Coloradans love their Colorado stuff.
So why not formalize that affection with an official Buy Colorado Day state holiday? Lawmakers on Monday plan to designate March 3 as an annual celebration of Colorado’s homegrown entrepreneurs.
“We love to support our own in Colorado, not just the businesses that manufacture but our farmers and ranchers and grocers and mom-and-pop shops that are the backbone of our economy in Colorado,” state Senate President James Coleman said. “So let’s have a day when we can purchase locally crafted goods and support our own.”
Coleman said one of his favorite Colorado brands is Wild Boyd Farm in Matheson, west of Colorado Springs.
“A Black-owned and operated Colorado-native business where you can get pasture-raised beef, goat, lamb, pork, free-range chickens, goat milk, eggs,” Coleman said. “We love them.”
Senate Joint Resolution 8 designates March 3 – known as 303 Day, for Colorado’s formerly statewide area code – as Buy Colorado Day and March 3-10 as Buy Colorado Week with a nod to the state’s 700,000 small businesses that employ 1.2 million residents. The resolution cheers Colorado as a first home to Crocs, snap-button cowboy shirts, Jolly Ranchers, Coors Banquet beer, the Chipotle burrito, OtterBox, Celestial Seasonings teas, the Polar Bottle and “even the cheeseburger.”
The resolution – recognizing “that Colorado businesses and brands are one of the many reasons that Colorado is the best state in the country” – explains that 69% of the 13,000 restaurants in the state are independently owned and generate more than $20 billion in annual economic activity. And there are more than 100 craft distilleries in the state and more than 400 craft breweries. The state’s agricultural industry generates $47 billion in economic activity and employs nearly 200,000 people. The resolution also notes the groundbreaking cannabis businesses that have thrived in Colorado as well as the state’s consumer packaged goods businesses that export $2.3 billion of the state’s food products a year.
“Launching a new state holiday to create an economic driver for local brands makes total sense,” said Matt Williams, the CEO of Topo Designs, which is a founding member of Buy Colorado Day. Topo Designs was born in 2008 when Jedd Rose and Mark Hansen started sewing durable and functional packs in a Fort Collins basement.
Today, Topo Designs has all kinds of bags and packs as well as outerwear and clothing. Topo Designs has been focused on opening stores, with two new locations in San Francisco, stores in L.A. and Boston, two in Denver, one in Fort Collins and pop-ups at Denver International Airport.
“Coloradans built this brand. They allowed us to open international popup stores and people around the world know Topo as a Colorado brand,” Williams said. “The only way we have been able to scale and get global recognition is because of the people in Colorado who were the early adopters.”
And Colorado folks are a picky lot. We like local, but we love quality.
“That multiuse customer we have in Colorado is what triggers our quality because it has to hold up,” said Williams, who counts Denver’s Icelantic Skis as one of his favorite Colorado-born brands.
Ricardo Baca, a former journalist and founder of Denver’s Grasslands public relations agency, was the primary force behind Buy Colorado Day. He persuaded Colorado Sens. Jeff Bridges and Judy Amabile, who cofounded Polar Bottle in 1994, as well as Democratic Rep. Shannon Bird and Republican Rep. Rick Taggart to support the designation of the new state holiday.
His hope is that Buy Colorado Day reaches all of Colorado’s industries. And eventually, the push toward Colorado’s homegrown brands spills beyond the state’s borders.
“I think there is this global affinity for the Colorado lifestyle,” Baca said. “We really do want to create something that becomes a sustainable economic driver, not just by encouraging Coloradans to buy locally, but getting the word out internationally and encouraging the world to buy Never Summer or Pop Socket to Topo Designs.”
Baca’s favorite brands include KONG in Golden, which has been making pet toys since 1976, Boulder-born Bobo’s Oat Bars, Golden’s venerable Yeti Cycles and Salida SUP and raft maker Badfish.
“I’ve been eyeing the Badfish 13-footer for a while,” Baca said.