Grand Lake is known for its beautiful bodies of water, small shops and its proximity to Rocky Mountain National Park, but did you know Grand Lake also has beautiful nighttime views?

Following the passage of House Bill 22-1382, the Colorado Tourism Office and DarkSky Colorado began partnering with tourism destinations that were interested in achieving International Dark Sky Place Certification and other methods of enhancing visitor experience.

Participants in the Colorado Dark Sky Certification Mentor program receive 70 hours of free consulting support to implement activities that reduce light pollution and protect access to night skies.

The town was selected to receive assistance from the state to achieve dark sky designation.

The program helps plan fun activities like stargazing or other community dark sky awareness events. It also conducts site visits with municipalities to assess local lighting infrastructure and measure darkness levels with a Sky Quality Meter. Consultations can also assist in creating local ordinances and land use codes that help reduce light pollution and energy consumption.

The press release from the town states that its application was championed by Community Development Director Kim White.

“Our current town code already discusses the requirement of dark-sky compliant lighting, but this program will help the town staff better understand how to measure the darkness levels, create a lighting inventory and get the public engaged in data collection, with the end goal of International Dark Sky Place certification,” White said.

The town’s application was bolstered by support from the following local organizations:

• Rocky Mountain National Park
• Grand County Tourism Board
• Grand County Economic Development
• Grand Lake Chamber of Commerce
• Colorado Headwaters Land Trust
• Grand Lake Creative District
• Grand County Astronomy Club

Colorado is currently home to 10 DarkSky parks and five DarkSky communities.