Introducing the Estes Arts District Board of Directors

Board Member Greg Miles at the end of summer Giant Thank You Party (aka Night of the Fun Junkies).
Photo credit Terry Rustin

Interim President & Board Secretary Nick Smith opened Lumpy Ridge Brewing Co in the summer of 2015. He is a volunteer board member with the Estes Valley Partners for Commerce and a Rodeo Committee Member. It is part of his (and his company’s) mission to perpetuate art, change, and thought in Estes Park. He partners with other businesses in town to try new products and events, hosts community events at his brewery, and in general is working to create a sense of local pride and place. He is specifically interested in the intersection of for-profit business, manufacturing, community, and the creative arts. He is a good human. 

Vice President, Greg Miles, possibly born on the island of misfit toys and raised by wolves, has focused on art, music, and food. He is a former professional restaurateur and chef, a published author, a part-time musician, and an award-winning painter. Miles is the owner of "The Studio of Fine Art & Framing," Estes Park's newest gallery. One of his paintings hangs in the Louvre in Paris.

Digital Marketing, Amber Lausted, is a longtime resident of Estes Park. She spent 25 years in the Ranch Resort-Restaurant business in jobs including but not limited to horse wrangling, catering, event coordinating, marketing and advertising.  Along the way she remained creative making and selling jewelry and upcycled lamps and making costumes for fun. Her advanced education was in Art with a focus in sculpture and metalsmithing.  She now works full time in the art world helping to manage a fine art and handcraft gallery in Estes Park.

Treasurer, Heidi Riedesel moved to Estes Park in June of 2007 from the Twin Cities in MN. With an MA in Art Education and Curriculum Instruction, her former 18 year career included teaching art and design, and creating a design curriculum for High School students in the Anoka-Hennepin school district. She enjoyed collaborating with various arts, technical, and liberal arts colleges and professors within Minneapolis and Saint Paul, as well as visiting various design firms and studios with her students. Currently you may recognize Heidi's name and face with the real estate industry, and RE/MAX here in Estes Park. 

Wade Johnston Wade is an artist, brewer, and co-owner of Lumpy Ridge Brewing Company. “I am living and playing out my childhood dreams in real time". - Wade
Wade’s artwork ranges from symbolically driven spirit animals to psychedelic posters, from beer labels to (why not?) snorkeling birds. Some of his style and inspiration is taken from work as a geologist and tattoo artist. 
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Travis Machalek, the Assistant Town Administrator for Estes Park, guides the EAD. Machalek has worked with high-performing public sector organizations and to this point, has been instrumental in the Estes Arts District's development.