Summit County’s best budtender has worked at High Country Healing in Silverthorne for three years and has no plans of stopping.

Pele Marley was working at a Wendy’s on the Front Range in 2014, only able to work the drive-thru window thanks to a broken arm, when a friend asked if he wanted to try working at a dispensary.

“I was just like, ‘That’s the dream come true,'” Marley said. “‘Absolutely, I would love to take the time to try and take this head on.'”

Marley worked at other dispensaries, learning “essentially everything” he knows about growing marijuana. He said he visited High Country Healing and liked its atmosphere for around four years before he decided to drop off a resume.

“I was like, ‘Honestly, I’m ready to work for you guys,'” Marley said. “This seems like the perfect kind of environment.”

Marley said he moved to the mountains to snowboard and learn more about growing cannabis and its medical effects. Three years into working at High Country Healing, he says he has learned “so much more” about marijuana’s effects and found coworkers that feel like family.

Helping customers find the right product for their needs makes Marley love his job, he said. It can take a few tries to find the right fit for someone, he said, but once people find what works for them, they stick with it.

“They still get the same thing every single time because they know it works,” Marley said. “I feel like I helped guide you to that conclusion, and that makes me feel good.”

A good budtender needs to be genuine and empathetic, according to Marley. He tries to understand if a customer is dealing with some physical or emotional pain or stress so he can give them the best experience possible.

“Everyone has their own thing going on,” Marley said. “It’s like, how can you intertwine that in with your day-to-day work? … How can you make what you do at work more beneficial to what they have going on?”

High Country Healing won the Best Marijuana Dispensary and Accessories category in the 2025 Best of Summit contest, and Marley said its focus on healing helps make it special. 

“There’s a difference in just smoking to get high and smoking because it helps you alleviate some of the things so that you can get through your day to day,” Marley said.

Workers at High Country Healing care about staying on top of the latest information in the marijuana industry, Marley said, to help their customers the best they can.

For more information about High Country Healing, visit HighCountryHealing.com.

This story originally published in the Best Of Summit 2025 magazine.

When people think of good grub in Colorado they don’t typically think about seafood. 

As a landlocked state, Colorado is best known for its beef, green chili and Palisade peaches, but South Ridge Seafood Grill in Breckenridge bucks this trend.

Although the seafood restaurant may be located at an elevation above 9,000 feet, South Ridge Seafood Grill prides itself with offering customers a relaxed, laid-back atmosphere along with meals that rival, or even top, those in coastal towns and cities. 

From elegantly plated appetizers to decadent large-plate entrees, South Ridge has something for everyone on the menu.

In terms of appetizers, South Ridge offers a house-smoked trout dip that is served with toasted pita chips, oysters on the half shell and Vietnamese-style grilled calamari. For those wanting to enjoy a salad for their appetizer, South Ridge has a warm seafood salad bruschetta as well as a salad featuring Bibb lettuce, spring vegetables, avocado and dill ranch. 

On the entree menu, South Ridge has Alaskan cod fish and chips, grilled Rocky Mountain Red Trout, 1 pound of Alaskan King Crab, Maine Lobster trail, Atlantic sea scallops and teriyaki glazed ahi tuna.

The restaurant also offers desserts. All of South Ridge’s dessert options are $12 and include dishes such as a dark chocolate fudge cake, a rhubarb strawberry tart, a blueberry-lemon cheesecake bar and a vanilla creme brulee. 

South Ridge also offers plenty of options for kids to enjoy as well. The kids’ menu at South Ridge includes options such as cheese ravioli, grilled shrimp, small Kobe burgers, grilled trout and grilled-cheese sandwiches. 

“Our product is really good,” owner Kelly Brenholt said. “We look for the best products as far as fish and seafood go. It is a hard place to have seafood because we are landlocked, so we go searching for the best product and the best delivery option for us. We don’t put stuff on the menu that we know we can’t serve well.”

South Ridge hosts a robust happy hour special from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. from Wednesday through Sunday. Happy hour includes discounts on appetizers as well as cocktail, beer and wine specials. 

Beyond the food at South Ridge, the restaurant also boasts a rooftop patio that allows guests to take in views of the Tenmile Range as they dine. 

South Ridge Seafood Grill is open Wednesday through Sunday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Appetizers range from $4 to $22, excluding a chilled shellfish platter featuring six shrimp, 12 oysters, six crab legs, a lobster tail, 12 mussels, a seafood salad, a smoked trout dip and toppings for $120. Large dishes range from $22 to $40, excluding the pound of king crab. Kids meals range from $8 to $16.

The restaurant is located at 500 S. Main St. #2B in Breckenridge. For more information, visit SouthRidgeSeafoodGrill.com.

“I think it is because it is mostly chef driven,” Brenholt said of the restaurants popularity. “Our kitchen staff hasn’t changed in years. It is a very chef-driven restaurant. The staff and the kitchen are amazing.”

This story originally published in the Best Of Summit 2025 magazine.

Dillon Community Church considers itself a home for locals, seasonal vacationers and visitors. The nondenominational Christian church started in the Old Dillon Schoolhouse in 1913, according to head pastor Jim Howard, before it was moved ahead of the planned flooding that created Dillon Reservoir.

An A-frame building placed next to the schoolhouse after the move housed the church from the 1960s to 2002, when the church built its current facility on the same site. 

Howard said the church, with around 220 members, sees 3,000-5,000 total visitors a year, with attendance fluctuating through the seasons. 

The evangelical church has a “statement of faith” that outlines core evangelical Christian beliefs, like belief in the Trinity.

“Anything outside of that basic theology, we agree to disagree,” Howard said. “We can have fun discussions about it. We can tease each other, and we can laugh.”

The church describes its attitude toward differing beliefs in its congregation with the statement: “In essentials — Unity; In non-essentials — Freedom; In all things — Charity.” 

Howard said members are unified on essential beliefs, free to believe different things outside of those issues and encouraged to act with charity, or love, in all matters. A key belief in the church is the importance of showing people love.

“Jesus summed up the law of Moses in two commands: love God and love people,” Howard said. “Paul basically said loving people is at the heart of the law, and that’s what God desired from us.”

Howard said the church shows people love in many ways, including ministries. The church has Bible studies; men’s, women’s, children’s and student groups; and groups that Howard said are less about having religious discussions and more about spending time with one another, like hiking, skiing and offroading groups.

Christian theology encourages environmentalism, Howard said, because people should care for and enjoy God’s creation. 

“At one level, we have things like LED lighting and recycling,” Howard said. “On the other level, we love to get out into (nature) and play. I mean, we live in the High Country of Colorado. We’d be crazy not to get out and play.”

Dillon Community Church also looks to love people through programs like its food bank and benevolence group, which Howard said serves 3,000-4,500 meals and donates $75,000 to $110,000 per year, respectively.

Sunday services at the church are a “journey,” Howard said, that bring people together through worship. It starts with “fun” — like music, poetry or drama — for a half hour. Howard then preaches for around 30 minutes, the congregation gives offerings and, lastly, they take communion.

“Then people hang around,” Howard said. “We eat cookies and coffee, and people talk.”

More information about Dillon Community Church can be found at DillonChurch.org.

This story originally published in the Best Of Summit 2025 magazine.

Voters in the 2025 Best of Summit contest say no one does live music better in the county than Breckenridge’s Moonstone Quill. 

Originally founded by Dan Shukis and Nate Spencer in 2020, Moonstone Quill seamlessly blends bluegrass, rock and country into a plugged-in American sound. 

Shukis and Spencer turned the unexpected stillness of the COVID-19 pandemic into a chance to chase their passions. Having both been musicians since childhood, the two soon found themselves playing side by side during those quiet months of the pandemic. Out of shared rhythm and connection, the formed Moonstone Quill.

“In the summer of 2020 I reconnected with Nate when I wasn’t working at the time and neither was he,” Shukis said. “Everything was partially locked down, but there were still open mics going. That summer we were just kind of like carpooling and going to open mics and stuff like that. … We were really born in that weird time when everything was locked down or sort of locked down.”

After coming together to play music in open mics across Summit County, Shukis and Spencer eventually recruited more musicians to be part of the band.

The current version of Moonstone Quill includes Shukis, Spencer, Nick Beato and Ian Hunt. Together, the four musicians form a band that includes guitars, a harmonica, a mandolin, a bass, a pedal-steel guitar and vocals.

“It is a really flexible sound and bluegrass is probably the easiest genre to pin on us,” Shukis said. “Every time that we play it is really the combined efforts of everybody that is in the band doing their thing. That is why it is kind of hard to pin a genre on us.”

While the four-piece band each plays their own instrument, the group of musicians all lend their voices to the band. The mix in voices creates a layered and unique sound that can be hard to find in other bands in the area.

Since officially becoming a band five years ago, Moonstone Quill has gradually gained notoriety within Summit County and in the region. The band is now a mainstay throughout the High Country and is commonly booked for weddings, festivals and other gigs all year round.

After being named the Best Local Band/Musician around Summit County in 2023 and 2024 in the Best of Summit contest, Moonstone Quill was once again named the Best Local Band in this year’s awards. 

After five years of honing their craft, the honor carries deep meaning for Shukis and Moonstone Quill. The award not only reflects the community’s love for the band, but also validates the countless hours of practice and personal sacrifices its members have made.

“I am super appreciative of it,” Shukis said. “We are coming up on being five years old, and it is cool to be … locally known in a small town where locals sort of stand apart from tourists and there is more of tight-knit, local community.”

To view Moonstone Quill’s schedule, visit MoonstoneQuill.com.

This story originally published in the Best Of Summit 2025 magazine.

Voting in the annual Best of Summit contest opens Friday, Aug. 4, and runs through Friday, Aug. 18.

This year’s contest features more than 160 categories across 10 topics, including Arts & Entertainment, Community, Dining, Food & Drink, Health & Wellness, Home, Pets, Services, Shopping, and Sports & Recreation.

We added a number of new categories this year, including Best Dive Bar, Best Tacos, Best Trivia/Game Night and more.

To vote for your favorites, go to SummitDaily.com/best. Find more information about how the contest works at SummitDaily.com/about-us/about-the-best-of-summit-contest.

The winner and two finalists in each category will be announced with the publication of the Best of Summit guide Oct. 27. A winners party is planned for Oct. 25 at the Silverthorne Pavilion.

If you have questions about the contest, you can email Summit Daily News Advertising Director Kat Ginn at kginn@summitdaily.com.