VOLUME 35 | ISSUE 34
WEEK OF AUGUST 24, 2023
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Brighton coin-op ride maker carries on From horses to carousels to prawns, Rich Pierson knows his rides BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
• Vestas to lay off 200 employees •27J Schools moves online-only Dec. 1
At first, Spring Back Colorado workers used razor blades to cut away the fabric covering the old mattress springs. But at 30 minutes or more per mattress, getting the steel out for recycling just wasn’t cost effective. The Commerce City recycler turned to the Colorado School of Mines. Students appeared to be onto something, coming up with a concept to engineer a highly pressurized, high-powered water knife to slice open the top of the mattress so that an extraction device could pull out the steel coils. Then COVID hit. The students moved on. So, Spring Back began baling up the challenging mattresses to send to its steel recycling partner. After six months, though, the partner rejected them. “They said it was too hard on their machines,” said Peter Conway, Spring Back’s vice president of business development. Most of the time, workers spend their days deconstructing old mattresses by hand and machine. They strip out the wood, foam, metal and other commodities of value for recycling, upcycling or reuse. Very little is sent to local landfills — only about 15% to 20%. But this isn’t just any type of mattress. It’s those darned pocket-coil mattresses — the ones with individually wrapped steel coils that “offer a superior form of support,” says review site Mattress Advisor. Often wrapped in polypropylene fiber, the coils are made of high-quality steel. But getting them out of each pocket
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BUSINESS
BY TAMARA CHUANG THE COLORADO SUN
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LOCAL OBITUARIES LEGALS CLASSIFIED
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
LOCAL
Brighton’s Rich Pierson is still bringing those kiddie rides to life, the kinds that once dominated the fronts of grocery stores, restoring and making unique custom rides for over ten years. “My friend Gary and I brought Kiddie Rides USA 10-years ago but he passed away two years ago so I have been the sole owner for almost three years,” Pierson said. Kiddie rides were first invented in 1930 by James Otto Hahs in Sikeston, Missouri. He built a horse for his children as a Christmas present and called it the Hahs Gaited Mechanical Horse, according to Academic Accelerator Encyclopedia. Hahs later discovered he could make money with the ride and commercialize it. Since then, kiddie rides have been part of pop culture in stores, carousels and amusement parks. Pierson’s Kiddie Rides USA debuted some time in 1975, long before he was involved. His friend Gary was looking for work and Pierson was helping him with the job search about 20 years ago. “I found my friend Gary a job on Craigslist for a mechanic at Kiddie Rides. So, he’d worked for Kiddie Rides USA for over eight years before us buying it,” Pierson said. Pierson said Gary told him the owner was selling Kiddie Rides USA and the building. “He asked me if he wanted to do this, and I said sure,” Pierson said. “I love doing this job.” The pair had experience in this kind of thing, building and designing haunted houses. For ten years, they built the “City of the Dead” at Mile High Flea Market. His interest SEE COIN-OP, P3
Commerce City nonprofit trying to figure out how to recycle old mattresses
Rich Pierson refurbished this horse carousel.
BRIEFS: PAGE 2 | OBITUARIES: PAGE 4 | CLASSIFIEDS: PAGE 8 | LEGAL: PAGE 10
COURTESY BY RICH PIERSON
SEE MATTRESSES, P4
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BRIGHTON POLICE TAX
Council puts sales tax question on November ballot P3