On the surface, there’s nothing particularly remarkable about Moffat County; it is but one of 64 other such counties in the state of Colorado and several thousand in the United States of America.

But the word “community” reaches far deeper than the cosmetic features one can see from the surface, and it is the denotation and connation of that word that distinguishes Moffat County from dozens of other anonymous points on a topographical map.

In the short time I’ve been here, I’ve begun to glimpse that deeper level, that current of community caring which flows through our streets and permeates our little corner of the Yampa Valley, binding us one to another like strong glue. And the source of that current is nothing more or less than the people who call this place home.

That’s what this section is all about.

If we’ve done our jobs properly, the pages that follow will stretch beyond the artificial boundaries that delineate Moffat County as a geopolitical subdivision of Colorado and venture into the boundless attitude of caring and giving that define its citizenry as a thriving community.

It is our hope that, as you read these stories and view the photos accompanying them, you’ll come to better know the people who make up this community, and, in that knowledge, come to better see your place in it.

So, yes: On the surface, there’s nothing particularly remarkable about Moffat County. But, beneath that surface lives a community of astonishingly caring and involved people who give freely of themselves, usually, without ever realizing how truly remarkable they are.

These are their stories, your stories … our story.

The story doesn’t have much to do with lines on a map, but when you get right down to it, lines on a map don’t have much to do with the real story.