2011 progress

RH m/9/27/2011/y f:DR Color:

PAGE 24, T h u r s d a y, Ma rc h 31, 2011 The Daily Record

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“I had known all along that Ididn’t plan on continuing myswimming career past college,”Banker said. “I made up my mindpretty early in my college careerthat whatever I wanted to accom-plish in the pool, I would have todo by the time I graduated.”

Banker said after his time inWashington, it was time for a lit-tle bit of a break from competing.

“And getting married, it defi-nitely changed things,” he said. “Ijust recently started getting backin the water and swimming in thepool here at University of Ver-mont.”

And even now that he’s back inthe pool, it’s not the grind-it-outstyle that won him his accoladesin the preps and collegiate ranks.

“I just recently started takingup swimming again,” B a n ke rsaid. “After my last race atNCAAs, I had pretty much stayedout of the water for over a year.

“I’ve changed the expectations.

I just do it for fun now. I don’tcompete I just do it for my owne n j oy m e n t . ”

Banker said getting in the poolbrings back memories of highschool, but it’s a different feeling.

“It certainly feels different withdifferent expectations with notswimming to make yourself morec o m p e t i t i ve, ” Banker said. “N ow,I don’t even make sets for myself.I don’t have time intervals thatI’m trying to make. I don’t evercount my yardage. I just get inand swim. It’s more liberating tojust get in and swim for the sakeof swimming, not necessarily foranything else.”

He said he still swims laps, andoccasionally will push himself,but he simply stops when he sayshe’s had enough.

Aside from his occasionalswim, Banker stays busy in theclassroom and with married life.He also enjoys mountain biking,and said Vermont’s scenery offersa great place to do it.

“I really enjoy spending timewith my wife and getting to ex-plore Vermont,” Banker said.“It’s a really beautiful state and I

really like mountain biking so I’vebeen doing a lot of that out here.Vermont is a really beautifulplace so it’s a good opportunity tocome out here for three years. It’sa good chance to enjoy a differentpart of the country.”

Banker has seen a lot with highschool near the Rocky Mountains,four years of college in the farnorthwest, and now residing inthe northeast corner of the coun-t r y.

He said he’s not sure what post-college will bring for him andAmy, who he started dating dur-ing his junior year of high schoolwhen she attended CoronadoHigh School in Colorado Springs.

“There aren’t any definite plansas of now, but we’re definitelythinking about going back to Col-orado and being closer to friendsand family, but we have no ideaexactly right now,” Banker said.“We ’re just enjoying where we’reat, but it definitely wouldn’t beout of the realm of possibilities tobe back in Colorado.”

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Continued from Page 22

BA N K E R

Courtesy Photo

Jonathan Banker and his wife,Amy, were married in 2009. Thecouple moved to Vermont in Juneso he could get his doctorate inphysical therapy.


The Daily Record T H U R S D AY, M A RC H 31, 2011, 3

By Carie Canterbury

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Jeff Shane/Daily Record

Alicia Brady looks at one of the hundreds of cards that she received while shewas in the hospital at her home in 2009. Brady spent 41 days in a Tucson, Ariz.,hospital after being shot in a drive-by shooting.

‘She’s Pretty Miraculous’Since near fatal shooting,Brady continues hersteady road to recovery

Eleven people were involved in sevenshootings in Tucson, Ariz., the nightAlicia Brady was shot in a drive-byshooting Oct. 11, 2008. After enduringthe fight for her life and working hard

to complete her college education, Alicia, 23, contin-ues to make slow, steady strides on her road to recov-e r y.

Missing almost ayear of schooling,Alicia carried a fullclass load, as wellas summer schooland online classeslast year to be ableto catch up andgraduate with herclass from the Uni-versity of Arizonaon May 13, 2010. Ali-cia received herbachelor of fine artsin dance.

Parents Randyand Dena Bradysaid their daughteris nothing short of am i ra c l e.

“She’s prettym i ra c u l o u s, ” Ra n d ys a i d.

There were sever-al instances whenDena said theydidn’t know if theirdaughter would sur-vive, especiallysince the survivalrate is less than one percent for the initial injury Ali-cia sustained.

Nine surgeries later, she continues to train anddance about five to six hours a day. Her last surgerywas in August.

“She’s kind of had a tough time coming back thist i m e, ” Dena said. “It has been real hard on her, and

Courtesy Photo

Alicia Brady, who was injured ina drive-by shooting in 2008,graduated from the University ofArizona on May 13, 2010. Shereceived her bachelor of finearts in dance.

See B R A DY / Page 25

Alicia Brady



Courtesy Photo

Jonathan Banker competes for University of Washington swim team in 2008. The Cañon City native finished 49th in the nationat the Olympic swim trials in 2008 in Omaha, Neb. Banker and his wife, Amy, moved to Vermont in June so he could get hisdoctorate in physical therapy. He’s expecting to graduate in 2013.

Where Are They Now?Where Are They Now?

Jonathan Banker

By Brandon Hopper

After years of competing, Banker nowtakes a dip for the enjoyment of it

Six years after winning numerous state champi-onships as a member of the Pueblo Centennialswim team, 2005 graduate from Cañon CityHigh School Jonathan Banker is back in thepool.

But not like that. Nowadays, he just does it for fun.Banker and his wife, Amy, moved to Vermont in June so

he could get his doctorate in physical therapy. He’s expect-ing to graduate in 2013.

Because Cañon City High School doesn’t have a swim

program, Banker swam for the Bulldogs before going to theUniversity of Washington in the fall of 2005. After his fouryears of swimming in Seattle, Banker held five schoolrecords, three of which were for individual events and twofor relays.

He qualified for the NCAA tournament after his senioryear, where he finished as high as 16th as a team.

But after that, life changed.And Banker was OK with it. He said the top-tier swim-

mers, such as Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, are able toswim professionally, but unless you’re one of swimming’selite, making money isn’t in your future.

Back in the Pool

See BANKER / Page 24


The Daily Record T H U R S D AY, M A RC H 31, 2011, Page 21

“Business has increased quite abit,” Gherna said. “Especially inthe last 18 months.”

He said, there was a time wheneveryone was looking to upgradetheir appliances to the next bestmodel. Gherna, who also rebuildsand resells appliance, said now heusually hears “I need somethingas cheap as you got.”

“We don’t live in the Maytaggeneration anymore,” Ghernasaid. “Appliances don’t last likethey used to.”

Frank, who repairs the TVs,said all the new TVs are made inChina and do not last.

“Nowadays most everything isbuilt somewhere else,” Fra n ksaid. “They design the stuff bycomputer and put it together by

robot and we have to figure outhow to fix it.”

Frank said LCD and plasmascreen TVs have been selling veryi n ex p e n s i ve l y.

“Now we’re working on theLCDs that they bought,” he said.

Now rather than replacing tran-sistors or tubes, Frank is havingto replace whole circuit boardsbecause all the parts are so smallthat they are difficult to see.

“All your appliances are goingthe same way,” Gherna said. “Ev-erything has circuit boards.”

He said TVs are not any moreexpensive than they used to be,however, they also are not lastingas long.

“This recession everybody’shurting,” Gherna said. “E ve r y -body’s tightening.”



Frank Gherna works on a stove at Frank’s TV & Appliance Service.Gherna has seen a spike in buisness in the past 18 months with peoplewanting to fix TV’s and appliances instead of replacing them.

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NONPROFITSContinued from Page 19

“I’m working on board orienta-tion for existing and new boardmembers and assisting as I can tohire a new executive director,” hesaid at the beginning of March.

The estimated time of openingfor youth from 6 to 18 is set forMay before school gets out.

Membership fees are between$10 to $25 per year.

The Fremont Campus of PuebloCommunity College also has hadsuccess with raising money for itscapital campaign.

“We are getting a steady streamof donations, not necessarily real-ly large ones constantly, but wekicked it off last March. We’restill seeing a pretty good streamcoming in,” said Fremont Cam-pus Dean Jennifer Herman. “Wereceived about $40,000 during ouryear-end campaign.”

Right now, the college is work-ing on a $75,000 challenge grant.

“It is difficult times forfundraising, but it’s also a neces-sary time for fundraising,” shes a i d.

Herman wanted residents tosupport what is important to thecommunity and to them personal-l y.

“During hard times, you don’tget as much, but people still givewhen it’s important,” Hermansaid. “We have a need for morespace and we try to keep workingtowards that even if it’s going to

take a little bit longer.”Donations are down for Loaves

& Fishes Ministries.Executive director Don Farr

contributed it to the economy, butthe center also is competing withother nonprofits, as well.

“Our peak months are October,November and December for peo-ple giving,” he said. “But it’s thateven flow all year, that $20 or $30or $10 that people can give everymonth that keeps us goingthrough these times. We’re defi-nitely doing more with less. It’sgetting tighter and tighter.”

Recently, Farr learned the cen-ter will not be given a $3,000 grantto purchase food after June.

At the same time, TemporaryAssistance to Needy Families an-nounced it would not be able toprovide community grant funds toseveral agencies in the area.

“Between that and anothergrant, we’re actually going to belosing $3,000 a month to buy food,”Farr said. “It’s prompting us tolook at our food banks and look ata new way to do it, where we canoffer more useful food for fami-lies, more often.”

Loaves & Fishes may set up itsfood bank more like a grocerystore, where clients will pick upwhat they will use instead of tak-ing a standard food box, wherethey might not use part of it.

“I am not only going to encour-age people to do food drives, butalso to do drives for money be-cause we can purchase more food

for the dollar than the averagep e rs o n , ” Farr said. For instance,“it costs us about 20 cents for abox of cereal.”

He said the 34 beds plus numer-ous cots normally are full in thes h e l t e r.

“We don’t turn anybody away inthe shelter,” Farr said. “T h eyhave three hot meals (everyd ay ) . ”

With the name and venuechange, donations also were downfor the Fremont CommunityFoundation last year.

“We ’ve struggled,” said boardmember Jay Bouton. “The econo-my hurt us.”

But at the same time, when thename was changed from theBelvedere Blues Festival to theHoly Cow Moosic Blues Fest, notenough people knew about it eventhough members of the board at-tempted to advertise the changes.

“The crowds weren’t bad,” Bou-ton added. “But the beer saleswere down.”

The board may run into moredifficulties this year.

“With gas pushing $4 a gallon, itmay be difficult for (people) toc o m e, ” said foundation presidentDan Brown. “They may come, butthey won’t spend as much.”

With the dismal weather and adecrease in crowds during theHoly Smoke BBQ showdown lastyear were reasons the donationswere down. This year, the barbe-cue will be June 3-4 because of arequest from a group in Pueblo,

who asked for it.“That will help us out because

we won’t be going against theWalk for Hope,” Bouton said. “Ithurt us for volunteers.”

To bring revenues up for theother big fundraiser, the HolyCow! Blues Festival will be scaleddown from three to two days,which will be Sept. 9-10.

“That should help us,” B o u to ns a i d.

However, Brown noted the localmerchants and the donors sup-ported the festival.

“They kept us in the black,” hes a i d.

The Fremont County YMCA Ef-fort group is within $5,000 of mak-ing its goal to conduct a feasibili-ty study of bringing a YMCA tothe area.

Member Sylvia Hooper saidwhen the group reaches $12,000,Cañon City will donate a $2,000matching grant to complete thes t u d y.

“People in Fremont Countyhave been very giving and gener-o u s, ” she said. “People see howvaluable it is to bring a YMCA tothe area.”

In this day and age, some thingsare worth donating to, Hermans a i d.

“I believe if somebody believesin a cause, they’re going to makea contribution even if it’s not go-ing to be as large as they mayhave been able to give at anothert i m e, ” she said.


Steve Frankrepairs a

plasma TV atFrank’s TV &

ApplianceService. Withthe economy

tight, morepeople are

choosing torepair ratherthan replace.

More choose to repairrather than replace

While the economy seems to be recoveringnationally, people still are tighteningtheir belts — carpooling, reducing thenumber of meals eaten out, buying storebrands instead of brand names.

Frank Gherna and Steve Frank, of Frank’s TV & Appli-ance Service, have seen a different effect of the most re-cent recession: more people are having their appliances re-paired than replacing them with new models.

See R E PA I R / Page 21

By Rachel Alexander


The Daily Record T H U R S D AY, M A RC H 31, 2011, Page 19Building Business

By Charlotte Burrous

Having An Impact


Hundreds of people work through the food line at the Loaves & Fishes ‘C a reand Share Food Drop.’ Loaves & Fishes relies on donations from organizationsand residents to continue to provide its services.

Economy takesits toll on localnonprofit groups

The economy may be down.But when it comes to chil-dren, Fremont Countysteps up to the plate. “Weare doing well,” said Gail

McDermott, Boys & Girls Club of Fre-mont County Board President. “Sincelast July, we have raised more than$132,000. We’re very grateful to the peo-ple of Cañon City and Fremont Countyfor stepping up and supporting the Boysand Girls Club.”

Of the money raised, El Pomar Foun-dation provided a $40,000 matching grantwith the stipulation the match be raisedby June. So far, the organization hasraised $38,000 in cash and $2,500 inpledges during the first five weeks, shesaid. Since then, the donations have in-creased to about $50,000 as of November,she said.

“The economic times are hard, but Ithink people in our community realizethe need for a Boys and Girls Club — thatthe youth of our city need a place to goafter school that’s safe, that has a posi-tive aspect to it,” McDermott said.“There are leadership opportunities forsome of the older kids (to become) juniors ta f f . ”

The building at Fourth and Macon isalso a bonus, she said. An event will beplanned from 4-8 p.m. May 13 with thehelp of a Girl Scout Troop. Activities in-clude games, food and a dance with mu-sic by Ransom.

“The community has been extremelys u p p o r t i ve, ” McDermott said. “We ’vehad a lot of in-kind donations.”

Helping to found the club is interim ex-ecutive director Paul Martz, who workedfor Boys and Girls for 15 years.

See N O N P RO F I TS / Page 20



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to the merchants to lease a bill-board for five years at the top ofEight Mile Hill.

“We ’re designing our billboardat this time,” said Morrie Aves,one of the merchants. “The intentis to drive visitors who are al-ready in the area to come to Flo-re n c e. ”

It will have a simple map andsomething about being an antiquecapital in Colorado, he said.

To pay for the billboard for fiveyears, the merchants will hostfundraisers to raise the money.

Also, the merchants participatein Comcast advertising in thesummer and around the holidays,as well in tourism guides.

“We have funds for theb ro c h u re s, ” Aves said. “We havehalf of the funds for it. That’scoming from the chamber, thecity and the merchants.”

To go along with that, activitiesinclude a car show the third Sun-day of May, Junktique, the thirdweekend of September and theBBQ the third weekend of Octo-b e r.

“With the Gold Belt Tour, theRocky Mountain Bank parking lotprovided a 10 by 15 square footspace for merchants to put upthree different poster boards sotourists can learn more about thehistory of Florence and upcomingeve n t s, ” Aves said. “Gold BeltTour is a big sponsor. The mer-chants gave $200 for an in-kind do-

nation. The Florence High Schoolstudents did the welding for it.”

Also, the city agreed to deferthe waterline project until nextspring so it won’t disrupt thisye a r ’s tourist season.

On the third Fridays, the BlueSpruce Gallery hosts receptionsto bring residents downtown todisplay their work in the galleryand enjoy appetizers and bever-a ge s.

Meanwhile in Penrose, Coyote’sCoffee Den provides Music on thePatio on Saturday nights through-out the summer.

“The CrossRoads stays busy

to o , ” said Penrose Chamber ofCommerce office manager MistyDawn Scoles. “There are dances

at the VFW on Saturdays.”In the summer months, the

chamber hosts its monthly FleaMarket on the first Saturday be-tween May 7 to Sept. 3 in the park-ing lot of Gooseberry Patch.

As part of its new look, thechamber’s website provides infor-mation to residents and tourists tobrowse for activities and otherpurposes at www.penrosecham-b e r. c o m .

The downtown continues to be avital part of any community,Katchmar said.

“We ’re trying to gradually revi-talize ourselves. The downtowncan’t exist without a community,”she said. “Having a main street isa vital part of having a thrivingtown and it’s an opportunity tobring tourists downtown, but weneed the support of the communi-ty to come down here, too.”

MAINContinued from Page 17


Many downtown art galleries host auctions and other monthly events tokeep residents visiting Main Street. The hope is to keep Main Streetalive.



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Street is just one block north,”Katchmar said. “We have theelectronic signboard in front ofthe chamber and those will helpbring people downtown.”

Also, a map will list all the dif-ferent stores and where they are,as well as a map for where park-ing is.

In 2012, the Walldogs will cometo paint a series of paintings onhistoric buildings around thea re a .

“The murals will all have his-torical significance,” Ka tc h m a rsaid. “T h e re ’s a subcommitteethat’s working on what buildingsto put them on and what thepaintings will be comprised of.”

As part of the event, artists willvisit from across the country,which means the merchants willhost several fundraisers to bringthem, she said. Bill DeBekker,who has participated in the Wall-dogs events around the country, isin charge of that subcommittee.

“We ’ll have a lot of activitywhile they’re being painted,”Katchmar said. “We ’ll have TVcameras and get some news sto-ries done. Once they’re done, we’llhave some maps for the cham-b e r. ”

A subcommittee also is workingon an Art in Public Places projectwith Rob Smith from FCA, whohas formed a committee to decidewhere the art will be placed andhow it will be handled.

“That’s very exciting,” Ka tc h -mar said. “T h e re ’s a lot of inter-est in that.”

The merchants also are form-ing a task force to look at down-town revitalization, business re-tention, finding new businessesfor the area and utilizing theavailable buildings then marketthem.

“We would really like our com-munity to participate and investin our downtown,” Ka tc h m a rsaid. “The common complaint wehear is we don’t stay open late.The other side is it’s hard to stayopen when we don’t get peopledown here.”

The downtown is changing withthe addition of a new clothingstore, boutiques, both new and

consignment clothing, boutiqueswith handmade art, clothing andshoes, as well as a candy store.

“We have a lot of people whosay they never come down here,”Katchmar said. “They need to seewhat we have down here. There’sa lot of opportunity down hereand we’re always changing.”

Recently, in the FlorenceDowntown Merchants meeting,John Heasley, who owns propertyon CR3A, offered an opportunity

Continued from Page 16 Jeff Shane/Daily Record

The Artists’Gallery sitterKate Colbylookst h ro u g hinventory atthe gallery.During FirstFridays onMain Street,re s i d e n t sb ro w s et h ro u g hartwork,listen tomusic andvisit with theartists.

See MAIN / Page 18

MAIN

‘We would reallylike our communityto participate and

invest in ourdowntown.’

— Beth Katchmar,chairwoman of the

downtown merchants.



Main Street


M OV E M E N TCommunities workto keep Main Streetalive in recession

Once Main Streetfilled up withresidents look-ing for bargains,meals or other

activities. But in today’s econo-my, it may be hard for CañonCity, Florence and Penrose tokeep their Main Street aliveand bring residents and out-of-towners alike to the downtowna re a .

To keep abreast of what’s go-ing on, the Cañon City Down-town Merchants meet at 8:30a.m. the second Tuesday of ev-ery month either at My Broth-er’s Place or at Pizza Madnessin Cañon City.

“Everyone is invited,” saidBeth Katchmar, chairwoman ofthe downtown merchants. “Fo ralmost a year now, between 30and 60 people come to them e e t i n g s. ”

One of the main things thedowntown offers is First Fri-day activities, where the Fre-mont Center for the Arts, theArtists’ Gallery, Boomers andMichael’s on Main Street,along with several new gal-leries host receptions and ac-t i v i t i e s.

“The art galleries are openlate (the first Friday of themonth),” Katchmar said.

During the evening, appetiz-ers and drink are served whileparticipants browse throughthe artwork, listen to live mu-sic and entertainment then vis-it with the artists. Starting inJune, the Cañon City Librarywill provide music on its lawn.

“Those are getting to be real-ly fun nights,” she said. “S eve r -al other places are staying

open, as well.”Coming up in May, the third

annual Flash Back on MainStreet will bring four blocks ofcars on display, live music,vendors in the street and spe-c i a l s.

“It’s a really fun time,”Katchmar said. “We have food,beer and contests.”

Another exciting event is Col-

orado Department of Trans-portation has approved newsigns on Royal Gorge Boule-vard, pointing visitors to thehistorical district in the down-tow n .

“We have a mural that’s go-ing on the Century 21 buildingthat tells you historic Main


The Artists’ Gallery visitors look at pieces in the show March 4 during their monthly artist receptionon Main Street in Cañon City. First Friday activities include receptions and other events.

See MAIN / Page 17



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soup and sandwiches on Satur-days during the summer.

Last year, Jim and CarolFontana purchased the formerB ro o k h a r t ’s building to expandinto another branch store of TrueValue in Cañon City, as part of aventure, known as DestinationTrue Value.

“It’s the newest format for TrueVa l u e, ” Jim said. “It was a test atthe time. Now they’re spreading itthroughout the country.”

With the extensive remodelingof the building, the crews in-stalled a new roof and a new frontat 1630 E. Main St.

“The things I’m proudest of arethe eight or nine jobs that arehere all the time,” Carol said.

Before spring, the couple planto start selling sheds and othersmall buildings, as well as foun-tains, statues and nursery stockbefore spring.

“Crews have already repairedthe fence,” Carol said.

In addition, this store is a fullline hardware store, but it alsosells husquana power equipmentand offers special discounts onpaint and other merchandise.

So far, the store is meeting all ofthe projections that the Fontanasex p e c t e d.

“We listen to our customers andbring in what they ask for,” he re-iterated. “It’s so important we arewhat the community wants it tob e. ”

He said the store tries to staycompetitive with prices and itemsoffered. And it also helps theeconomy with the business ex-panding into Cañon City.

“Not only does the payroll stayhere, but also the profit staysh e re, ” Jim said. “It’s real impor-tant that the people in the com-munity shop here (for that rea-son.)”



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“I really felt being a part of thedowntown community was reallyi m p o r ta n t , ” Moore said. “Thatwas one of the first places welooked then we looked at the op-tions, buying versus renting.”

After viewing several buildings,she found the storefront at 506Main St., which originally was ajewelry store with shelves built in-to the walls to display the mer-c h a n d i s e.

“We liked being able to bring allthe elements into one room,”Moore said. “Obviously we likehaving the showcases (for thecandy).”

After painting with similar col-ors from the former store, shesaid the biggest expense wasbringing the kitchen up to code.

“It all worked well, even ourcounter. We just tweaked it a littlebit,” Moore said. “We have twicethe space now. We’ve expandedmore product. What I really likeis we have more floor space forpeople to get around.”

She said she was thankful forthe former location when shestarted her new business.

“But very quickly we outgrewit,” Moore said. “The key is thecommunity has responded verywell to this business. And ourTreats for Troops program hasgone very well.”

In the long run, being on MainStreet has been a bonus.

“If we’ve lost any customer offthe highway that maybe wouldhave stopped there, we’ve made

up with the foot traffic than we’vehad on Main Street,” Moore said.“We love being part of MainStreet. It definitely was a positivem ove. ”

Daniel and Michelle Petit re-cently expanded Le Petit ChablisRestaurant when it opened aFrench Bakery & Coffee Shopnext door.

When they first purchased thebuilding, they used it for storagethen leased it to Moore for hercandy store. When she outgrew it,the Petits decided it was time tofulfill their dreams of owning aFrench bakery of their own.

So they remodeled the buildingas a bakery, which opened lastM ay.

In the evenings, he bakes nu-merous goodies for the bakerythen continues the process whenhe makes the croissants in themornings at the bakery, wherepastries and coffee are available.

Being next door to the Le PetitChablis Restaurant has been con-venient because if one businessgets a run then employees canhelp out the other one during ther u s h e s.

In addition to the bakery, thedownstairs is available for meet-ings of any kind without chargewhen customers buy coffee andp a s t r i e s.

“We have a door from the out-side they can come in (from theparking lot,)” Petit said.

In addition to the pastries andcoffee, the bakery also will offer


In 2010, Jim andCarol Fontanapurchased theformer Brookhart’sbuilding to expandinto another branchstore of True Valuein Cañon City, aspart of a venture,known asDestination TrueValue. With theextensiveremodeling of thebuilding, the crewsinstalled a new roofand a new front at1630 E. Main St.

See E X PA N D I N G / Page 15

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Le Petit Chablis and French Bakery owners Daniel Petit and Michelle Petit move pastries in the bakery.

Despite economic downturn, manylocal businesses expanding its services

Although the economy has been on the down-turn for the past several years, three localbusinesses have expanded, includingFandies Candy, True Value and the FrenchBakery & Coffee Shop.

For Fandies Candy, Debi Moore said she moved the can-

dy store after it reached a crossroad about the time thelease came up.

“I started looking at options,” she said. “F i n a n c i a l l y,sometimes that can be a problem, especially with a newbusiness, who is just getting settled then you almost have tobuild a brand new business.”

Because of the economy, she said she felt it was the timeto purchase a building.

See E X PA N D I N G / Page 14



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ing for a good deal,” Trujillo said.She tries to keep prices as rea-

sonable as possible and still makeends meet. Most of the prices arebelow retail.

Trujillo said she has regularcustomers from throughout theregion — Westcliffe and Penrose.

“We ’re pulling customers as faras Buelah,” she said. “Those sur-prised me.”

The Ruby Slipper, 109 S. FifthSt., and The Look, 617 Main St.,are owned by Cheryl Gillis andher mother, Mary Basham.

The Slipper, a consignmentclothing store, was the first storethe family opened June 1, 2010.

“My mother was retiring andwanted to open a dress shop,”Gillis said.

She offered to help part-timeand took over ownership of thestore when Basham decided toopen The Look on Feb. 1.

Gillis said the consignment in-dustry has picked up generallysince the recession started.

“E ve r y b o d y ’s trying to savem o n ey, ” she said. “You still haveto work, you have to dress well.”

She said consignment and thriftshops are opening throughout thes ta t e.

“It’s green,” she said. “Consign-ment and thrift is a hobby. It’s thehunt.”

The Slipper, which carries wom-en’s clothing, has had 400 con-signers in the nine months since itopened and most are repeat con-

s i g n e rs.“It grows every month,” Gillis

said. “It’s a steady increase.”Basham opened The Look in

February as a new clothing storefor men and women on MainStreet in Cañon City.

Despite opening in the middleof a blizzard, Basham said, cus-tomers still came in.

The store offers name brandclothing for men and women, in-cluding plus-sizes. She aims tohave prices somewhere betweenWalmart and Macy’s.

“I needed a job, which is what

led to (the Slipper),” Bashams a i d.

Both women said the MainStreet business community hasbeen nice to work with.

“The whole business communi-ty has been very welcoming,”Gillis said.

“We ’ve had an awful lot of peo-ple interested,” Basham said. “Wewant to have things to make youfeel special. Clothes are fun.”

Gillis and Basham said openingbusinesses during a recession wasfrightening.

“It was terrifying,” Gillis said.“It wasn’t a spur of the momentthing. You have to do it realizingwhat the economy is.”

The three women said havingtheir stores in Florence andCañon City allows people to shoplocally and keep tax revenue inthe local tax base.

“We ’re learning as we’re go-ing,” Basham said. “I would do itagain in a minute.”

Continued from Page 11‘It was terrifying. It wasn’t a spur of the

moment thing. You have to do it realizingwhat the economy is.’

— Cheryl Gillis



By Rachel Alexander


Ruby Slipper store owner Cheryl Gillis, right, and her mother, The Look store owner Mary Basham, look through inventory atthe Ruby Slipper at 109 S. Fifth St.

Business owners opennew shops duringdifficult economy

Small business is the back-bone of the economy inany small town, but in arecession, opening a newbusiness can be a risk en-

trepreneurs are not willing to take.However, that is exactly the risk the

owners of Trujillo’s Emporium, the

Ruby Slipper and The Look took in thelast year.

Carol Trujillo opened Trujillo’s Em-porium, 513 E. Main St., in Florencewith her family on Black Friday 2010.

“My kids needed employment,” Tr u -jillo said. “I was creating them a ca-re e r. ”

The Emporium offers new and con-signed clothing and accessories, in-cluding nurses’ s c r u b s.

“I really think we have a keeper,”Trujillo said. “This was a high schooldream of mine. The community hasbeen really supportive.”

Trujillo said December was an “awe -some” month for the store, but sales inJanuary were not as good. However,she expects business to pick upthroughout the year, especially as thenew school year approaches in August.

“I think we picked a good business,”she said. “It’s a benefit to families.”

The store, which is about 10 percentconsignment and 90 percent new cloth-ing, has items to fit family membersfrom newborn babies to men.

“I have noticed customers are look-

Worth The Risk

See OW N E R S / Page 12



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“I want (my customers ) toknow that it’s important to methat they come in,” she said. “Iappreciate every person thatwalks in, and I greet every personthat walks in.”

Hovey works hard to make ev-eryone feel welcome in her store,including always having choco-late on the counter and having a“man chair” next to magazines tokeep husbands entertained whiletheir wives shop.

Oberley said he and Woods haveworked hard to develop a reputa-tion for good customer service.

“How can you grow if your ser-vice stinks?” Woods said. “T h ey ’llgo somewhere else.”

“It comes back to customer ser-v i c e, ” Oberley said. “C u s to m e rsalways refer people to us. Proba-bly nobody works harder to earnthe business we’ve got.”

“I ask my people for their busi-n e s s, ” Hovey said.

Hovey also makes education apriority in the Cloth Closet. Sever-al classes are conducted eachweek on various aspects of quilt-ing from paper piecing to ap-pliqué.

“I think that people always wantto be a part of something that’sgood and fun,” she said. “Our jobis to be as helpful as possible andgive people ideas.”

Oberley and Woods said theyhave seen the effects of the econo-my in the number of consignmentitems brought into the store.

“We wouldn’t have the invento-

ry we have,” Woods said. “(Cus-tomers) are needing more valuefor their money.”

Oberley said the store buysfrom companies that are goingout of business, as well as individ-uals and pass on the deals to theirc u s to m e rs.

“We do it all,” Woods said. “Wedon’t say no. Nobody can beat the

quality of our work, it just can’tbe done. And we’re confident inthat.”

“My belief is if you build it, theywill come and they have,” H oveysaid. “I had no idea if Cañon Citycould support a quilt store.T h e re ’s a lot of people out therethat want me to succeed.”



The Creative Cloth Closet owner Denise Hovey works at her shop on Main Street.

‘Our job is to be ashelpful as possible and

give people ideas.’

— Denise Hovey



Small businesses focuson great service to keepcustomers coming back

Keeping a small business runningis difficult in the best of times,but keeping one operatingthrough a recession is tougher.That is exactly what the owners

of the Creative Cloth Closet and Main StreetGallery have done during the most recent re-cession.

Denise Hovey opened the Creative Cloth Clos-et in February 2005 at 508 Main St. in CañonCity. Jeff Oberley and Vinny Woods openedMain Street Gallery, 111 W. Main St., in Flo-rence inSeptember2007.

“I’ve decidedwhat’s going onin the outsideworld is outt h e re, ” H oveysaid. “What’sgoing on inhere is goodand fun andpeople want tobe a part of it.”

Hovey saidher quilt storeis the “h a p pyplace” for many of her customers.

“When things happen, we need a way to es-c a p e, ” she said. “We provide a place for peopleto do that. They do get to come in and feel andtouch and play.”

Hovey said she uses customer service and ed-ucation in her business to keep customers com-ing in.

Building Business

By Rachel Alexander

Finding Success


Vinny Woods, front, and Jeff Oberley work on customers’ jewelry attheir work benches at their shop ‘Main Street Gallery’ in Florence.


Denise Hovey opened theCreative Cloth Closet inFebruary 2005.

See SUCCESS / Page 10



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Shane also discussed the council’s hiring of Bryan Jordan of VistaWorks to rework the website and create new state-of-the-art servicesfor visitors. The website has been completely redesigned, focusing ona more direct way to service the county’s Internet audience.

“We are implementing social networking with our visitors in theway of an e-mail newsletter, as well as direct replies using Twitter andFa c e b o o k , ” Shane said. “A new mobile application is now being creat-ed and will be available by May 1, 2011. This new application will func-tion on both the iPhone, as well as on the Android format.”

He said the application will have access to the council’s website anda mobile screen to inform visitors about various activities happeningin the county.

“I’m starting to see a better collaboration between everyone in thec o m m u n i t y, ” he said. “We ’re starting to really focus on making thiscommunity better.”

He said with the county developing new venues and events, every-one is shooting for a longer season.

“I see the dynamics of the community changing for the better,” hesaid. “We ’ve kind of weathered the storm.”

Among the new attractions coming this year is the Royal Gorge ZipLine Tours, a nine-line course north of the Royal Gorge being built bythe owners of Royal Gorge Rafting.

“When people call they’re more excited about the zip line than thera f t i n g , ” said co-owner Jimmy Whiteside.

He said the climate here lends itself to the zip lines because the sea-son could extend as late as Thanksgiving.

Whiteside’s partner Ty Seufer said the company is hiring 20 guidesfor the tour who will go through a 50-hour training course prior to thegrand opening on April 29.

Tours will start about every half-hour with groups of eight to 10 peo-ple and two guides. The nine lines range in length from 40 to 1,000 feeton 126 acres, totaling a little over a mile of cable. The tour will includeabout a half-mile hike between lines.

Participants are double-clipped to a coated steel cable at all timesduring the zip, they will brake with a leather glove.

The partners have hired Bonsai Design out of Grand Junction to de-sign, engineer and build the course.

“They build world-class zip line tours,” Seufer said. “Yo u ’ll have asense of accomplishment (when the course is complete).”

Visit royalgorgeziplinetours.com for more information.Probably opening in the summer of 2012 is the new Royal Gorge Di-

nosaur Museum planned by the city of Cañon City, Garden Park Pale-ontology Society, Royal Gorge Bridge and Park and Tribold Paleontol-o g y.

Jon Stone, of the Dinosaur Depot, said the move is necessitated bythe sale of the building currently housing the Depot on U.S. 50 to theRoyal Gorge Railroad.

They selected a site near the parking lot of the Bridge and Park.“That site is just fantastic,” Stone said. “This piece of ground was

absolutely perfect.”Stone said the museum hopes to break ground in the fall, after the

tourist season.For information on the new museum, visit dinosaurdepot.com/new-

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Weathering The Storm


Bonsai Design Inc. workers Matt Seymour, left, and PiloValenciano construct the zip line at the Royal Gorge ZipLine Tours site North of the Royal Gorge. The tour willhave nine lines of different lengths and elevations.

By Rachel Alexander

New attractions inthe works in hopeto boost tourism

Soon, the roads and parkinglots will fill with out-of-statelicense plates and visitorswill start coming to the localattractions, antique stores,

restaurants and hotels.Cañon City Chamber of Commerce Di-

rector Doug Shane said he is hopeful ofthe county’s tourist season this year.

“This year, we have seen so far an ex-plosion on inquiries for the new visitors’g u i d e, ” Shane said.

The chamber had more than 600 in-

quiries a week in January and February.In January 2010, there were 526 inquires.

Shane said the majority of the county’stourists during the last few years havebeen from within a 600-mile radius andhe expects that to remain consistent.

“People are making day trips,” he said.“We don’t have enough beds, we can’thandle a lot of people.”

The county’s biggest tourist attraction— the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park re-ported one of its best years ever, Shanesaid. While attendance, at 304,714, wasdown about 7,000 people, food and bever-age sales were up.

In his Fremont County Tourism Coun-cil report to the Fremont County Com-missioners in January, Shane reportedthat the county’s lodging tax declined$2,343 from 2009 to $138,671.

See TO U R I S M / Page 8



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Dollar General opened its doors in Florence in July 2010 at its newlocation at 850 Main St. in Florence.

ness and swimming.Hibbett Sports also offers shoes and apparel in popular name

brands, including Asics, Adidas, Nike, North Face, Under Armour andmore. Major Little League sports, equipment for youth and a varietyof protective gear can be found at the new Cañon City store.

Aimed to meet the needs of sports fans statewide, Nelon said Hib-bettSports carries apparel for the Colorado Rockies, Denver Broncos,CU and Air Force.

Office Depot opened in Cañon City in 2009.The 20,686-square-foot store is one of 100 new stores the corporation

will open across the country. It features a layout that organizes prod-ucts into “p o d s, ” where related products are kept together.

The store also features a Design, Print and Ship Center where cus-tomers can create materials, print out presentations and ship items.

Dollar General opened its doors in Florence in July 2010 at its newlocation at 850 Main St. in Florence.

Dollar General Corp. is headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tenn. andaccording to its Web site, has more than 8,800 stores in 35 states. It hasnine distribution centers and employs about 79,000 people.

The store offers brands such as Procter & Gamble, Kimberly Clark,Unilever, Kellogg’s, General Mills and Nabisco.

McLish said businesses frequently use population data to determinewhere to open their new branches, and Fremont County’s numberstend to be too small for some of the larger retailers, such as Target, toconsider coming in.

The 2010 Census data is still coming in. Fremont County has a popu-lation of about 49,000 residents.

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And there remains the possibility the Jack in the Box will come toCañon City in the coming months.

“It would be really nice if they would come,” said Fremont Econom-ic Development Corp. Director Edie McLish.

Jack in the Box, which has been planned for 2435 Fremont Drive,has been delayed since last year because of various disagreements be-tween the developer, the city and the Department of Transportation.

The fast-food restaurant will be located where the current Sky Val-ley Motel is at the corner of Greydene and Fremont Drive and plans toemploy between 40 and 60 local residents, as well as provide construc-tion jobs.

Work bringing the franchise to the city is continuing.Hibbett Sports opened in Cañon City in 2010, offering a little bit of

everything in sporting goods with store manager Brandon Nelon atthe helm.

Men, women and children can find a wide variety of athletic appar-el, sporting goods equipment and accessories for sports, such as foot-ball, soccer, volleyball, baseball, basketball, weightlifting, general fit-


See FRANCHISES / Page 6



By Rachel Alexander


Office Depot opened in Cañon City in 2009. Below: Hibbett Sports opened in Cañon City in 2010, offering a little bit ofeverything in sporting goods.

Area has seen a few franchisesset up shop in the county

National companies spread by opening fran-chise locations in various cities, they typi-cally use demographic information whendetermining where to open new locations.In recent years, several new franchise busi-

nesses have opened in Fremont County, including HibbettSports, Office Depot and Dollar General.

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See FRANCHISES / Page 5



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County be known as a develop-ment or business-friendly area,”Butts said. “The city has reallymade great strides in helping tochange that perception about thisarea. We want businesses to feelthere is help from local govern-ment, rather than roadblocks orhindrances. They’ve really done agreat job.”

Planning and Zoning Commis-sion Chairman Art Welch said heappreciated the ideas and inputthe Ad Hoc Committee brought tothe commission.

“The Ad Hoc Committee wasvery reasonable and verys t ra i g h t fo r wa rd, ” Welch said.“Then the Planning Commissionacted as the intermediary be-tween staff, between the city andbetween the Ad Hoc Committee. Ithink the Planning Commissionmembers were very good in lis-tening not only to what the AdHoc Committee had to say, but al-so to what the public had to say.”

Getting the Site Plan changed,was a great endeavor and greatcooperation between all involvedparties, Welch said.

Welch, who is serving his thirdterm on the Planning and ZoningCommission, was one of the mem-bers who developed the originalSite Plan. Though the planworked for a time, he said, thedownturn in economy brought aneed for change.

“The economy changed, andwhen the economy changed, therealtors and builders were strug-gling,” Welch said. “Then, theystarted looking at the require-ments of the Site Plan. Economywas the biggest factor in all ofthis. I thought it was probablytime to take a good look at it.”

One of the most significantchanges, Welch said, is the ap-peals process.

“The avenue for appeals was agreat change, and it was very sig-nificant from a public stand-point,” he said.

City Administrator Steve Rabesaid the formation of the Ad Hocgroup was perfect timing for thec i t y.

“Staff was working on trying tofacilitate some changes to the Site

Pl a n , ” Rabe said. “We were con-tinuing to run into some thingswhere we thought if we had someflexibility, we could do more andquicker and easier.”

Rabe said he and former CityDevelopment Director GlennHartmann were working on possi-ble changes at that time.

“We thought, what a perfect op-p o r t u n i t y, ” Rabe said. “We couldget a group of people together sowe could make changes at thesame time. And, at the same time,really educate everyone on whythese Site Plan regulations looklike they do. It really was a goodmix at the appropriate time.”

Rabe, Welch and Butts agreedthe Ad Hoc Committee, Planningand Zoning and city staff have fu-ture projects to work on together.

“I think the Ad Hoc Committeein general is interested in the eco-nomic vitality of the city,” Buttssaid. “I’ve been very pleased withthe response on the city and thecounty level. Ad Hoc thanks thecity and county in this processand we look forward to continuingour relationship with them. Wewant to continue to make Fre-mont County and Cañon City abetter place to live.”

Continued from Page 2Jeff Shane/Daily Record

Cañon City CityAdministrator SteveRabe, left, speaksduring a publichearing on theadministrativedecision of Jack inthe Box during a citycouncil meeting in2010. The City andthe Ad HocCommittee workedtogether to changethe city’s 4.12 SitePlan at the end of2010 in an effort tocreate more of abusiness-friendlye n v i ro n m e n t .



BuildingBusiness

By Karen Lungu


Dave Reynolds speaks at a General GovernmentCommittee meeting about the difficulties of doingbusiness in Cañon City at City Hall in 2010.

City, Ad Hoc Committeework to create more of abusiness-friendly atmosphere

About two years ago, several groups of local resi-dents and groups, including the HomebuildersAssociation, the Chamber of Commerce, FEDCand the Royal Gorge Association of Realtors at-tended a meeting to discuss the rising costs of

building fees.“That meeting was the catalyst for all four groups to come to-

gether to form the Ad Hoc Committee,” realtor Michael Buttssaid. “This is the core group of the Ad Hoc committee. We rep-resent probably 600 to 700 people. From those groups, there areabout 18 people that meet on a fairly regular basis to continuediscussions about current events.”

Though the Ad Hoc Committee’s first agenda item was facili-tating a change in the city’s 4.12 Site Plan, they’ve developedseveral goals since the Site Plan Review changes took place atthe end of 2010.

“Other things the Ad Hoc Committee is wanting to study fur-ther with the city are parking issues and zoning issues,” Buttssaid. “The biggest hurdle I see right now is infrastructure.”

From about 15th Street, east to the Abbey, there are a num-ber of curb and gutter issues, Butts said.

“It seems to me, that these on- or off-site improvements re-quired by the city seem to be one of the stumbling blocks forbusinesses to come to the area,” Butts said. “We need to find al-ternative avenues as to how to fund these infrastructure items.”

Curb, gutter, sidewalk and storm water issues often add pro-hibitive costs to a potential builder or businessperson thinkingof moving to the area.

“What we are trying to do, is have Cañon City and Fremont

See BU S I N E S S / Page 3



Progress 2011

This year’s Progress edition encom-passes several key areas and peoplein our community. Inside, readers willfind businesses are working to stayafloat in an uncertain economy, even

expanding in a few cases. Also in this edition,the Daily Record news staff caught up with 10people the newspaper has highlighted in the pastin the “Where Are They Now?” section. Thisgave us a chance to see how these people, manyof which were faced with difficult challenges,are doing today. With the “Faces in the Crowd”section, a staple of the Progress edition for thepast few years, we highlighted high school stu-dents. What we found were bright, ambitiousand driven young people. If these students areany indication, the future looks bright. Andspeaking of the future, technology continues totake over our daily lives, and businesses, schoolsand health care are all on board.

We hope you enjoy reading this year’s editionof Progress.

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The 2011 Progress edition is a publication of the Cañon City Daily Record, a divisionof the Prairie Mountain Publishing, LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership. All con-tents Copyright © 2011 The Cañon City Daily Record. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed for any com-

mercial purpose.


The Daily Record T H U R S D AY, M A RC H 31, 2011,

We owe our success to a century

of great employees.

At Atmos Energy, our employees are what makes us a great company. They create a culture of caring, teamwork

and dedication. And they have a habit of doing the right thing. Not because it’s their job, but because

it’s part of their character. Their spirit of service has worked for us for more than 100 years. This family

of great people is your natural gas company.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

B R A DY

she is still having a lot of rib pain.”Physically, Dena estimates her daughter is about 70 percent recovered.

She continues to process through the experience emotionally, as well.“She’s really doing a good job of working through it as best she can,” Dena

said. “She’s very brave.”The Jan. 8 shooting of Congresswom-

an Gabrielle Giffords in Tucsonbrought back a flood of memories andemotions for Alicia.

Dr. Peter Rhee, chief of trauma atUniversity Medical Center in Tucson,treated Alicia after her shooting, aswell as Giffords in January.

“He is an extremely confident per-son,” Dena said, adding that is whatyou want when your child is in criticalcondition.

“He did tell us — the night her arteryruptured — the next day he said, ‘Ithought we were going to lose her,’” shes a i d.

Alicia not only pulled through, shebecame an inspiration to many in themedical community, Dena said.

“Her case is a very big teachingto o l , ” she said, “because all of thethings that could go wrong did.”

She said some of the doctors havementioned the significant impacts herdaughter has made on their lives per-sonally and professionally.

“They learned some things becauseof her case that will help other people,”she said.

Alicia saw a thoracic surgeon abouttwo months ago, Dena said, who ex-plained scar tissue has adhered to Ali-

cia’s ribs. Since it has hardened, it is not pliable and causes a great deal ofdiscomfort. They hope over time it will become softer and more pliable. Shealso is dealing with gastrointestinal issues.

“Overall, she’s doing much, much better,” Dena said. “She’s pretty deter-mined and her hope is that within the next couple of months she’ll be readyto start maybe auditioning.”

Alicia lives in Colorado Springs, but she hopes to audition for a dancingposition aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.

“She would still love to get to join a company and travel overseas, but atthis point, she can’t do any partnering because of the ribs,” Dena said.“We ’ll just have to wait and see what God has planned for her.

“She’s very determined.”The man suspected of shooting Alicia was arrested, Dena said, and au-

thorities were 99 percent sure he was guilty, but the only eye witness was an-other gang member the shooter originally was aiming for.

“They ended up letting him go, and they actually closed her case,” shesaid. “Unless someone comes up someday and they have new evidence —and the worst thing about that is he is out there, and he can do it again.”

For the first time since the shooting, Brady will perform on stage inCañon City on April 30 and May 1 at Cañon City High School for the CCHSvocal concert featuring the Dwight Shaw Big Band. Alicia will be the guestartist.

“We are still very thankful for this community and the support,” Denasaid. “The support has been amazing.”


Courtesy Ed Flores Photography

For the first time since theshooting, Alicia Brady will performon stage in Cañon City on April 30and May 1 at Cañon City HighSchool for the CCHS vocalconcert.

2011 progress

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