W.E. Saloon was born out of a desire to have meaningful and fun social engagements in Environments that support health, creativity and amusement. A place where everything from what we consume to how we play is medicine
Photography by Leela DeLieto
Rachelle Anslyn curator of W.E. Saloon
My professional journey has predominantly revolved around personal development, health, and healing – encompassing roles such as workshop facilitation, coaching, bodywork, teaching yoga, business management and development. Despite my love for these pursuits, I found myself feeling uninspired for an extended period. It became apparent that I was missing essential facets of myself – my artist, creator, and playful muse.
The concept of W.E. Saloon emerged many years ago, but it wasn't until a friend helped me see that I could bring it to life without a traditional brick-and-mortar “saloon”. The idea of collaborating and organizing pop-up events to offer this unique experience to our community has had me on fire.
Having facilitated workshops where we engaged in communication games fostering deeper connections, I was inspired to create avenues for people to bypass mundane small talk, which I personally find exhausting. Drawing from my experiences at Burning Man, where I fell in love with the accessible nature of engagement there. W.E. Saloon is a fusion of my dedication to connection and the playful, liberating, free spirited vibe of Burning Man, serving as a reminder of the interconnectedness we share.
You don’t have to be an extrovert to play: you don’t have to be a self help person to find value; you don’t have to take yourself seriously to grow. Creating who we want to be and the life we want to have is what this magic is about.
For more information about me and my work, you can visit my website dirtandsoul.com/about
Collaborators, Artists and Makers
A multipotentialite, Gabriela E Mejia is a Renaissance woman. Her love of the arts began in Honduras at 5 years old upon introduction to a mini keyboard. As her interests deepened, her family was given the opportunity to relocate to the US, where she studied music, the arts, and culture. Mejia has established herself as a Professional Fine Artist, Teacher, Muralist, Graphic designer, Dancer, and Musician through her travels both domestically and abroad. Her business, GEMART, collaborates with a variety of local organizations in the Roaring Fork Valley. When she's not painting, teaching, designing, or expressing her love of Polynesia, catch her touring and performing music with Sweet Root and the Rhythmystics. Instagram: @one_GEMART
Olivia Pevec is best known locally as an artist blacksmith and the lead singer of LET THEM ROAR. Currently on the arts faculty at CRMS both in the visual and the performing arts and singing with the band Hey Now! Olivia is always delighted to engage people in creative exchange. She believes that art is the playground of the soul and that we can find it every where and when we open our hearts and eyes to it. Follow her on Intagram at @scavengerindustries
Juniper Road: two harmonies, one guitar, and a pocket full of songs. Love songs for the earth, for each other, and for life make up the set list. A nice blend of sweet originals and tasteful covers will surely serenade you into melodic bliss by Deborah Colley and Morgan Williams. They are also a part of Sweet Jessup and can be found here!
Scott Yorko is a swashbuckling freelance journalist who has traveled all over the world writing off-beat adventure stories in which he’s a usually some kind of participant. He’s used to packing light, except for the 22-pound typewriter he lugs around Burning Man writing haikus for happenstance strangers. Give him a prompt and see where it goes…
Find out more about Scott and his writing here.
Lisa is a conscious brand builder who is deeply committed to integrating luxury and social impact. She is driven by a strong desire to create a regenerative culture within business, fostering purposeful employment and cultivating intentional brands that offer meaningful artisanal products.
Residing at Elkdog Ranch in McClure Pass, Lisa shares her home with her rescue horses and donkeys. She is an advocate for the connection between horses and humans, believing that magic unfolds when we spend time within a herd. Capturing the essence of this connection through an artistic endeavor of painting horses and the symbols that emerge. Lisa aims to create opportunities for others to spend time within a herd, gain reflection, tap into creativity, healing, and personal growth.
Find her and her herd here.
Brittany is the lead designer/ owner of Gather & Bloom, a floral design studio focused on sustainable and artful floral arrangements for intimate events. G&B was created out of the love of flowers and the art of gathering. It is a space of art, exploring, and drawing inspiration from nature. Brittany lives in Glenwood Springs with her husband, two sons, and shiba inu. She loves the great outdoors and experiencing all of life's great adventures. Click here to find out more about Gather & Bloom
Mark Burrows is the father of Pollinator Chocolate, a Colorado chocolate company, reflects the harmony between our love of beekeeping and passion for chocolate. Our focus is promoting local, sustainable bee keeping, supporting farmers at origin, hand-crafting single origin varietal cacao from bean-to-bar, and offering a tasting room to delight your senses with chocolate.
Visit our chocolate tasting room, Cocoa Club by Pollinator Chocolate, to taste, smell, watch, feel, and delight in our chocolate experience. We now offer delicious hot (and cold) chocolate, tea, and coffee-based drinks, house made chocolate bars, bonbons, truffles, and local pastries, breakfast treats and more.
Click here to visit the website, read about environmental efforts, and of course—don’t forget to check out the Chocolate Shop to find your favorite new chocolate treat!
Antoinette Yarrow is a Clinical Herbalist and Guide. She supports women in healing sexual trauma, anxiety, hormonal imbalances and heart break. She wants women to feel juicy, joyful and empowered in their sexuality and to feel full of self love and radiance. She works with mainly with women (sometimes men) with one on one sessions and also makes herbal aphrodisiacs and products. Check her out here.
Vanessa is owner of Modern West Floral Co. With a background in landscape architecture and design she moved to Colorado's western slope in 2012 to gain experience growing food and managing livestock. She spent 3 years at Sustainable Settings Ranch in Carbondale, 2 of which she managed the market garden and small CSA. She returned to her landscape architecture background and was brought on as a landscape designer at DHM Design. With a background in native plants of the western slope she wanted a way to showcase the beauty of the natural landscape and use her design background. In late 2015 she co-founded Modern West Floral company with Tara Abbaticchio with the hopes of increasing people's awareness of sustainable flowers and the native plants of the Roaring Fork Valley. Find Vanessa and her CSA offerings modernwestfloral.com
Julie DeVilbiss BSN, CCH has a private practice in Carbondale CO as an Holistic Nurse, Wellness Practitioner and Healing Coach. Her practice is built upon the foundation that everything is energy, that your spirit integrates your physical body through a nervous system that is unique to you, and that your regulated nervous system is the doorway to deep physical healing, sustainable mental health and well being, and personal expansion.
To learn more please click here
Melissa grew up in the Rocky Mountains of North Idaho and now lives in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in the Roaring Fork Valley. Her journey with herbs and alternative health practices has been an inspired adventure in self-healing.
As a mother of two beautiful children, a private preschool provider, and a person people look to for advice with their own healing, she has had many opportunities to use her knowledge and 35 years experience in studying herbs and making plant medicines.
I believe in plant medicine and the power to self-heal. Making herbal medicine brings me so much joy; I know this is a special calling that I am excited to share and continue to learn along the way. When people use my products and come back with great results, it fills my heart.”
Melissa and Suzanne created High Mountain Medicinals, find their products and services here
Suzanne is a biodynamic gardener, nutritionist, herbalist, and healing artist (LMT). She received a B.S. in holistic nutrition in 2001 and has been a licensed massage therapist since 2012.
For 40 years, Suzanne has been growing food and medicinal plants. Most recently, she received a certificate in Somatic Wilderness therapy with a focus on the impact that gardens and nature can have on healing from deep to mild trauma.
“I have been keeping bees for 8 years and look forward to learning so much more each year. I am honored to work with these amazing creatures.
I bring a unique wisdom to personal and family nutrition by incorporating a holistic gardening practice. I encourage healing from the ground up!”
As a filmmaker I have spent my career seeking funding to produce my film projects. Needless to say it is very difficult to raise funds to make movies about mushrooms.
I am providing organic mushroom extracts in order to finance movies about mushrooms and all things mycology! By purchasing these mushrooms from me, you are directly supporting the development and production of mycology centered content, events, science and film production.
I sincerely thank you!
Find out more here