Durango’s first charcuterie spot opens with “adult lunchables” by Maddy Gleason
Fleece
Exploring the mystique behind getting smelly in your “Melly” by Jason Blevins / The Colorado Sun
The Durango Telegraph publishes every Thursday, come hell, high water, tacky
Ear to the ground:
“If Durango was a movie, it would be called ‘Smoky and the Bears.’” – But the real question: who would play Burt Reynolds?
Pour
it on
The San Juan Brewfest returns to Buckley Park on Aug. 22-23 with big acts and more than 100 libations including microbrews, ciders, spirits and cocktails.
And what brewfest is complete without tunes for your drinking pleasure? This year’s musical lineup, booked by the Animas City Theatre and KDUR, boasts Denver’s Float Like a Buffalo on Friday and Texas cow punkers Rattlesnake Milk headlining on Saturday. Local band YOPE opens.
“Animas City Theatre always knocks it out of the park when they book the bands, and this year KDUR assisted in landing a band that’s absolutely blowing up right now,” Tim Walsworth, BID Executive Director, said. “Rattlesnake Milk just played Red Rocks, so we’re excited to see them on our stage at Buckley Park.”
For those unfamiliar with either band, Float Like a Buffalo bills itself as a highenergy funk, ska, reggae, jam rock band.
And if the name Rattlesnake Milk isn’t intriguing enough, maybe their video will be (view here: www.sanjuanbrewfest.com).
Tanya Clegg, BID Director of Marketing, said Friday will have more of a mellow vibe, and locals get discounted tickets that night.
The Friday night festival goes from 5-8 p.m., and tickets are $40 general admission. Saturday’s festivities take place from 1-5p.m., with VIP tickets at $85, which gains holders a whole extra hour of drinking starting at noon. Saturday general admission tickets are $50. Designated Driver tickets are also available both days, at $20 and $25 respectively. (DD’s also get their own private shady spot to sit and watch the debauchery unfold– it’s the least they could do.) Attendees receive a souvenir 5-ounce tasting glass and unlimited tastings. Food will be available for purchase.
The brewfest is a fund-raiser for Team Up Southwest (formerly United Way) which helps address community-identified needs in Southwest Colorado.
For tickets go to: sanjuanbrewfest.com.
Rattlesnake Milk
LaVidaLocal opinion
One
way into the future
It’s happened. After years of delaying several projects and updates, I caught the rejuvenation bug. There have been times over the last few years when something breaks, and I think, “I better hold on to this until I can fix it.” Or times when I’ve purchased furniture thinking, “This will make a fun project someday.” Well, someday is today and let me tell you – I have quite the backlog of projects! And although I’m knee deep in several tasks in a studio-sized apartment, I’m happy that the day finally came.
I’ve been contemplating as to why I’ve shifted from simply wanting to do these projects to actually doing them. I think there are several reasons, the first of which may be a new appreciation for longevity. When I was a teenager, aging felt like a finish line that I couldn’t wait to cross. Getting older meant coming and going as you pleased, less people telling you “no,” and a job that gave way to the car and house of your liking. I treated my youth as a nuisance – like it was in the way of who I wanted to be.
research that finds physical activity is beneficial in relieving – and in some cases preventing – age-related issues. Varying from staving off arthritis to improving mental health, the benefits of staying active are far reaching and numerous. Although I haven’t quite reached the point of hitting the gym, I’ve been able to become more active while also doubling my step count from what it was last year. For me, these projects have eased me back into a more physical routine, where longevity and wellness are the goals.
I feel that in these socio-political times, staying busy and hopeful is an act of resistance. I think it is more important than ever to keep doing the things that bring me joy, whether it be these delayed projects or creating new long-term goals. By doing so, I feel like I develop the grit needed to get through the moments when hope feels diminishing. With these two feelings in hand, hope and grit, I feel like I can overcome any obstacle, big or small.
And to an extent, it was. Being my queer self might have been dangerous while I attended school in Farmington and Texas in the mid2000s. It was only in adulthood that I could live as an out gay man. But now that I’m two weeks away from my 36th birthday, I want the years to last as long as possible. And yet, they seem to be passing by quicker than ever. If I had known when I was younger that this phenomenon was going to happen, I would have enjoyed the time more. However, being more financially responsible and emotionally mature than I was then makes it feel as if I’m in a sweet spot of adulthood. And if I don’t get going on these projects now, then when?
However, with this new load of tasks, my joints are starting to hurt in odd places, and I’m staying sore longer than before. There is plenty of
Thumbin’It
The Durango-La Plata County Airport just opened a new wing, complete with a sparkly baggage carousel, local artwork and new sitting area. If we have to wait for our luggage, may as well be comfy.
La Plata County is getting closer to finding a new county manager, with two finalists announced this week. If all goes well, there should be a new boss by September, ready to tackle all the pressing issues including population growth, budget constraints and rapidly changing federal regulations. Fun.
Trump has named this year’s Kennedy Center honorees and says he will host the ceremony. At the very least, think of all the fodder we’ll have for our awkward Trump dance memes.
There is a story in my family about one of my great-great-grandmothers who was being taken to Bosque Rodendo on the Long Walk in the 1850s. She was able to escape, her legs taking her back home in the direction of the setting sun. Once, when I was running and exhausted during track practice, I heard a voice in my body repeating the phrase, “Don’t stop. You can only keep going.” With the voice getting louder, the fatigue faded, my pace quickened, and I finished feeling lighter than before I started. Afterwards, I wondered what that was – a runner’s high?
I felt then, and believe now, that my grandmother was speaking an important lesson to me. It’s a lesson that I finally have the capacity to observe, one that saved family, and one that will give me the grit to move forward. Whether I have a list of unfinished projects before me or am facing life-changing hardships, I will remember that I can only keep going.
The Animas River is low – but just how low? As of this week, it’s running at 153 cfs, just 35% of median. That’s the lowest anyone’s seen in recent memory for this time of year, other than the 2002 Missionary Ridge Fire year.
So, it seems the Big Stupid Bill is going to make electricity more expensive by slashing incentives for solar and wind, which are the cheapest forms of electricity available. Seems a** backwards, but what isn’t these days?
The Western Slope is still burning, with five active fires charring nearly 222 square miles. The Lee Fire, at 120,000 acres and one of the largest in state record books, was forcing thousands more evacuations. Time for naked rain dance everybody.
SignoftheDownfall:
– Doug Gonzalez Dildon’t
The first WNBA game to be interrupted by a dildo thrown from the crowd onto the court occurred July 29, and since then, seven other games have been pegged by flying sex toys. A new meme-coin community called “Green Dildo Coin” has taken responsibility for some of the free-throws, but not all of them, so WNBA fans are confused as to why it keeps happening. But at a New York Liberty game last week, another dildo was thrown from the nosebleeds. The suspect – a man wearing a Beavis and Butthead shirt – was caught on camera, so fans who’ve been thinking long and hard about motives might soon have answers. Coincidentally, this was all reported by the BBC, so someone should probably tell them what their acronym means here in the states.
WritersontheRange
The other half (of the 1%)
A dirt-baggers’ beer and bike mission to second-place Aspen
by Angus M. Thuermer Jr.
In December, Teton County, Wyo., residents learned they were the wealthiest people in the country, making an average of $471,751 a year. That’s almost a half a million dollars a year for “every person living in Teton County in 2023 –regardless of age, health, employment status.”
At the county seat in Jackson, town council member and economic consultant Jonathan Schechter made the “wealthiest” calculation in his “cothrive” newsletter. He’d crunched the latest U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates from 3,244 counties, parishes and boroughs nationwide.
Schechter’s analysis made a small group of us – social critics with more than 100 collective years of Jackson Hole living – consider our new status in what Schechter called “the wealthiest county in the wealthiest country in the history of the world.” Our group of aging ski-bum, bicycle-riding gadflies wondered how the other 99.7% of America lived.
We needed to find out. We would
start down the social ladder at a community that struggles to flop into second place. It’s Pitkin County, Colo., site of the town of Aspen, a village about which we had only vague notions.
We would visit by bicycle over six days, observing Aspenites who would, we thought, represent more of the nation’s hoi polloi. Off we pedaled to cross the Income Gulf of America.
As we cycled up Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley toward Aspen, we ran into the first of the locals. He was a 70-yearold impresario with all the bona fides of a longtime resident – greying braided ponytail, tank top, beater rig and a long resume as a roadie with the Grateful Dead.
He elaborated on his curriculum vitae, which included pre-concert street deals. “Detroit was easy,” he said. “They used to give me $500. That was a lot of money in those days.”
We parried. “We’re from the wealthi-
est community in the country.”
“Aspen is the most expensive,” he replied.
Pitkin’s annual per-capita income is $255,839, we riposted, as we headed upvalley. How spendy could this place be, we wondered, if it names a top hotel after a Nabisco cracker?
We were somewhere around Basalt on the edge of Aspen when the prices started to kick up. Numbers on the tapinsert-swipe thingies increased alarmingly. Finally arriving in Aspen, we rattled to a stop at a downtown bar, where beer came in $9 pints.
“Martini?” the menu suggested. Coming from the wealthiest county, we were practiced.
“I’ll take two.” Federal data said we could afford it. “And a burger.”
Twenty-five bucks for a Sapphire gin cocktail. Thirty bucks for a dead-cow patty so tall a mule would have to stretch its lips to take a bite of the tow-
ering brioche bun.
Perhaps we missed some of Schechter’s small print. A few billionaires must have skewed our lofty per-capita income figure. In fact, the median annual Teton County income is just $141,500, but still more than anyone in our peloton was making. And second-hand Ralph Lauren button-downs at Jackson’s Browse ’n’ Buy are up to $7.
We read local papers to dig deeper into the customs and culture of our Colorado subject. The papers said the sheriff was taking a trespasser to court who’d lived in a tree for 10 years. A humanitarian nonprofit was running out of money. The Chamber of Commerce was bragging about the coming tourist season.
The ads in glossy local magazines showed a population of that was young, tan, fit and wealthy. Aspenites are polyglots, we realized, naming their stores in Italian – Gucci and Prada. In Jackson Hole, we are glad to have Shirt off my Back and Lee’s Tees.
In Aspen, Louis Vuitton, which we deduced was French for “handbag,” offered the Aspen Platform Clog for $1,690. “We’ll take two!” we dreamed.
We went to a liquor store. A sharpie had marked $1,000 on one bottle of wine. We passed that up for a six pack –about what four dirtbags who fell out of the back pages of a 1980s Patagonia catalog could afford.
A ragged sign taped to the counter at the tap-insert-swipe thingie suggested that our communities were much more similar than we thought. We learned the sign had been there a year and a half but was still relevant.
“Jason needs a place to live,” it read.
Angus M. Thuermer Jr. is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He is a reporter who has lived and worked as a journalist in Jackson, Wyo., for more than four decades. ■
Thuermer Jr.
SoapBox D-Tooned/
‘They’re Back’
Rufous rodeo
Wrangling sugar water Breakfast at Carver’s
– Karen Carver, Durango
Dictatorship by the numbers
A police state describes a state whose government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil society and liberties. There is typically little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive, and the deployment of internal security and police forces play a heightened role in governance. A police state is characteristic of authoritarian, totalitarian or illiberal regimes. – Wikipedia
During his 2024 campaign for president, Donald Trump began his move to replace our democracy with a police-state dictatorship.
Move 1: He demonized the undocumented by declaring that undocumented border crossings represented a threat to democracy, and he promised to institute “police state” programs to curtail them. He made those claims in spite of the clear fact that border crossings had been in steep decline for some time, and strong evidence promised further declines.
Move 2: He demonized inflation in his campaign appearances by overstating the extent and the effects of the actual rate of inflation, again even though the
inflation rate had dropped dramatically and the downward trend was highly likely to continue.
Move 3: As president, he created a series of chaotic circumstances through executive orders and actions. He also introduced widespread uncertainty regarding the government’s size, cost and efficiency by unleashing Elon Musk and his DOGE toadies on a mission to fire government employees, thus “disemboweling” the government. He also tried to “get rid of” some departments.
Move 4: He unleashed a national program of rounding up the undocumented by using masked ICE operatives in an unselective and probably illegal campaign against any person who might look like an undocumented person, which sounds like racial profiling to me. He also ordered the California National Guard and other forces into Los Angeles against the wishes of the California governor and the mayor of Los Angeles.
Move 5: He arbitrarily and unilaterally announced that crime was “out of control” in our nation’s capital, took control of the police and brought in the FBI and the National Guard to augment the regular police. He did that in spite of documented statistics indicating substantial decreased crime in the District of Columbia over the past two years.
The above moves are right out of the authoritarian police-state handbook! Only massive public resistance can stem the tide toward the total loss of our democracy to this “wanna be” dictator.
Because of Trump’s dictatorial and nondemocratic orientation, all demonstrations and rallies must be
legal, huge, peaceful and coordinated. This must happen soon and repeatedly through the 2026 congressional midterm races and through the 2028 presidential campaign.
– Hal Mansfield, 94 years young, Green Valley, Ariz.
StateNews
Ups and downs
More people bagged 14ers last year but not as many as pandemic peak
by Tony Gorman / Colorado Public Radio & Telegraph Staff
More people hiked Colorado’s 14ers last year, but the number is still far fewer than the state’s pandemic peak-bagging peak.
The Colorado Fourteeners Initiative says an estimated 265,000 people hiked that state’s fourteeners in 2024. That’s an increase of 5,000 – or 1.9% – from 2023. However, it’s still about 36% lower than the 14er hiking peak of 415,000 in the pandemic summer of 2020.
Compared to 2023, hiking use in 2024 fell in three mountain ranges: Sawatch Range (-8.9%); Sangre de Cristo Range (15%); and the Tenmile Range (-1.9%). However, hiking use was up in four ranges: Mosquito Range (+55%); San Juan Mountains (+9.2%); Front Range (2.4%); and the Elk Mountains (+20%).
With 14 fourteeners, the San Juan Mountains are the third-busiest in the state behind the Front Range (Pike’s and Long Peak) at 86,500 hikers in 2024 and the Sawatch Range (Mount Elbert and the Collegiate Peaks) at 76,500. In 2024, the San Juans saw 35,500 hikers, an uptick from 2023 but still far below the 2020 peak of 69,000.
“One of the things that’s been driving it recently in the last, say, four years, has been the opening and closing and reopening of some of the 14ers that crossed private land,” Colorado Fourteeners Initiative Executive Director Lloyd Athearn said. Athearn cited reopening of the DeCaLiBron Loop near Alma, between Fairplay and Breckenridge, in particular. The hike in the Mosquito Range includes access to four 14ers: Mount Lincoln, Mount Democrat, Cameron Peak and Mount Bross.
It was estimated that 15,300 trips were taken on the DeCaLiBron Loop in 2024 after 7,000-10,000 the year prior.
Landowner John Reiber reopened Mount Lincoln for a full season in 2024. In 2023, the Fourteeners Initiative, Conservation Fund and Forest Service acquired 300 acres in the range to allow access to Mount Democrat. Reiber, who owns mining claims across several 14ers, had left the mountains closed due to liability concerns.
“That was done in response to a lawsuit with an injured mountain biker on
an unofficial path on the Air Force Academy property,” Athearn said.
In September 2008, mountain biker Jim Nelson suffered injuries after crashing into a sinkhole on a trail on Air Force Academy property. The district court ruled in his favor, and he was awarded $7.3 million in damages. In a previous appeal, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court reversed the decision, saying the Academy was protected under the Colorado Recreational Use Statute.
But in 2019, the federal court ruled the Academy knew about the sinkhole and did nothing to provide proper warning. That prompted property owners to close access to 14ers.
As for the open 14ers, the most popular in 2024 were Mount Bierstadt and Quandary Peak. Both had between 25,000 - 30,000 hikers. The 12 closest 14ers to the Denver metro area accounted for 54% of statewide hiking use, which amounts to 144,344 hiker days. The remaining 46 14ers accounted for 120,656 hiker days.
The most popular peaks in the San Juans in 2024 were Handies Peak, Mount Sneffels and Uncompahgre Peak, each
seeing between 5,000-7,000 hikers.
It’s estimated that hiking Colorado’s 14ers brought in $71.9 million in economic activity in 2024, the Initiative said.
Athearn said work is still being done to open the rest of the state’s few remaining closed 14ers. The work is being done by the Initiative as well as the Fix CRUS Coalition, consisting of nonprofits, businesses, governments and individuals working to modify the state’s recreational use statute (CRUS) to provide stronger liability protection for landowners.
Mount Lindsey, in the Sangre de Christos, is the most recent 14er to be reopened. After nearly four years of being closed to the public, permitted access returned late this past winter.
The land is owned by conservationist Louis Bacon and the Trinchera Blanca Ranch, who granted access to the mountain after creating a digital waiver system.
“People from all over the world love these 14er peaks. You know, they are, for the most part, so accessible,” Athearn said.
The following story was edited to add local context. For more from Colorado Public Radio, go to: www.cpr.org. ■
The Fourteener Initiative’s Lloyd Athearn installs an infrared trail counter below the summit of Mount Lindsey. After being closed for years due to liability concerns, the 14er in the Sangre de Christos re-opened in March./Courtesy photo
LocalNews
Local flavor
Durango’s first charcuterie reopens with ‘adult lunchables’ and more
by Maddy Gleason
When ski bums Amanda and Booker Brenneman met in Telluride in 2013, they may not have predicted that they’d own Durango’s very first gourmet charcuterie restaurant. The married couple have lived in Durango for nine years now, though they made the commute from Telluride for groceries before the move was official.
After four months of renovations, Graze Colorado recently reopened its downtown location. Located in the alley on 7th Street between Main and E. 2nd avenues, Graze opened officially in October 2024 for grab-n-go and catering only. However, when the hair salon it shared its location with moved out, Graze took over the entire space and closed for construction after Easter. The new and improved eatery, which now includes plenty of sit-down space, held its grand opening Sat., Aug. 8.
tonwood and beetlekill pine/spruce. The expanded space also has room for local vendor stands, beverage coolers and a larger display case, among other things.
“People that are committed to being downtown want a place to sit down and eat,” Amanda said.
“Our main kitchen is still in Three Springs, but we now have a multifunctional oven here,” says Amanda.
An old safe on the premises will serve as dry storage as well as a food-prep area. The new Graze offers indoor and outdoor seating featuring tables made with local wood, including juniper, cot-
In addition to Graze, Amanda and Booker also run their own farm, Chick’n Bac’n Ranch, where they raise chickens, goats and various crops. The two have explored cuisine around the world but knew they always wanted to start something food related in Durango.
The idea for Graze started when Amanda was making frequent road trips to Arizona, and Booker made her to-go charcuterie snack boxes, which ended up saving her on the long drive.
“We started giving (the boxes) to our egg clients, and everyone loved them,”
said Amanda.
That’s when they knew they had found their market. Graze began to pop up at the Durango Farmers Market, offering goodies from their farm as well as early charcuterie creations. When a permanent space opened up downtown, they were thrilled.
But familiarizing people with charcuterie – a French word referring to the art of preparing and presenting meat products, particularly pork, pâtés, and cured meats as well as the shops or that sell these products – was a big challenge, according to the couple. They’ve leaned into sandwiches to demonstrate charcuterie in more of a familiar form newbies can relate to.
“As people start to know, they realize it’s like a picnic, and they can try all the different things on the board,” said
Amanda. “It’s the adult lunchable, but kids can enjoy it too. Everyone wants a little treat, and this way you’re able to eat quality food.
It’s important to both of them that the food they serve is local, sourced ethically and of course, delicious. The couple drew some of their inspiration from James Ranch and other local farmers and produce markets. Together, they’re making sure their money is spent at the right places to get the best possible products and flavors.
“I think locally produced food is more important than organically produced food,” said Booker. “The impact on the environment is much less when you go local compared to organic, due to all the regulations with shipping, refrigeration and storage.”
To that end, all their baked goods are
Booker Brenneman inside the newly re-opened Graze Colorado, off the alley on 7th Street between Main and E. 2nd. The local charcuterie restaurant is owned by Booker and wife, Amanda, who also own a local farm which provides eggs for their baked goods./ Photo by Maddy Gleason
Graze’s Brunch Box, featuring waffles, yogurt, baked goods, local fruits, an assortment of cheeses, bread and gourmet nuts./ Courtesy photo
made using eggs from their own farm. (Due to Colorado laws, farms must have 20,000 chickens to be able to sell their meat commercially, so they do not use their own chickens for meat.) When possible, they source their meat as locally as possible, from James Ranch and other local farms.
In addition, they get some of the meat and cheese comes from a producer in Ridgway; produce from Olathe; and their elk salami from a producer in Wheat Ridge. They prefer to use local flowers for plating and overall decor, and always love being able to incorporate available local fruit like cherries and peaches into summer spreads.
“These products are like night and day when you source them locally,” said Amanda.
“We want to make sure that everything we can source locally, we showcase it,” says Booker. “We love getting other small farms to put their food on our plates and hang out and enjoy it.
Bratwurst featuring local meat flavors like rattlesnake and antelope will be available in the future. And according to Booker, these non-traditionally farmed animals are usually the most ethically sourced and utilizing the entire animal is expected and encouraged.
“A lot of people don’t know where
their food comes from,” said Amanda. “They don't know what it means to offer local meats or be pasture-raised. And I think it’s really important that people know.”
Sourcing consistently was a challenge in the beginning, according to Booker. “We work with smaller farms, which you can’t order through like a regular distribution service,” he said. In addition, figuring out which farms to use and transportation and delivery were also hurdles that needed to be worked out.
In addition to the restaurant, which for now is open Wednesday - Friday from 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Amanda and Booker also will be at the monthly market at the Lost Goat Tavern (formerly the Billy Goat), which takes place the first week of the month.
There’s plenty in store for the future, too. Amanda and Booker will continue to offer catering and would like to work with schools and tribes in the area to bring locally produced, delicious food to everyone. Amanda wants to secure a liquor license so they can begin to offer wine and charcuterie pairings. There’s talk of tea parties down the line, and secret plans they have yet to announce. In addition to introducing visitors to new ingredients that aren’ t available
elsewhere, Amanda is proud to offer consistency and transparency to residents.
“Graze is a funky, fun place to go and get really good food with a great vibe, and be able to support locals,” said Amanda.
“I really see the space being an addition to the downtown community.”
Gleason is a young writer from the Durango area. You can find her at the river or the lake. She’s usually eating peach sorbet. ■
Maddy
The newly remodeled interior of Graze, which includes tables made from local juniper, cottonwood and beetlekill pine/spruce. / Photo by Maddy Gleason
Fleece fetish
A peek behind the Melanzana mystique
by Jason Blevins / The Colorado Sun
They bounce out the Melanzana door giddy. Clad in their freshly stitched fleece, a foursome of giggling teen girls pose for a selfie. Others swiftly unwrap their new purchases and drape themselves in their new microgrid hoodies.
Jan Mueller and Cindy Jaye walk onto Harrison Avenue in downtown Leadville and toast their bundled treasures like glasses of champagne.
“Nice Melly,” they say to each other.
They were able to sidestep the reservations needed to buy Melanzana fleeces by showing staff in the Leadville manufacturing facility a photo of themselves at the start of the Colorado Trail.
“They are soft. They are so cool. It’s a club, you know,” says Mueller, a Denver hiker who goes by Tortoise and says she’s quick to toss a “Nice Melly” to fellow members of the fleeced flock. “We are in our 60s so it’s kind of cool when the young kids say ‘Nice Melly.’”
The Melly mystique is a real thing evidenced by the golden-ticketed buyers in Leadville, the only place to buy Melanzana hoodies. Some buyers wait several months for an appointment to go to the shop to buy no more than two items. The company, founded in 1994 by an adventurer who pined for a warmer sweater, does not advertise. It does not deploy Instagrammers or athletes. You can’t buy Melanzana’s coveted hoodies online or by calling the shop.
At a quick glance, it appears that company founder Fritz Howard has broken just about every rule of business school. Yet, he’s wildly successful. About 80 people work in the Melanzana store, where a phalanx of sewers work industrial sewing machines in 10-hour shifts, four days a week. He has methodically grown his business in a way that kept his employees working without overwhelming them while keeping customers donned in his instantly recognizable fleece.
Howard, who turned 57 in early August, bristles a bit at the notion that he created scarcity to help his bottom line. He didn’t impose reservations, appointments and purchase limits as a way to build buzz or foster exclusivity. The limits are not a marketing strategy.
“It was purely to handle the traffic so we didn’t sell out,” he says. “We needed to maintain some level of inventory in the store. We have always tried to make as much product as we can, but within our value system. We have very specific values. First is that we make everything ourselves.”
A second sewing shop in Alamosa Howard recently opened a second manufacturing fa-
cility with about 35 workers in Alamosa. He’s spent nearly 18 months training sewers and cutters in Alamosa, just like he did in Leadville.
“We’ve never opened another store,” Howard said. “So we are just learning as we go.”
It’s not like Howard wanted to open a new store. He had to, he says.
“We needed it. The brand needed it,” he said.
As wait times for appointments grew – alongside the number of bewildered folks who strolled into the shop only to be told they could not buy off the store’s racks –“we knew we had to push to a new level as far as production … we looked to Alamosa.”
Now there’s a plan afoot to maybe expand Alamosa’s production shop to fulfill online orders. There’s no plan to sell hoodies in Alamosa. That’s staying in Leadville.
A few months ago, Melanzana started selling the company’s new merino wool base layer hoodies online. If online sales include the micro-grid hoodies as well, there will still be a limit of two per customer.
“Look, we have always wanted to sell as many of these things as we can. We want to make as many people happy as we can,” Howard says. “Two items per purchase seems to help us do that.”
Howard said in 30 years, he’s only seen demand climb.
“Sneaky, simple functionality,” he says of the appeal of his hoodies, with the gaiter that fits just so, a hood that can cover a helmet or ball cap and a seemingly indestructible construction. “Truthfully, I don’t know that I totally understand the demand, even now. It’s not like you can control what a brand does. I’ve never really
thought about it, really. I’m not a brand guy. I just wanted to make stuff.”
It’s not a complicated business strategy: sell enough to keep people working, shelves stocked and customers clad. But it can be a challenge to explain the reservationonly policy to ambling downtown shoppers. There’s a person at the shop – usually a smiling, bubbly young woman – who greets everyone who walks in the door. “Do you have a reservation?” she asks.
Those who do – some 450 a week – are shuffled toward racks laden with hoodies. Those who don’t are shown some beanies, T-shirts and a small rack of discounted apparel.
“That’s the hardest job in here,” Howard says, standing at the door repeating her spiel over and over on a busy summer day. “A lot of people just don’t get it.”
The giddiness of the appointment shoppers clashes with the dismay of the others. It’s an odd juxtaposition, with half the room gathering hoodies while others ponder a business that seems not to want to take their money. Sometimes, when the Alamosa facility is churning out hoodies, the Melanzana crew is able to slip more appointments into the books, enabling access for the occasional lucky drop-in shopper.
Howard said the disgruntled shopper vibe thrives on social media, where his company endures some blows. A less extractive relationship
He is an outdoorsman who rides his bike to work every day, even in the depths of Leadville’s exceptionally frigid winters. He wears sandals and is a big fan of the new merino wool hoodies. He tucks his thick, shoulderlength hair into a Melanzana beanie. He lopes around
A passerby on Leadville’s main drag peers into the window of the Melanzana shop. When gaggles of shoppers began lining up outside the store during the pandemic in hopes of snagging one of the iconic fleeces, the company went to a reservation-only system, which is still in use today./ Facebook photo
his shop and greets his employees.
During a recent tour, Howard mostly lingers in the background. He scratches the ears of an employee’s dog in the cutting room and idly chats with his crew.
The shop is like a dance floor. Everyone is moving as slabs of fleece are cut and sewn, slowly taking the shape of hoodies headed toward the racks out front. The sewers work in pods of four, shuffling the fabric through stages of assembly.
Howard is pretty hands off on day-today operations. Like a lot of innovators, he’s creative. He handles research and development, working mostly with an array of fabrics, colors and designs from a lab a few blocks away. Amid racks of new designs, a TV next to his stand-up desk plays a Sturgill Simpson concert.
Howard does not spend a lot of time online. So he doesn’t have callouses to the meanness fostered by internet anonymity. He winces a bit when he talks about “a lot of negativity around the appointment system.” (The company has 765 reviews on Google and a vast majority of them are five-star. There are a handful of one-stars, all lamenting the appointment rule.)
That system was born in the pandemic. There were lines out the shop all day long in the early days of COVID. The appointment plan worked so no one would drive up from Denver only to find empty shelves, he said. The reservations allow folks to find colors and sizes they want. Log on right now, and the next available appointments are in February.
Adam Ducharme heads up Lake County’s tourism and economic development programs in a county that is 75% public lands. In 2021, Leadville saw visitor spending climb nearly 50% over the previous year as the region drew more and more visitors fleeing the Front Range during the pandemic. Melanzana’s move to appointments defied a long history in Leadville of business owners wringing everything they can from the region.
“If we only think of things as extrac-
tion-based, we will only exacerbate problems around growth,” Ducharme says.
Melanzana’s pivot to reservations is yet another example of working to protect local values around resiliency, respect and culture, Ducharme says. “Fritz doesn’t think about what he can extract. In Leadville, we really love and appreciate the fact that they have held on to the concept of sustainability, not only for their employees but their customers,” Ducharme says.
Filling a gap
Melanzana buys giant rolls of fleece from a century-old textile company –formerly Malden Mills and now Polartec – in Tennessee. Melanzana is the Tennessee facility’s largest buyer after the U.S. military. In a backroom of the Leadville factory, cutters layer rolls of fleece 40 deep and crawl atop tables as they carve out panels and sections for hoodies.
The Leadville company sends all its textile waste to a shop in Arizona that breaks down the scrap fabric for reuse. And the company’s “Smelly Melly” program refurbishes and resells used items it buys from customers, who get to skip the appointment process when they surrender items for a second life.
“Our growth has been slow but it’s been sustainable, which is really important to us,” Erin Farrow, who handles communications for Melanzana, said. “We are selling things online. We’ve opened a second facility. We’re working on it. It hasn’t been overnight, but it’s happening.”
There is a moment in the life-cycle of every growing outdoor company where there is a call to relocate away from the small mountain town that seeded the company – closer to trains, airports and urban centers filled with potential workers. It takes commitment to stay in a small town, even as costs soar to pay workers, move product and hold space in pricey mountain communities. It’s always cheaper in the cities. Even cheaper if you relocate production to Asia.
Howard says he’s never been tempted
to relocate to a big city or offshore. His biggest move was opening the production factory in the San Luis Valley. Howard sees similarities between his hometown and Alamosa.
“There are probably a thousand different ways to run a manufacturing business and each is totally personal, you know. I don’t want to live my life running to Asia to check on a factory or even running to Denver,” he says. “So I do it here. And now I’m running to Alamosa, which is parallel to Leadville in a lot of ways.”
The arrival of Melanzana’s new manufacturing facility in Alamosa coincided with the closure of Friday Health Plans in 2023. The health insurance company opened in 2015 and had more than 300 employees at its headquarters in Alamosa when it collapsed in 2023 after burning through more than $300 million in investor financing.
Not surprisingly, Howard’s arrival in Alamosa and his commitment to training local workers has been celebrated.
“There is a sense of pride in that building,” Sarah Stoeber, the head of the San Luis Valley Development Resources Group, said. “His workers are really happy to be there. They are creating these beautiful garments and they are paid well. Isn’t that what we all aspire to? Give people the skills they need to sustain their lifestyle and grow the community’s economy? Fritz really walks that walk. He’s so thoughtful with his growth model.”
Howard called his growth plan “careful and cautious.” He’s pretty risk-averse, he says. But he’s taken leaps, like spending “a couple million” to get Alamosa workers onboard and buying his Leadville building 20 years ago.
That shop, on a busy corner, is one of Leadville’s biggest draws. Melanzana shoppers support other businesses in town, which is particularly helpful in the offseason. That’s important to Howard. When he faced a decision to expand sales online, which could slow traffic into Leadville, he chose his community.
Melanzana owner Fritz Howard in a still from a 2021 video in which he explains the move to the reservation system. Founded in 1994, the company was originally called Eggplant Mountain Gear but changed its name to Melanzana (Italian for eggplant) due to trademark issues
“Fritz is Melanzana, and Melanzana is Fritz,” said Farrow with a laugh as her boss flinched through a very rare photo shoot. “There’s an authenticity there.”
There are no outside owners of Melanzana and no debt; Howard is the majority owner. But he’s developed an ownership program for employees. It’s not a formal Employee Stock Ownership Plan, but more than 20 of the company’s veteran workers own stock in Melanzana. The long-term plan, Howard said, is that eventually the company will be fully owned by employees.
“As I try to step back, if I can, ever, you know part of that mechanism would be more employee ownership,” he said. ■
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Eli Cartwright plays, 12 noon-2 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
“Beats & Brunch” with Thomas Kipp, 10 a.m.1 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Walk & Wonder, a walkers’ meetup, Sundays, 11 a.m.-12 noon thru Aug. 31, White Rabbit Books & Curiosities, 128 W. 14th St., Ste C-2
AskRachel Watered down, man baby and truth evasion
Interesting fact: The U.S. government’s banned word list includes “men,” which I find rather shocking. But I guess when the word “definition” is also flagged, all language ceases to have meaning.
Dear Rachel,
We all know that there’s a whole list of verboten words in the federal government. But have you looked at the list lately? No longer can anyone wanting gubmint money talk about water conservation, water management, rural water or even safe drinking water. Do we need more proof that the people in charge kind of want us dead?
– Doesn’t Hold Water
Dear Wet Blanket, Water itself is not the problem with the government! We like water! For instance, “waterboarding” is still a perfectly fine word to use! What would be a real shame is if all the safe words (not
“The Spitfire Grill,” presented by The Durango Arts Repertory Theatre, 2 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.
Open Folk Jam, 2:30-5 p.m., The Tangled Horn, 275 E. 8th Ave.
Weekly Peace Vigil & Rally for Gaza & Palestine, every Sunday, 4 p.m., Buckley Park
Live Standup Comedy with Ryan O’Flanagan (“New Girl,” “Abbott Elementary”), 6 p.m., Lower Left Studio, 835 Main Ave., Ste. 209
Blue Moon Ramblers play, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Ben Gibson plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Monday18
Movie Monday: “Dog Man,” 2-4 p.m., Fort Lewis Mesa Library, 11274 HWY 140, Hesperus
Mahjong Mondays, 5-7:30 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
including, of course, words like “safe”) took on alternate meanings in LGBTQ+ communities, among climate scientists or among women. Like, what if we made “MAGA” mean a very progressively gay anti-global-warming sex act? We could get it banned, probably!
– A hole in my bucket, Rachel
Dear Rachel,
You know those Baby On Board stickers on cars? Well, I’m ready to be the jerk who puts one on my windshield so the paramedics to get me out, too! I think this is ethically OK because there’s no way every one of those other cars ALWAYS has a baby on board. And I COULD have a baby on board someday. Weigh in please. Green light or no go?
– Big Baby
Dear Crybaby, Think about it this way. If enough people put a Baby On Board sticker on the windshield, then the stickers would
Happy Hour Yoga, 5:30 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.
Adam Swanson plays, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Meditation and Talk, 5:30 p.m., in person, The Durango Dharma Center, 1800 E. 3rd Ave., Ste. 109 or online at durangodharmacenter.org
Constitutional Rights Info Session, Mon., Aug., 18, 5:30-7:30 p.m., VFW Post 4031, 1550 Main Ave.
Colorado Fish, Wildlife and Parks Series: Living with Wildlife, 6-7 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Terry Rickard plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Chess Club, 6:30-9 p.m., Guild House Games, 835 Main Ave., Ste. 203-204
Comedy Open Mic, 8 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Tuesday19
Business Brainstorm meetup, 12 noon-1 p.m., FLC Center for Innovation, 835 Main Ave., Ste. 225
cease to have any meaning. We would have to elevate the game. “Baby On Board All The Time” might do it. Except then you’d just put that sticker on your car, invalidating it too. So maybe you just have to keep a carseat in your car as a decoy. Or – and this is radical– you could just let babies be rescued first. – I’m a big kid now, Rachel
Dear Rachel,
I’m undergoing a background check for a new job and a new living situation. Not sure I like people seeing how much student loan debt I have. Criminal history is fine. Except I’m sitting here for two days waiting for that to clear. What if I’m a crook and don’t know it? Why can’t they just call my references instead of freaking me out?
– Checked Out
Dear Shady Character, You have to make the word “allegedly” your friend. If anything comes up
Climate Café, 4:30-6 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Bluegrouse plays, 5:30-8 p.m., James Ranch Grill, 33846 HWY 550
Adam Swanson plays, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Rotary Club of Durango: Elena Lopez speaks about Rotary Youth Leadership Camp, 6-7 p.m., Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave.
Book Club: “Biographies and Memoirs,” 6-7:30 p.m., Bread, 135 E. 8th St.
Randy Crumbaugh plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Open Mic, 7 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Wednesday20
Weekly Bird Walks, 8-9:30 a.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Email Rachel at telegraph@durango telegraph.com
in conversation or an interview that puts you in a less than favorable light, just hold up a finger and say it: “Allegedly.” You owe a lot in loans? Allegedly. You got evicted from an apartment back in the day? Allegedly. You once wrote a government grant for water storage? ALLEGEDLY. But good luck getting away with THAT heinous act. – Under the microscope, Rachel
Bingo Night, 5-7 p.m., Animas River Lounge, DoubleTree, 501 Camino Del Rio
Devin Scott Ukulele plays, 6-8 p.m., Grassburger, 726 1/2 Main Ave.
Adam Swanson plays, 6-9 p.m., The Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Chuck Hank plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Comedy + Karaoke, 7 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Upcoming
Spanish Conversation Hour, Thurs., Aug. 21, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
San Juan Brewfest Day One with music by Float Like a Buffalo, Fri-Sat., Aug. 22-23, Buckley Park Aug. 14, 2025 n 13
FreeWillAstrology
by Rob Brezsny
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Rama is the star of the ancient Hindu epic story, the “Ramayana.” He’s one of my favorite legends! His heroic journey isn’t fueled by greed, power or personal glory. Unlike 90% of modern action heroes, he’s not pumped up with anger or lust for vengeance. Instead, he is animated by a sense of sacred duty. Against all odds, and in the face of bad behavior by weird adversaries, he acts with integrity and calm clarity. I invite you to be inspired by his exalted and unwavering determination. As you proceed, ask yourself, “Is this in rigorous service to my beautiful ideals? Are my decisions and words in alignment with my deepest truths?” Be motivated by devotion as much as by hunger. Aim not just for novelty and excitement, but generosity of spirit.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In the Mexican festival of La Noche de Rábanos –“Night of the Radishes” – giant radishes are carved into elaborate altars and scenes. Humble roots become fancy art. I think you’re engaged in a metaphorically similar process, Taurus: sculpting with uncommon materials. Something you’ve regarded as modest – a small breakthrough or overlooked strength – is revealing unexpected value. Or perhaps a previously latent or indiscernible asset is showing you its neglected magic. Celebrate your subtle but very tangible luck. Take full advantage of half-disguised treasures.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In Zen archery, the aim is not simply to hit the target. Instead, it’s to align one’s body, breath and mind, and bow so fully that the arrow releases itself naturally and effortlessly. It shoots itself! I would love for you to adopt this breezy attitude in the weeks ahead. See if you can allow an evolving project, relationship or vision to reach a new maturity but not through pushy effort. Rather, trust life to bring you the precise guidance when you need it.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): In ancient Rome, the priestesses known as the Vestal Virgins tended an eternal flame. They never let it be extinguished. Their devoted focus was both a religious practice and a symbol of the well-being, prosperity and survival of the Roman state. I propose you engage in your own version of Vestal Virgin-like watchfulness. Assign yourself the role of being the keeper of a sacred promise or resource. Identify this repository of spiritual wealth and dedicate yourself to its sustenance.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In medieval Europe, pilgrims traveling to the shrine of Saint James in Spain often wore scallop shells. These were to signify they were on a sacred path. The shell also had practical uses. It was a scoop for food and water, underscoring the humility and simplicity embraced by wayfarers. I invite you to acquire and wear your own equivalent of this talisman. You have begun a new chapter in your self-perception, and life is asking you to proceed without pretense. You don’t need definite answers. You don’t have to rush to the end. The becoming is the point. I hope you seek out inspirational symbolism and generous companions to help nurture your transformations.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In ancient Greek drama, the peripeteia was a term for the moment when everything turns. The pivot doesn’t happen through force, but through the revelation of what was always true. I see the coming weeks as your peripeteia. There may be no fireworks or grand announcements. Just a soft spiraling crackle that signifies a realignment of the system, a cathartic shift. Confusion resolves. Mysteries solve themselves. You might say, “Oh, yes, now I see: That’s what it all meant.” Then you can glide into the future with refined and more well-informed intentions.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In coastal Portugal, there’s a lighthouse called Farol do Cabo da Roca. Built on a cliff where land ends and the Atlantic Ocean begins, it marks the westernmost edge of continental Europe. We might say it’s a threshold between the known and unknown. I believe you will soon be poised at a metaphorically similar place. An ending is at hand. It’s not catastrophic, but it is conclusive. And just beyond it are shimmers, questions and a horizon that’s not fully visible. Your job is to finish your good work, even as you periodically gaze into the distance to see what’s looming.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): I Invite you to channel the spirit of Kali – not in her form as the destroyer, but as the fierce liberator. She has the power to burn away stagnation, neutralize the poison of old lies and slice through illusion with a sword of compassion – and so do you. I believe you are ready to sever a bond that has secretly (or maybe not-so-secretly) limited you. Don’t be afraid of the emptiness that results. It will quickly evolve into a fresh sanctuary. Into this newly cleared room, you can pour your strongest longings and most rebellious love. What are the wildest versions of your truths?
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In some early maps of the cosmos, Sagittarius wasn’t just an archer. Your sign was symbolized by a centaur with wings: part horse, part bird, part god. I bring this to your attention because I suspect your own hybrid nature is extra wild and strong these days. Part of you wants to roam and part wants to ruminate. A part wants to teach, and a part needs to learn. How should you respond? I say, don’t force harmony. Let contradiction become choreography. Maybe liberating joy can arise through a dance between apparent opposites.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In Sardinia, there are tombs carved into rock called Domus de Janas – “houses of the fairies.” People once left offerings there to court the help of beings they couldn’t see. They truly believed that fairies are real and can exert effects in this world. In modern times, fewer Capricorns actively consort with invisible presences than any other zodiac sign. But I hope you will take a short break from your usual stance. Mysterious and mythic influences are gathering in your vicinity. You’re being nudged by forces that defy explanation. What do you have to lose? Why not have fun making room to be delighted and surprised by miracles and wonders?
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Thou shalt embrace the confounding contradictions, Aquarius. That’s the first commandment. Here’s the second commandment: Thou shalt caress the tricky incongruities. Third: Thou shalt whisper endearments to the mysterious ambiguities and invite the mysterious ambiguities to whisper endearments to you. Fourth: Thou shalt rumble and cavort with the slippery paradoxes. Commandment number five: Thou shalt chant spicy prayers of gratitude to the incongruities, paradoxes, contradictions and ambiguities that are making you deeper and wiser and cuter.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In early medieval gardens, there was sometimes a space called the hortus conclusus. It was a walled sanctuary that protected plants and herbs from harsh weather and predation by animals. It comprised a microclimate and provided a private, peaceful space for contemplation, prayer and study. Sometime soon, I would love for you to create your personal equivalent of a hortus conclusus – even if it’s metaphorical. You will harvest maximum benefits from surrounding yourself with extra nurturing. The insights that would come your way as you tend to your inner garden would be gently and sweetly spectacular.
Deadline for Telegraph classified ads is Tuesday at noon.
Ads are a bargain at 10 cents a character with a $5 minimum
Even better, ads can now be placed online: durangotelegraph.com Prepayment is required via cash, credit card or check. (Sorry, no refunds or substitutions.)
Ads can be submitted via: n classifieds@durango telegraph.com n 970-259-0133
ForSale
Price Reduction!
Vintage 1977 Airstream Land Yacht
$18.5k 970-759-0551
Reruns Home Furnishings
Patio sets, bistros and yard art. Also looking to consign smaller furniture pieces. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat.
Classes/Workshops
Aikido Intro Series
Try a no-kick, no-punch martial art. Deflect and flow via nonviolence. Intro starts Sept 8, Mondays 615-815pm (18+). Affordable package options. Details: durangoaikido.com. Text/call questions to 970-426-5257 .
Lost/Found
Cid Come Home
Last seen in Durango, July 21, 2024, by St. Columba Church. He is chipped, missing left canine tooth, white, big black spots, green eyes. Reward. 970-403-6192.
BodyWork
Massage by Meg Bush
LMT, 30, 60 & 90 min., 970-759-0199.
Wanted
Books Wanted at White Rabbit
Donate/Trade/Sell 970 259-2213
Services
Boiler Service - Water Heater
Serving Durango over 30 years. Brad, 970-759-2869. Master Plbg Lic #179917
Chapman Electric Colorado Licensed master electrician. New, remodel, residential and commercial. Prompt professional service. Mike 970-403-6670.
Are you interested in a community of Americans over sixty determined to change the world for the better? THIRD ACT harnesses an unparalleled generational power to safeguard our climate and democracy. For more information: https://thirdact.org/
Summer fruit is here!
Do have fruit trees? Want to help eliminate food waste, reduce human-bear conflict,and directly address food secu-
rity? Check out the Good Food Collective website: we host a platform that specializes in matchmaking fruit trees with volunteer harvesters. Need to borrow some gear? The Durango Tool Library has harvest kits available! Reach out to outr each@goodfoodcollective.org to learn how to join in the fun & thank you for listing your trees!
Dog Fosters Needed
Parker’s Animas Rescue needs foster families to provide temporary homes for rescued dogs: parkersanimal rescue.com.
Community Compassion Outreach at 21738 HWY 160 W is open Tues.,
HaikuMovieReview
‘Untold: The Fall of Favre’ He could throw, sure, and take other things in hand like welfare funds and junk – Lainie
Wed. and Fri. 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. for case management, client services, snacks, drinks, meals and support for those with substance-use disorders and co-occurring mental health issues. Saturdays Coffee & Conversations, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Thursdays Harm Reduction, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
