{"id":30390,"date":"2023-11-10T17:27:02","date_gmt":"2023-11-11T00:27:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortezs-new-hot-spot-a-place-to-hang-out\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:18:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:18:37","slug":"cortezs-new-hot-spot-a-place-to-hang-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortezs-new-hot-spot-a-place-to-hang-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez\u2019s new hot spot? A place to hang out"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Cortez business owners are trying to woo customers with something they\u2019re hoping is more enticing than just cheap drinks and eats: a place to hang out and connect with the local community.<\/p>\n

While bars, restaurants and fast food joints have long lined Main Street over the past few years, a crop of new entrants has emerged that aim to provide visitors and residents an experience more akin to what they might find in a bustling metropolis, whether that\u2019s a concert with a local musician, a place to sit and work for a few hours or a fresh-pressed juice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clear that we have people moving from the big cities and they have a certain expectation of what\u2019s available to them in a community,\u201d Zu Gallery founder Jodi Jahrling told The Journal<\/em>. \u201cWe have to be able to offer that to them or they\u2019re going to leave town every weekend and go somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jahrling, 50, isn\u2019t alone in recognizing the need to cater to Cortez\u2019s changing population.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, after a drought in the market with the closures of The Spruce Tree, The Bean Tree and the Cortez Coffeehouse and Eatery, the options for a morning or afternoon caffeine boost are rebounding.<\/p>\n

Already a popular spot for the evening crowds, WildEdge Brewing Collective will soon start opening its door in the early morning as Mesa Cafe, before it reopens in the afternoon as a brewery.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn these rural communities, sometimes you can live your life without having a conversation with anybody all day long,\u201d said founder Chris Giangreco, who is currently running a public fundraising effort<\/a> to help support the opening of the coffeehouse. \u201cWe want to create a space for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

And a coffee bar recently opened<\/a> inside the Cortez Cultural Center, complete with new seating and a rotating gallery of work from local artists to peruse.<\/p>\n

\"Cortez
Cortez Cultural Center Executive Director Shere Holleman oversaw the opening of a new coffee bar.<\/span>Joseph Williams<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Along with providing a spot to meet for a midmorning or afternoon sojourn, the addition is also adding a new revenue stream that Executive Director Shere Holleman says is vital to keeping the decades-old institution running for the next generation of residents to enjoy.<\/p>\n

Based on early results, it\u2019s clear there\u2019s a demand for such a spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis place used to be just dead,\u201d said Holleman. Now, \u201cthere\u2019s chatter and people are laughing. It\u2019s lively.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you build it, they will come<\/div>\n

While Zu Gallery is now a bustling community spot, that wasn\u2019t Jahrling\u2019s initial intention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was never a solid place for artists to keep their stuff unless they were associated with a co-op. I wanted it to be a no-risk place for artists,\u201d she said. \u201cThen I realized this place could hold more than just art.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortly after opening in September 2021, Zu Gallery held its first \u201clistening room\u201d session, a showcase for local musicians. Even with no beer or alcohol available because of a pending license, people showed up. Now a staple in the calendar, there\u2019s a packed house almost every time, Jahrling said. And now, over two years later, it\u2019s hard to keep track of everything Zu Gallery does in the space.<\/p>\n

Alongside local art, patrons can purchase books from area authors and poets. Other events range from acoustic jams, singalong nights and basket-weaving classes, to \u201cLost Art of Random Conversations,\u201d where people are randomly paired for 30-minutes chat. And patrons can now indulge with a snack, glass of wine or specialty drink, like \u201cMoonstruck,\u201d a new alcohol-free cocktail with spiced apple cider and ginger beer.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not just diversity in what Zu Gallery is offering that makes it successful, Jahrling said, it\u2019s also about the diversity of the customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cQueer ball needed a space \u2026 and they rented the space,\u201d she added. \u201cOn the other side of that, we welcomed the rodeo VIP party here. Two completely different audiences in a lot of people\u2019s eyes, and both comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others have equally grand ambitions. At her mother Diana Toms\u2019 store The Abundant Life, Monique Alvarez is planning on hosting monthly community dinners at a new 12-person dining table, inspired by the weekly dinners she held since moving back to Cortez in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met someone at the Dolores River, I met someone at the grocery store, and I figured out they just moved here? I invited them,\u201d said Alvarez. \u201cI learned that people are really lonely. \u2026 They\u2019re missing connections. They\u2019re missing friendships.\u201d<\/p>\n

It takes a village \u2013 and a little financial creativity<\/div>\n

For owners like Jahrling, new spots opening up aren\u2019t competition. Instead, it\u2019s an opportunity to work with neighboring businesses to increase the overall volume of visitors to downtown Cortez.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t operate in a bubble, it has to be a collaborative effort,\u201d said Jahrling. \u201cIt keeps that money in our community by keeping everything local.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s particularly important in a town where taxes, largely sales tax, drive 77.9% of the revenue. As of the end of August, the city has collected $6.8 million in sales tax, a slight year-over-year decline.<\/p>\n

A \u201cgood economy translates to good budget, bad economy translates to terrible budget,\u201d Parks and Recreation Director Creighton Wright said at a recent event.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s part of the reason why there\u2019s been a focus among local officials and industry associations on helping other entrepreneurs open their own small businesses.<\/p>\n

The Zu Gallery, for example, collaborates with the Cortez Retail Enhancement Association and area economic development departments to hold informational sessions about topics important to owners, like building an effective business pitch or keeping their Google listings up-to-date.<\/p>\n

\"Mesa
Mesa Cafe will soon open up in the morning at the WildEdge Brewing Collective. Joseph Williams\/The Journal<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Still, there are barriers that area entrepreneurs face that aren\u2019t as easily addressable, like finding workers or affordable real estate. For example, Giangreco, 47, is subleasing the space for the Mesa Cafe from the owners of WildEdge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would need 10 times the money that I\u2019m going to put out to be able to do this if I wasn\u2019t doing this here with WildEdge,\u201d he said. \u201cThere could be a way to change that \u2026 so you don\u2019t have to have the corporation behind you to make this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while as a nonprofit the Cortez Cultural Center faces its own unique challenges, Holleman, too relied on the generosity of the community to get the coffee bar going.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to build all these cabinets. We had to get an electrician in here. We had to get plumbers in,\u201d she said. \u201cEverything you see here was volunteer labor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the hard work, local owners say the overwhelmingly positive response from the community makes it worthwhile. And ultimately, they\u2019re all hopeful that the options only grow for those looking for that connection to the local culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more cool things happening downtown, the more people are going to come out,\u201d said Holleman.<\/p>\n

This article was re-edited and reposed on Nov. 30 to reflect that Diana Toms owns The Abundant Life store.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

to basket weaving, local businesses are taking a community-driven approach to bringing in residents and visitors <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-30390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30390"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81065,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30390\/revisions\/81065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30390"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=30390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}