STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Limelight Hotel Ketchum has reopened with a bang—a bang for its buck, that is.

The hotel, with the support of its Limelight Ketchum Community Fund and Aspen Skiing Company Family Fund, is donating $15,000 to local organizations responding to needs created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are very excited to reopen our doors this week and wanted to do our part to help support our Blaine County neighbors as we move into this next phase,” said John Curnow, general manager of Limelight Hotel Ketchum. “We felt that donating to organizations that will help feed our residents who have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 virus through isolation and loss of work, as well as supporting our local mental health organizations, is a good way to lend a hand as we navigate our way forward.”

The Hunger Coalition will get $5,000; The Senior Connection Meals on Wheels program, $5,000; NAMI-WRV (National Alliance on Mental Illness), $2,500, and the Crisis Hotline, $2,500.

The Limelight Ketchum Community Fund, established in 2016, is financed by contributions from the hotel’s operations, by employees through an optional paycheck deduction and by guests through an opt-out $1 per night donation.

Normally, grants are distributed in November. But because of the pandemic, the Fund is donating additional money outside the cycle. Guests and community members may contribute by sending checks made out to Limelight Ketchum Community Fund to the hotel.

The hotel currently has a special Idaho resident rate of $139 per night.

Its lounge will be open at 4 p.m. daily with happy hour specials from 4 to 6 p.m. and a new seasonal menu.

There will be no seating at the bar but table service is offered for groups of six or less. Live music will take place from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Fridays through Sundays.