BREAKING NEWS (at least in our world it is…I’m not sure exactly when this happened – sometime over the spring or summer – but this is new news to us): Joe Bye has sold the Bucksnort. To his ex-wife (or separated wife). Many of you that don’t live in the area probably have had one exposure to the Bucksnort during our wedding weekend…we all went there the night before the wedding and had a blast. The rest of you don’t know that you missed the coolest bar/restaurant (mostly bar) ever.
The Bucksnort lives in the legends and stories from both Ahna and I (and Ezra while he was making himself) as well as all of our friends and family. It’s a crappy, broke down, slow serving bar in the middle of nowhere – just outside of Pine, Colorado, which is just outside of Pine Junction, Colorado, which is just outside of Conifer, Colorado, which is just outside of Morrison, Colorado, which is just outside of Lakewood, Colorado, which is just outside of Denver, Colorado, which is just north of Castle Rock, Colorado. It sits in the trees along a dirt road, next to a stream and miles from anything else. It is frequented by bikers during the day, campers on the weekend, and partyers in the know on Friday and Saturday nights.
Joe used to take up the guitar and play songs that everyone knew and would sing along to….forcing people to dance and drink lots and lots of Antler Ale (a brew made especially for this tiny place by Boulder Brewery). We spent many, many nights up there over the course of the last 9 years including staying too long in a snowstorm, a bachelor party, and lots of perfect gatherings of friends.
The story that we heard the other day is that Joe sold it off and is no longer playing music at the ‘Snort. The new owner has attempted to fill the music with other acts, but none of them even come close to the energy that Joe brought….so it’s just not the same. Rumor has it that Joe opened a coffee shop in Evergreen or Conifer, but there is no word if he plays there.
It’s really sad that we don’t have that place to immediately think of as a place to go. Don’t get us wrong, we will return – it’s too good not to. But it won’t be the same.
PS – there are pictures from there, but some of them are rather embarrassing (Dan), so we will keep them for future blackmail purposes.
Denver Post article about the Bucksnort
By the way, the title for this post is a saying from the Bucksnort. It’s an odd saying that is written on the wall of the men’s restroom…something that took us almost two years of attending weekend nights there to remember. Hmmmm, wonder why.
The Life of a Little Hippie 
Such a loss! What a shame!