Dear Readers,Blue skies, golden leaves, warm days, crisp nights. It’s September, the most perfect of months in Colorado. Soak up these days, because they won’t last long.Now that fall is here and school is back in session, all kinds of events are in the works. You might be helping to plan one yourself. If so, or if you expect to throw a fund-raiser, concert, party or meeting any time in the next year, listen up.A free half-day seminar, Planning Community Events 101, is being offered from 9 a.m. to noon on Thursday, Oct. 9, at the Glenwood Springs Community Center. It’s sponsored by the Glenwood Springs Post Independent, the Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association and the city of Glenwood Springs.Some of the information will be Glenwood-specific, but a lot of it will be valuable for events held elsewhere.The program includes:-Lori Hogan from the chamber and Kathleen Milbrath from the Glenwood Springs Community Center on how to plan your event, beginning to end.-Robin Clemons, Glenwood Springs city clerk, on licensing and permitting your event. (Her info will be Glenwood-specific, but will give those from other communities a sense of what is needed.)-Donna Daniels, community editor at the Post Independent, on how to spread the word about your event.A free event planning and promotion handbook will be available for those who attend.The seminar is free, but the registration deadline is next Thursday, Oct. 2. Call 384-6301 to reserve your seat.

Speaking of getting the word out, let me tell you about a new brochure we’ve put together, “How to get your news in the newspaper.”People often call to ask how to submit a letter to the editor, an item for Postings or Mountain Mailbag, a business brief, church news or sports results. This brochure will tell you how.It also offers specific advice on how to prepare a press release and send us a photo, explains our deadlines, and gives a complete list of phone numbers (with extensions) and e-mail addresses for everyone on the Post Independent newsroom staff.The brochure is free. They are available at our front desk, or we’d be glad to mail a copy to you on request. Call Amanda at 945-8515, ext. 128, to request a copy of “How to get your news in the newspaper.”

Let me introduce our newest columnist, Glenwood Springs High School senior Audrey Schaiberger. She’ll be writing Demon Doings, the weekly column about goings-on at Glenwood Springs High School, for this school year.”I definitely want it to be an entertaining column, and an informative column that catches people’s attention. It will tell readers something unique about our school, and how the students are doing,” Schaiberger said.Audrey, 18, lives with her parents, Jennifer and Peter Schaiberger, and her younger sister, Allison, in New Castle. Before moving here in 1996, the family lived in Denver, Sterling and Durango.Audrey is a competitive swimmer with the GSHS school team and the Sopris Barracudas, and a dancer. She is currently taking ballet, jazz and tap dancing classes – six a week. Because those activities are in Glenwood Springs, she chose to go to school at GSHS.Demon Doings runs every Tuesday on the Post Independent Education page, along with alternating columns from Roaring Fork School District Re-1 by Suzie Romig, Garfield School District Re-2 by Kay Vasilakis, and Colorado Mountain College by Renelle Lott.- Heather McGregor is the managing editor of the Glenwood Springs Post Independent.