The Black Forest Community Club will present a plaque to the Munson family on Saturday, Oct. 17, to thank a family it says has been part of the club for generations. The club’s October newsletter also lists six other dates through early December, reports a new fence along Black Forest Road and opens renewals of its $20 family dues.
The presentation runs from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Black Forest Community Club, 12530 Black Forest Road. Steve White, a club director, writes in the newsletter that the Munsons still volunteer their time and equipment to keep the club in working order. Appetizers and beer follow the ceremony.
The Munsons have been in the Black Forest papers for 70 years. Issues of the Black Forest News and The Columbine Herald held by the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection show Paul and Dorothie Munson arriving from Indiana in the mid-1950s, buying the Black Forest Store in 1959 and, by 1961, belonging to the Community Club. In 1979, when volunteers replaced the hall’s roof, the paper told readers that their son Jack would be there with his dump truck.
The Munsons in the Black Forest papers
The club was chartered in 1929 and meets in a log hall at Black Forest and Shoup roads that it says will be 100 years old in 2027. Its October newsletter, edited by Carolyn Brown, runs to eight pages and carries the club’s calendar into December.
On the club’s calendar
Saturday, Oct. 10, 5 p.m.: Octoberfest
Saturday, Oct. 17, 3 to 5 p.m.: Munson family presentation
Thursday, Oct. 22, 6:30 p.m.: Board and officers meeting, open to all members
Saturday, Oct. 31, 3 to 5 p.m.: Trunk or Treat
Saturday, Nov. 14: Veterans Day celebration (the newsletter gives the date, not the time)
Saturday, Dec. 5, 2 to 7 p.m.: Christmas market and Santa visits, with the tree lighting at 5 p.m.
Where: 12530 Black Forest Road, Colorado Springs
More: line dancing and other classes are on the club’s calendar
The Black Rose Acoustic Society lists Acoustic Eidolon, a cello and guitar duo, for its Oct. 9 concert at the hall. Admission is $15, $8 for members and students with ID, and free for children 12 and younger. For Octoberfest the club supplies the brats, sauerkraut and drinks and asks guests to bring a side or a dessert. Trunk or Treat, which is also in the Independent’s Halloween guide, is held in the Backyard, the club’s outdoor grounds, and anyone decorating a vehicle can set up from 1 p.m. The Veterans Day celebration is a potluck with a band and a flag retirement ceremony performed by Boy Scouts.
The Backyard has a new fence on its Black Forest Road side. White writes that Joe Hawkins of Hawkins Land Solutions built it and charged for materials alone, which saved the club several thousand dollars. The cost came to just under $12,000. The fence is a cement composite in a color called Rawhide, chosen from four at a board meeting.
Dues are $20 per family per year. Under the club’s bylaws, which the newsletter quotes, renewals for 2027 are payable from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, and renewing by then keeps a member eligible to vote in the club’s annual election. Voting membership is for households inside the boundaries of the Black Forest Preservation Plan, the county’s former area plan for the forest; households beyond them can join as associates for the same $20. Dues can be paid through the club’s website or by check to P.O. Box 88034, Black Forest, CO 80908-8034.
The newsletter also prints the directory that the club’s membership committee gives to new homeowners in Black Forest: 32 churches, restaurants, shops, clinics and tradespeople, updated in September.
And it reprints an article that Terry Stokka, chairman of the Black Forest Land Use Committee, wrote for The New Falcon Herald. Its subject is the county’s Sept. 3 meeting at the Black Forest fire station on the rewrite of the El Paso County Land Development Code. Stokka writes that about 50 people attended and that the audience left unconvinced that the new code would protect Black Forest from overdevelopment. The Independent has reported on what the draft code changes and on the county’s Sept. 21 session at the Woodmoor Barn. El Paso County is taking written comments on the draft until 5 p.m. on Oct. 16.
The October newsletter and back issues to January 2025 are on the club’s newsletters page.
Sources & further reading
The Independent’s own coverage: El Paso County Is Rewriting the Rules the Buc-ee’s Fight Turned On, on the draft code and the Sept. 3 Black Forest meeting’s move to the fire station · At the Woodmoor Barn, Residents Press the County’s Code Consultant on Density and Rezonings, the Tri-Lakes session in the same series · What Made Each Place Distinct, an editorial on the 2021 retirement of the county’s small area plans, the Black Forest Preservation Plan among them · Halloween guide
Newspaper record: Black Forest News, May 19, 1961, “Black Forest Who’s Who”, the profile of Paul and Dorothie Munson · Black Forest News, March 11, 1960, the fire · a second item in that issue, the dance at the Community Club · Black Forest News, March 23, 1962 · Black Forest News, Aug. 2, 1979, the roof · The Columbine Herald, May 11, 1956 · all through the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection
The club: Black Forest Community Club, October 2026 newsletter · Club website, for its history, address and board · Newsletters page · Events calendar
Events and others named: Black Rose Acoustic Society, Acoustic Eidolon, Oct. 9 · The New Falcon Herald, Land & Water, September 2026, for Terry Stokka’s roles · El Paso County, Land Development Code draft and comment portal
It’s easy to see how distinct Black Forest is. So much tradition and character. Everyone needs to do their best to write to the county regarding further disregard for the intent and design of Black Forest and you should quote the BF preservation plan that Craig Dorsey and others at the county dismissed and now add their own opinion / language that higher density is needed. NO! We don’t agree and the planning committee & county commissioner, that are sponsored by developers, are destroying the natural beauty of Black Forest, Walden, and across the highway too in the Tri-Lakes Valley of Green Mountain Ranch Estates, and Monument…where the 5 acre minimum needs to hold the line. We need to all mention the other neighborhoods as well in our emails to the county regarding the new development code. We are all communities that also have been and will continue to be abused by elected officials… that we should get organized to recall!
I have asked our DA, Michael Allen, to investigate the manipulation & timing of Craig Dossey and wife’s departure from the county employment and their now successful consultant firm, Vertex, that assists developers with rezoning for high density after they altered the development code in very sneaky ways. See the Independent newsletter exposing this.
Please reinforce the need for this investigation as I have not heard a peep back. He’s running for State Attorney, and there’s a mess in his backyard. We all must rally together and put pressure on this necessary exposure of what occurred.
Lastly, please all join the NextDoor app and pay attention as it allows us to rally together in mass to move the needle. Lots of intelligent people contributing, helping our community have a stronger voice.
Thank you all,
Vote by Nov 3 rd, like your life depends on it. That’s all we have right now.
Also, a shout out to this truly valuable publication by Michael Christiansen. You can get the publication free or show your appreciation and sign up to give $10 / month so we can keep this publication going strong and sustainable for him and his family.
Ten bucks a month is peanuts. It is a reader supported effort and has no advertising. ♥️