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Week of August 18, 2022
DENVER, COLORADO
A publication of
VOLUME 95 | ISSUE 39
Plethodon emerges at Convergence Station Denver Botanic Gardens, Meow Wolf partner for sculpture and xeriscape attraction BY CANDICE COLEMAN SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
Watery orange juice, bread from dollar store are helping some cope
When Meow Wolf and the Denver Botanic Gardens united to adopt last March, they might have named their new baby Plantasia. Instead, the newly-partnered parents welcomed the Plethodon, a cosmic, collaborative sculpture that burst from the ground and decided to perch at the entrance of the Meow Wolf Convergence Station parking lot, 1338 First St. in Denver. At first, it looked a lot like an animated, oversized, extinct amphibian. But thanks to the Gardens, it’s now alive and teeming with life. “This project is part of our Horticulture Outreach Program, which works with municipal and commercial properties to create beautiful, sustainable landscapes,
BY ELI JAYNES, WILL TAYLOR, AND WILL CORNELIUS COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO
lot of brands are going to go away,” said Spencer Ward, a longtime salesman for Bronnor Corp., which manufactures edibles and infused products for brands that are in 400 stores. Through July, taxes and fees collected from retail marijuana sales reached $198.3 million, down $53.7 million — or 21% — from the same seven months in 2021. Last year set a record in Colorado, with dispensaries selling $2.2 billion worth of cannabis and the state collecting $423.5
Inflation is being felt everywhere. But for many, its bite is sharpest at the grocery store. Rising prices on food have forced shoppers to cut back, substitute, or even completely forgo certain items. “I don’t buy gallons of milk anymore,” said Julie Alvarado, 57, who was doing her weekly grocery trip at a Walmart in Thornton. Since January 2020, the price of a gallon of milk has risen by 24 percent. Alvarado and her husband raised five children who are now all out of the house, a change she thought would make budgeting easier. But when the pandemic hit she had to stop working after she got COVID. Even though Alvarado’s husband makes decent money, they’ve found the rising price of their weekly grocery bill difficult to manage. With fresh milk off her shopping list, Alvarado has had to resort to alternatives. “I try to get by. I hate to say this but … (I) put powdered milk inside and
SEE CANNABIS, P10
SEE INFLATION, P2
Kevin Williams, assistant curator and horticulturist at the Denver Botanic Gardens, fell in love with Meow Wolf Santa Fe while on honeymoon a few years back. For him, designing the Plethodon Sculpture Garden at Meow Wolf Denver was a labor of love.
SEE PLETHODON, P4
PHOTO COURTESY OF MEOW WOLF
Cannabis industry is enduring its first sustained downturn Marijuana businesses adjust to inflation BY JASON BLEVINS THE COLORADO SUN
Colorado’s legal marijuana industry is weathering its first sustained downturn since dispensaries began selling recreational weed in 2014. Dispensaries are closing. New ventures, like delivery services and social clubs, are struggling. Tax rev-
How some Coloradans are surviving inflation
enues are plummeting. And across the industry, layoffs are sending marijuana workers packing. Colorado’s green boom is beginning to bust as more states legalize the sale and use of marijuana and inflation pinches spending. The contraction is proving a rare vulnerability for cannabis, which seemed immune to downturns as it soared every year since 2014 — reaching $2.2 billion in sales last year. “More people are going to get laid off. We are probably going to see more small shops close down and a
INSIDE: CALENDAR: PAGE 11 | VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14
BEING PART OF THE ART Local venues pull viewers into the performance
P14