Are These the Ten Coolest Things Made in Colorado?

The Colorado Chamber of Commerce has announced the ten finalists in the Coolest Things Made in Colorado contest; they range from bionic fingers to a device that prevents sheets from wadding up in the wash.

Wad-Free for Bed Sheets by Brayniacs LLC is one of the Colorado creations that Westword suggested might be a strong competitor. Manufactured in Englewood and featured on Shark Tank, it's a device that attaches to blankets and bedsheets to prevent them from getting wadded up in the washer and dryer.

A selection committee reviewed the nominations, determined which qualified as an item actually manufactured in Colorado, then narrowed the eligible contestants down to finalists ACES Ejection Seat by Collins Aerospace, Beer Darts Set by Beer Darts Company, Handmade Skis by Meier Skis, Hemplime Insulation by Hemp Building Company, Marble Vodka 80 by Marble Distilling Company, Point Digit by Point Designs, Portable Shower by Geyser Systems, SunSpring Hybrid by Innovative Water Technologies, Tether Vertebral Body Tethering System by ZimVie Spine, and Wad-Free.

Jonathan Cernanec, co-owner of Beer Darts Set, says that a friend told him and co-owner Ryan Kryak about the competition, and they nominated their own product. Cernanec and Kryak started the business in 2020 after the pandemic put an end to their jobs as ski patrollers in Keystone. With time on their hands, they decided to make sets for beer dart games, complete with backboard clips, which hold the cans, darts and a bottler opener, all created out of wood in their garage. They still make them in their garage, but the products have leveled up beyond wood, and they even manufacture glow-in-the-dark versions now.

The two launched a Kickstarter at the end of 2021 to jump-start their business, and have made 2,000 units since the official launch in April. The company's goal is not just to make a cool product, but to serve as a side hustle for friends who need some extra cash and want to spend the weekend making products.

"Ours is the most artfully designed drinking game; I think the product itself is really cool. It has all these merits, it’s sleek [and] it looks pretty cool," Cernanec says. "I think the fact that it was two guys that had just been laid off during the pandemic and didn’t know what to do with themselves and were ultimately wasting time, that we hunkered down is rare."

"We're humbled and honored to be among the other products made in the state," he adds. "We’re not solving any of the world’s great problems, but we’re doing our best to bring joy to our patrons and hopefully to support our community."

Also among the finalists is Meier Skis, a company that handcrafts one-of-a-kind skis to order at its "craft skiery" in Denver. Those not interested in a custom design can sort through the models it already has on hand, including skis and snowboards with images of Evergreen, Loveland, the University of Colorado, Boulder, different distilleries throughout Colorado and more.

Customers can come to the factory, get a beer at the office bar, tour the factory and watch their skis being made. "You can say, 'Hey, I wanna put my hometown on skis' or whatever, my best friend’s name or my niece's drawings, and you can work with a designer," says Michelle Kidd, marketing director for Meier Skis. "Every ski purchase should begin with someone talking to you about your unique skiing style, and then we can talk about a graphic. That’s a major advantage to making them ourselves."

The company didn't even know it had been nominated for the contest until it learned it was one of the ten finalists. "We have a lot of passionate customers and followers," Kidd says. "We have that whole bar vibe, and we try and do a lot of community events."

Some of the other finalists are less glamorous, but still useful and definitely still cool.

The ACES Ejection Seat, which is made in Colorado Springs, is a device that allows people in military aircraft to eject safely in case of an emergency. Point Digit, manufactured in Lafayette, is a prosthetic finger for people with partial amputations of the hand. Tether Vertebral Body Tethering System, based in Westminster, is an FDA-approved treatment for children with scoliosis that helps straighten their spines.

Geyser System's portable shower is made in Montrose and designed to make camping showers easy. Hemplime Insulation, manufactured in Longmont, is an insulation biocomposite that "replaces all of the components of a conventional wall, floor or roof other than the framing,” according to Phelan Dalton, co-founder of Hemp Building Company. "It is composed of hemp hurd (the inner woody core of the hemp stalk) and limestone." SunSpring Hybrid is a portable solar- and wind-powered water purification system manufactured in Rocky Ford; it's able to produce more than 20,000 liters of water a day.

And then there's Marble Vodka 80, which is made with local ingredients in Marble, where it's distilled through calcite Yule marble from a nearby quarry.

The finalists will be honored at an October 20 luncheon, when the winner will be announced.