Here it is, clean copy-paste ready:
Boulder in Spring Is Hitting Just Right This Year
Photos from CU's graduation rolled through my feed the other day. Caps in the air, families on the lawn, that mix of relief and "okay what's next" that comes with finishing something big. I don't live in Boulder anymore, but it's where I grew up, and every spring I get a little homesick for it.
If you ask me what my favorite time of year in my hometown is, the answer hasn't changed since I was a kid. Spring. No contest.
Everyone's got their own answer. Fall has the Flatirons turning gold. Winter has the bluebird ski days. But spring is the one where the whole town seems to exhale at the same time. The days stretch out. You can walk Pearl Street at 7:45pm and the sun's still up. The Creek starts running hard from the snowmelt. Patios fill up. Bike racks downtown get jammed. People are outside doing things again — actually doing them, not just talking about them.
This year's a little different. Colorado got hammered by a rough winter, and spring is taking its time showing up. The grass isn't quite as green as it usually is by now. But that's part of what I love about Boulder — even in an off year, the town finds a way to wake up. Trails fill back in. Chautauqua starts buzzing again. CU finishes another class and sends them out into the world.
And summer is right there. You can feel it.
The part where I pivot to product (because I have to)
Here's the thing about spring in Boulder, and the reason this isn't just a love letter to my hometown:
When everyone's outside doing things, things get dropped.
Helmets at trailheads. Water bottles on park benches. Kids' jackets on patios. A bike leaned against a bench at Chautauqua that someone walked away from for ten minutes. A backpack at the bus stop. Goggles at the rec center. A $150 helmet that "isn't going to walk off" until it does. Phones, earbuds, hats, gloves, the works.
Some of it gets found. Most of it gets thrown into a lost-and-found bin no one ever checks. And then it's gone.
I built myScanBandz partly because of moments like this. The product is dead simple — a QR code on a wristband or a sticker. Scan it, register it once, and if anyone ever finds it lying somewhere, they scan the same code and your contact info comes up. No app. No subscription. No batteries. The setup takes about two minutes.
The Mountain Fun wristband is the one I personally hand my kids before we head out. The gear tag stickers go on everything else — bikes, helmets, water bottles, the speaker I keep almost leaving at hockey rinks.
What's coming
Two things on my horizon, and one of them is back in Boulder:
Boulder Creek Festival, May 23 weekend. First vendor booth I've ever run, in the town I grew up in. Come find me. I'll be the dad in the navy shirt looking slightly overwhelmed.
Summer 2026. Which is going to be wild. Between the World Cup, America's 250th, and the regular summer chaos of festivals and travel, I wrote a whole thing about why this summer is shaping up to be the most crowded one in modern American history. Spring is the warmup. Summer is the main event.
If you've got kids and gear and an actual life this summer, the wristbands and stickers might be worth a look. Fair warning: I'm a paramedic and a dad first, marketer somewhere down the list. But the product works, and it works exactly when you need it to.
For now, though? I'm a couple hours away from Boulder, looking at graduation photos and thinking about the Creek running high and the patios filling up.
My hometown's looking good from here.
— Todd Founder, myScanBandz