BROOMFIELD - Skiers and snowboarders will be able to keep their season passes in their pockets next season at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone resorts.

Broomfield-based Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE:MTN), which owns the four Colorado ski resorts and Heavenly in California, said it will use radio frequency technology in all its 2008/2009 season passes. The technology does not require a barcode to be scanned.

"Instead of fumbling to find your season pass in your coat to present at the lift lines next season, our scanners will be able to detect your pass through your jacket, which will provide our guests with an easier and more convenient experience," said Rob Katz, chief executive officer for Vail Resorts.

Vail Resorts will begin selling its new 2008-09 season passes this weekend at Front Range locations. These include:

The Summit Pass for $399 - offering unlimited and unrestricted access to Breckenridge, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin.

The Colorado Pass for $439 - offering unlimited and unrestricted access to Breckenridge, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin with an additional 10 restricted days at Vail and Beaver Creek.

The Epic Season Pass for $579 - offering unlimited and unrestricted access to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin and Heavenly.

Prices are good until May 4.

Season pass prices increased $20 form last year, as they have for the past four seasons.

LONGMONT - Rawlins National Bank is opening a new location in Longmont.

The Wyoming-based bank purchased the former Valley Bank & Trust location at 2001 Main St. for $1.5 million, according to Boulder County public records.

Valley Bank & Trust sold the 8,178-square-foot bank building to Longmont-based Ellsworth Industrial Park LLC for $1.3 million, who apparently acted as a go-between, then selling the building for $200,000 more to Rawlins National Bank.

The new bank expects to open in mid-May. Brighton-based Valley Bank & Trust closed its Longmont branch March 31 because of financial reasons.

Jim Strovas, formerly the regional president for Adams Bank and Trust in Fort Collins, will head the new Rawlins branch in Longmont as the bank's Colorado market president.

Moving to End Sexual Assault hosts the Canine Classic at 9 a.m. on Sunday, April 13, at the Boulder Reservoir in Boulder. This fundraiser is a 5K or 10K run or walk, with or without your dog. Cost: $20 and up. Contact: www.movingtoendsexualassault.org.

Bolder Benefits, UCAR and Elevations Credit Union present a Lunch & Learn Seminar from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday, April 14, at Elevations Credit Union, 2300 55th St. in Boulder. The seminar is designed to help human resources professionals and business owners determine if high-deductible health plans and health savings accounts are right for their organizations. Cost: Free. Contact: 303-443-4672 ext. 1143 or RSVP@ElevationsCU.com.

LONGMONT - Tickets this year's Boulder County Business Hall of Fame induction luncheon set for Thursday, May 1, are on sale.

Cost is $50 per person and $500 for a corporate table.

To make reservations or purchase a table, go to www.blacktie-colorado.com/rsvp then enter event code: BCBHOFFINDUCTEE to complete your reservations.

If you don't have access to a computer, contact Fred Kreider at 303-229-3582.

Peter D. Behrendt, Joan Brett, John Fenstermaker, Edwin Kanemoto, David M. Wyatt and the late Harlow C. Platts will be inducted into the Boulder County Business Hall of Fame in May.

The six inductees for the class of 2008 will be honored at the hall of fame's 16th annual induction luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, May 1, at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center in Longmont.

The Boulder County Business Hall of Fame, established in 1992 to recognize and honor businesswomen and men who personify "business at its best." More than 110 people have been inducted in to the hall.

BOULDER - EventVue in Boulder will provide the online social networking platform for the Ecocity World Summit 2008 conference.

EventVue founder and Chief Executive Rob Johnson said his company has developed a new set of features including privacy controls for the online community that will be available for attendees of the event allowing them to communicate with each other online.

The summit, scheduled for April 21-26 in San Francisco, brings together innovators, decision-makers, technologists, businesses and organizations shaping the conversation around ecological and sustainable city, town and village development. 

"The green movement is driven by communications among a diverse group of change-makers from nonprofits, local government officials, economists, builders, transportation advocates, or just interested member of the planetary public," Johnson said. "Our online collaboration tool will support the hundreds of discussions among the diverse audience."

BOULDER - Eco-Products Inc. is opening a retail store to sell healthy and sustainable products.

The Boulder-based manufacturer of environmental food products signed a lease for 9,700 square feet at The Village shopping center in Boulder, where it plans to open a store this September tentatively called Ellie's Organic Home Center.

Ellie's, a subsidiary of Eco-Products, will sell the company's products, plus a variety of environmental friendly products for the home and garden.  The store also will sell apparel and organic wine and beer.

The store will be located next to Boulder's new Sunflower Market scheduled to open Wednesday, April 16.

"The public doesn't have a convenient one-stop store to buy things for their home that is healthy and sustainable," Savage said.  "We feel like it is the perfect complement to a Sunflower Market. We will have everything that's environmentally friendly for your home that is not food."

Ellie's gets its name from Savage's daughter. He said the store will be called Ellie's Organic Home Center or Ellie's Natural Living.

"Our plan is to make this first store a success and then open 30 stores next to Sunflower or Whole Foods locations within three years," Savage said.

Savage said Ellie's advisory board includes numerous members from the Boulder natural product and business community including Libby Cook, co-founder of Wild Oats and Sunflower Markets, Tim Stancliffe, founding partner of Kinko's, and Bud Sorenson of the Whole Foods board of directors.

Chris Boston with Gibbons-White Inc. and Susan Cantwell with Gart Properties, which owns the shopping center, helped broker the real estate deal.