I’ve always been fascinated by artists. Their drive to create is so deeply ingrained that it rises above everything else, pushing through even the busiest of lives. They find ways to create regardless of how full their schedules are. This week, I sat down with someone who embodies that spirit here in our town. Nick Cacaci is a bartender by day and most nights, but in his spare time, he is a skilled craftsman who creates custom mountain-themed cribbage boards.
While Cacaci has only lived in Golden for the past year, he has been making these boards for much longer. “I think I made my first one during COVID, it might have been, all the spare time,” he said, pointing to the unexpected beginning of his craft. Time remains one of the most essential elements in his process. “They usually take me about two to three months to complete.”
What happens over those two to three months is a careful and iterative process. “It’s a lot of going back and forth, I do a little bit, step away, come back and look at it again…I think it’s like 12 sessions before I get that final shape,” Cacaci explained. Without a dedicated workspace, that process can be challenging. “I don’t have a shop. I don’t really have tools. Right. So there are stages that slow me down with the woodworking part of it, as if it’s snowing, if it’s raining, I don’t really have anywhere to work on it inside.”
Interestingly, the same mountain environment that creates those challenges also fuels his inspiration. “When I moved to Golden, I wanted to spend more time in the mountains and get inspiration…I want to get out and see all the glaciers while they’re still here.” That connection to place drives his work, as he recreates real mountain ranges using maps as reference.
“I think my direction is, you know, the ice, the glaciers. I want to engage people with the art and eventually have pieces that aren’t game boards. And instead they represent the deglaciation and the loss of ice in our mountains,” Cacaci noted. This theme is already present in his work, with some boards painted to reflect how glaciers appeared decades ago, a stark contrast to their reduced size today.
“I’m trying to figure out how to take this from a passion to something greater,” Cacaci added. While he has not sold any boards yet and mostly uses them for games with friends, he sees potential for growth. “The boards are one-of-one art pieces right now…I want to create something I can make multiples of.”
Beyond his woodworking, Cacaci also played a key role in launching the Stolen Bell Distillery last October, crafting much of the cocktail menu. It is a role that similarly relies on creativity and vision, mirroring the artistic process behind his boards.
The choice to turn these works into cribbage boards may seem whimsical, but it is rooted in something more personal. “When I grew up, I played a lot of cards with my Grandma and my Mom. I spent time at the lake house in the summer playing games,” Cacaci said.
Cacaci’s connection to the mountains also comes from his family. His grandparents, Lil and B Cacaci, started a farm in Parson about 50 years ago. The couple raised Nick’s father, Jason Cacaci, and his siblings there until Jason moved to Kamloops and met Nick’s mother, Jennifer. They raised Nick in Kamloops, but he never lost his connection to the town, returning frequently to hike with his grandmother and ski with his aunt, Jubilee.
To get a closer look at his work, you can follow @cribaci on Instagram, a play on his last name and the game that inspired it all. In many ways, his boards are more than just games or art pieces; they are a reflection of memory, landscape, and a creative drive that continues to carve out space for itself.
