FIRST STRING PLAYERS
dave & shari flatt

The Flatts are a couple who can be separated by miles and miles, and still be together in heart and soul. They, on the other hand, can be in the same room and still carry on as separate individuals with lives as full as they come. Because their lives work so magically individually, their union as a couple is complete, uncensored and full. They mutually care and share in parenting, grand-parenting, entrepreneur endeavors, traveling, friendships and homelife albeit they both own and operate their separate businesses. Shari owns the highly successful Discover Telluride destination service company with her daughter, Kammi, and has recently expanded it to represent northern Scottsdale and Cave Creek , Arizona , areas, aptly calling it Discover Arizona . Dave's business is Telluride Real Estate Corporation, Telluride's largest real estate firm of which he is one of five owners. TREC keeps him brimming and challenged by utilizing his extensive financial/banking background. Dave says, "It's a lot of fun and, sometimes, takes a lot of creativity." Fact of the matter is, I think this couple's marriage works and is so dynamic, because of their sense of humor, commitment to making each other happy and placing a high sense of value on family, friends and new lifeexperiences. They see the art of living a good life lies in laughing.

Their seemingly strong portfolio of real estate holdings throughout Colorado and Arizona and superior business acumen are simply "pars" for the course. While the "double birdies" are the chuckles. In essence, the Flatts' secret to life is simply to enjoy one another, to be happy and to push the thresholds in their business and personal endeavors. Their secret in marriage is to, in Shari 's words, "Respect and like the person first, then to love each other." While Dave says, "Communication is the key." Business is a thrill to the Flatts and complacency isn't part of their life-patterns. In fact, quite the opposite it true. Between them, they have successfully started and run for extended period-of-times nearly a dozen businesses or programs in Grand Junction , Telluride and Cave Creek, Az. "I had my own horse training school since the age of thirteen," says Shari . "I've was the developmental director of the Grand Junction Art Center and coordinator of community involvement programs for Hilltop Rehabilitation Hospital . Then, when I moved to Telluride, I did regional marketing for Telski and eight years ago I came up with the concept of "providing guests with destination services that would ensure they'd get exactly what they wanted out of their vacations;" hence Discover Telluride.

Further, along with Joyce Allred, Shari revitalized the popular Telluride 4th of July parade and was one of the founders of the Telluride Women's Network. Dave took a different route with his career. Upon graduating from Grand Junction High School in 1958, Dave went to Mesa State College and then University of Denver to "actually study"; since DU dropped the football program the year he enrolled, he knew his focus would go more towards a finance degree than playing football. During this time, Shari says, "I attended Colorado 's Women's College for one year before we were married. I chose this college based on their equestrian program. We were married during Dave's junior year at DU." After Dave graduated from DU with a degree in Business Administration and Finance, they moved to Southern California for Dave's enrollment in a three-year bank management training program. Dave and Shari say they naively put "career first and lifestyle second," at that time. After the stint was completed, they came to realized they weren't "freeway fighters" and matured into the view that lifestyle should come first, not career. So they returned to their roots. They returned to Grand Junction , Colorado . As Dave puts it, Grand Junction (GJ) is "a great place to live and raise kids and I could pursue my career in banking." They remained there for 20 years, until they moved to Telluride in 1986.

Being in GJ better allowed the Flatts to maintain their life-long friendships with Ron Allred and Jim Wells, as they were raised in GJ as well. As locals know, Allred is the primary visionary behind the Telluride Ski & Golf Resort and Wells was the CPA, turned CEO, Allred entrusted with running Telski operations for many years. Since the fifth grade, Dave Flatt and Ron Allred have been best friends. "Jim Wells came along in 7th grade and Shari entered into our lives in high school," explains Dave. This group of friends lived in different states for years and seemingly "got back together," when Ron, in Dave words, "Started looking at Telluride as a possible purchase and came to us to see what we thought of the area." That was in the late 70s. Dave has been involved in Mountain Village (MV) since it was a twinkle in an eye. Dave and Shari teamed-up with Dr. Kim and Wally Hewson to form Snowflake, Inc. They became one of the first investors in MV, built the first condominium buildings, the Telemark, and sold the first finished slopeside units. The Flatts were instrumental in igniting and fueling the fire that would ultimately create the ever illustrious, Europeanflared resort town, MV; that is currently dubbed by the American press travel society as one of the US 's most exquisite places to live and vacation. Their investments, energy and focus coincided with Allred's compilation of convenances which set the tone. Their inaugural address at the Telemark made the vision a reality. Dave says, "Obviously an investment in a dream, a promise, a ground-floor is risky, but we had a long-term track record, the synergy and then the outside capital to make it work."

When they were the only ones who built in MV, the roads were mud and there was no parking. Dave and Shari had bouts of wondering if MV was a blunder. But, soon other risk-taking developers followed their lead and are continuing today to build the dream. Another frustrating challenge came when the San Miguel County Commissioners placed the "full financial burden for operating the future gondola on residents of MV." Thus, Flatt joined forces with Darrell Huschke, also a MV developer, and formed a committee that laid all the ground work needed to charter MV as a separate town. Public meetings, filing applications, proposal of a town charter and elections were all held, obtained and administered. Flatt was vice mayor and on the first council for MV, while Huschke became mayor. Flatt plans on running for MV mayor in June 2001. Albeit a small town made up of less than a couple hundred people, Dave Flatt's political involvement, fortitude and persistence in laying the frame work of MV made it a quintessenital draw to Telluride and the San Juans. By chairing committees, being a member of the MV Metropolitan District and Metropolitan Services Board of Directors, on which he serves, and having his company, Telluride Real Estate Corporation, and Shari's, Discover Telluride, open their doors in MV, not only demonstrated leadership, teamwork and the confidence they had in MV but, in fact, set a tone of how the Telluride resort community as a whole would/could position itself in the marketplace.

Dave says, "In MV we make decisions that are good for the business of building a resort community. A place where family memories are created. A special place worthy of investing your dollars and leisure time. A place where you find appreciation is measured not only in financial terms alone, but also quality of life spent with family and friends." Noticeably, our conversation/interview turned back to good times with family and friends. They simply love being connected to others. Shari says, "We lost track with some of our high school friends for 20 years, but now we get together quite regularly. In fact, "ten of my high school girl friends started vacationing together," says Shari . The Flatts enjoy traveling to different parts of the country and the world. They have traveled to Australia , France , Switzerland , England , Scotland and Italy .

This September, they will be returning to Italy with their family, including 3-year-old grandson Cole, for two weeks. They will spend one week in the southern part of Italy and the second in the Tuscany area in a villa in the middle of a vineyard. Shari 's roots are ultimately from the Mediterranean part of the world, namely Italy , though, she is a true native to Colorado . Her Italian grandfather, Robert Faussone, came to the U.S. in the mid-1800s. There were five brothers who eventually followed Robert. One of the brothers, Joe Faussone, teamed-up with Joe Pricco to open the grocery store in Ouray which is now Pricco's Restaurant. Pictures of the two men are in the restaurant. "The Red Light Affair was up there, too," Shari says her 92-year-old aunt likes to interject. Ultimately, her grandfather moved to Montrose and became a farmer. That is where her dad, Henry, grew up. Dave is a native to Colorado as well. Born in Durango, then moved to GJ, Paonia and back to GJ from elementary through part of junior college and then for 20 more years, after a brief stint in Southern Cal.

Now, life for the Flatts is largely centered around Telluride though it is interspersed with the "quite spectacular" terrain of Cave Creek, Az. Predominately woven into their tapestry of day-to-day living are their adult kids, Kammi and Eric. Kammi is a partner with Shari in the Discover Telluride and Arizona companies. She is married to Ken Howie who is a commercial photographer. Shari says, "Ken has developed and perfected a technique whereby the digital information of an image is multiplied. This proprietary technique has not been duplicated by anyone in the industry." Ken and Kammi have a cute-as-a- button, all-American three-year-old son, named Cole, whom Shari and Dave love to spend time with and admittedly spoil. Eric, their 30-something-year-old son, will be getting married this spring to Christine DeCowski in Sedona at the Briar Patch. Eric owns and operates two of Cave Creek's most acclaimed restaurants, Tonto Bar and Grill and Cartwrights. Christine is associated with the restaurants as well.

The Flatts' Telluride and Cave Creek homes are beautifully appointed and decorated by Shari 's sister, Karen, who is an interior designer out of GJ. The uniqueness and originality of fabrics, wall and floor coverings or painted furnishings evoke fond memories or significant historical events of the area as well as makes one feel warmth, comfort and rugged elegance. For example, Karen had their childhood horses, Midnight and Susie Q, painted on the headboards of twin beds, while crackled- painted cabinets of a dining area were masterfully etched with historic events. One things for certain, though their homes are beautiful, and most probably hard to leave for long, extended periods, the Flatts always manage to get "out and about" doing their favorite activities of hiking, golfing, biking, horseback riding on Breeze and sharing good times laughing and living it up with friends and family.