This year’s theme for the button artwork contest was “Dream, Dare, Dazzle,” and the top three indeed dazzled.

The first-place button, drawn by 14-year-old Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club athlete Davis Brosterhous, is an impressionistic view of Howelsen Hill with a sinuous road to the lodge that feels as much like a ski run as the steep backdrop of downhill terrain where a parade of skiers ride down with flares in hand. Her picture illustrates how winter sports in Steamboat Springs are more than just a hobby, but a means of self-expression.

Brosterhous is in eighth grade and has lived in Steamboat Springs her whole life. She competes as a Nordic skier but says her real passion is the biathlon. Since there’s not a local team, she trains with a coach in Casper, Wyoming, and plans to pursue competing in biathlon as she gets older, possibly with the National Guard.

“I also want to go to med school to become an oncologist or something else in the medical field,” Brosterhous said.

She said she loves living in a small town like Steamboat, especially because she can walk or bike anywhere. She drew the picture from memory, and it was her routine strolls that inspired the winning scene

“Every day that I walk to Howelsen from school, I see the same perspective as what I drew in my art piece,” said Brosterhous, who is a cross country skier with the club.

The winning button design will be featured on all the fundraising buttons sold to support SSWSC at Winter Carnival. Buttons or gaiters are required to enter all events. 

Fourth-grader Avery MacArthur drew the button that came in second-place, and it packs a lot of color into a small scene. A big part of Winter Carnival is the firework show, and MacArther’s piece puts that passion front and center with a dazzling artillery barrage of sparks and fire. In the foreground is a crisscrossed pair of skis and poles, giving the image depth and a little extra flair.

Seventh-grader Bella Kallberg’s third-place button is perhaps the most playful of the three. The image of a skier being pulled by someone on horseback encapsulates Steamboat’s Western culture and the joy of the Winter Carnival street events. The airborne skier sticks out against a backdrop of steep, daunting mountain range with cracking snow-packed peaks.

To reach Spencer Powell, call 970-871-4229 or email him at spowell@SteamboatPilot.com