{"id":22795,"date":"2025-04-08T15:29:20","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T21:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/meet-and-mingle-with-nonprofits-during-happy-hour-thursday-in-mancos\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:17:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:17:37","slug":"meet-and-mingle-with-nonprofits-during-happy-hour-thursday-in-mancos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/meet-and-mingle-with-nonprofits-during-happy-hour-thursday-in-mancos\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet and mingle with nonprofits during happy hour Thursday in Mancos"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Co-owner
Co-owner of Mesa Verde Motel in Mancos received statewide award from Office of Tourism. (Sally Dziedzic\/Courtesy photo)<\/span>LLC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The Mancos Creative District is launching a quarterly event Thursday to create a space where residents and nonprofits can meet for happy hour in Mancos.<\/p>\n

The first gathering will be 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Mesa Verde Motel\u2019s M Bar & Cafe, 191 Railroad Ave.<\/p>\n

The creative district is just one of the more than 40 nonprofits in and around the Mancos Valley that dreamed this up a few years ago at the Mount Lookout Grange downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cMancos has a lot of nonprofits that serve a small community,\u201d said Chelsea Lunders, executive director of the creative district.<\/p>\n

Years ago, those nonprofits would meet among themselves, and they recently decided to meet in a \u201ccommunity-facing way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"An
An advertisement for the new Quarterly Community Happy Hour events. The first one is Thursday, April 10.<\/span>LLC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Quarterly Community Happy Hour is nonprofits\u2019 way to stay engaged with one another and to engage the broader community so that they can learn more about what the nonprofits do, and to also learn about volunteer opportunities.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, 14 nonprofits will be there, and attendees can enjoy complimentary, light finger food thanks to grant money from the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also welcome to bring their children \u2013 the grant money is paying for a guided kids activity so parents are free to mingle, said Lunders.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach quarter, a different nonprofit will host it at a different location,\u201d Lunders said. \u201cThe next one will be in July at Medicine Horse. \u2026 Each time it happens, it\u2019ll have a different character and feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are three more happy hour events already scheduled, and they\u2019re all on Thursdays:<\/p>\n

July 10 at the Medicine Horse Center, hosted by Medicine Horse. Oct. 9 at the Mancos Brewery, hosted by the Montezuma School to Farm Project. Jan. 8 at Fenceline Cidery, hosted by Mancos Valley Resources.<\/div>\n

This initial event is \u201cexperimental,\u201d said Lunders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s beneficial, we hope other nonprofits will want to host in the future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n