new Studio 32…