New York State In-depth

Mike Sharan – The Crested Butte News

[  by Dawne Belloise  ]

Mike Sharan had never been to Colorado, although he recalls hearing stories about it and one of his uncles actually graduated from Western State College (now Western Colorado University).

Mike himself had dropped out of college in 2006 and was living a life of limbo in his mother’s Connecticut basement, where he was working at Staples, when he got a call from his cousin who was away at music festivals. “He kidnapped me to get me out of here,” Mike said. “He picked me up the very next day. I packed my things, went out and started going to music festivals.” Volunteering got them free entry and food throughout the summer, from one festival to the next.

It was 2007 when they came to the popular river festival FIBARK in Salida and their plan was to visit the Telluride Bluegrass Festival next. “It was the first time I experienced something like this and I felt great emotions, mainly release, having a great time and loving life,” he says.

Mike shares the feelings he felt when he first saw Colorado’s topography. “The first time we rolled into Colorado and saw mountains was breathtaking as we came up Boulder Overlook and saw the Flatirons, then the Collegiate Range to Salida, then Monarch,” and that’s when they decided to go to Crested Butte, after hearing about it some FIBARK participants. “I didn’t think there could be anything more beautiful than what I’ve already seen,” he said, but when the North Valley came into view at Round Mountain, Mike says, “I was speechless. It was like being in another world.”

The people he met in Salida were Buttians who lived at the Eighth and Gothic and lent their couches to Mike. “It was a new concept for me, being from the East Coast because letting a stranger stay on your couch would never happen,” he mused. Somehow Mike had lost his wallet with all his credit cards and cash so he needed to find a job immediately. He found a job at Stepping Stones and helped with the summer camp program. “It was great work. I really enjoyed taking these kids on trips to Lake Irwin. It was amazing that this was basically the backyard.” He spent the summer here in CB but felt he wasn’t making enough money and should go back to school. He moved back to Connecticut and enrolled in a community college, “but it’s a short story,” he says. “I wasn’t the focus again and there wasn’t anything exciting going on in Connecticut.”

Raised in Trumbull, Connecticut, Mike attended Catholic schools through his junior year of high school, when he transferred to public school. He played football, lacrosse and started wrestling until graduating in 2004. He had always been interested in art and drawing, heavily influenced by his father being a graphic designer, so he enrolled in a graphic design program at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York. Here he lost focus in his studies. “I had just started playing guitar and jamming with a few people, mostly influenced by classic rock like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead. I’ve always been interested in music,” he says of his favorite pastime.

But this time he returned to college and spent three years in Connecticut before returning to Crested Butte in 2010. “When I finally left in November, there was a decent layer of snow on the ground and that was the first time I actually got a real powder day. In Vermont, when the snow covers the tips of your skis, it’s a powder day. I wasn’t used to riding big mountain stuff, but by the end of the season I could. I thought I knew how to ski, but I’ve never ridden anything like this. It’s a completely different ball game in a different league,” he says.

He had kept in touch with his cousin, Charlie Wilson, who was still in the valley, so Mike moved in with him. Mike got a job in Elevation’s laundry room that only lasted a month because he was caught disappearing on powder day. “I called in sick but went skiing. I quickly learned that it was a bad idea, but it was good in the long run,” he smiles, explaining, “because I got back into graphic design and that’s what led me to work for Letterfab, which is a national company based in Riverland at the time.”

He started installing LED lights in signs and worked his way up to become a CNC numerical control programmer. “I ran a machine that cut metal and plastic for the signs.” He was there for nine years and when the company moved to New Orleans three years ago, Mike was pretty sure he didn’t want to leave CB. “So I stayed.”

Mike was employed by a property management firm for the next three years until last spring when he took a job at Top Tier Construction doing field work, store management and metal plastering. “But I’m starting to do more paperwork with them, billing and stuff.”

Still pursuing his love of music, Mike is in a few local bands including a bluegrass project called Secondhand String Band (featuring Trevor Glavin, Jake Everson, Neill Sauer). “It’s an evolution of some of the other projects I’ve been working on over the past few years,” he explains. His other band is what he defines as the polar opposite of his bluegrass project. “It’s influenced by old-school punk, heavy, fast and loud.” This trio they called Left On Red (band members are Jeff Walker and Alden Burt), and both bands are on Instagram at @secondhandstringband and @left_on_red_band. About seven years ago, Mike got his first bass as a gift, so now it’s his instrument of choice and what he plays in the bands.

It was 2020 when Mike experienced the devastating “Grand Finale” of his year. He was one of eight friends living in a house on the highway across from Skyland when he lost everything in a fire. “I was playing a gig at the Princess that night and as I got over the hill I could see a bright light over at Skyland. It took me a second to realize it was my house. I managed to get to the house because my dog ​​was in there at the time,” he says. Tragically, he lost his puppy Luna along with absolutely everything he owned. “All I had was the clothes on my back and whatever was in my car. It was 11pm and there were roommates lying in bed. They ran out because the fire was going up the wall. It was too hot to get in to save Luna and they tried to break the windows in my room.”

As this community has always done, they have agreed to help and Mike has witnessed the outpouring of love. “The community has come together for us in an incredible way. There was an overwhelming amount of food donations and lots of clothing. People started GoFundMe and that helped.” He was able to move. His ex-girlfriend Emily Wallick, whom he previously split from, flew back to support him and they got back together. In fact, they married in August 2022. She now works as the Assistant Treasurer for the City of Mt. CB.

A month after their marriage, they closed their home in Gunnison. “I love this place so much, I see myself here. It has everything that makes me happy, it’s a tight-knit community. I feel at home there.”

Of course, music is one of Mike’s future plans. “I plan to focus a lot on music and remodeling our new home. It was built in 1948 so it has a lot of history. I still ski as much as possible and in the summer I bike, hike and camp.”

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