1-Color
January 2, 2014 Elbert County, Colorado | Volume 118, Issue 49 A publication of
elbertcountynews.net
Chamber hires new director
Peg Kelley (left) and Nancy Corrado have recently been hired as the new staff at the Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce. Kelley is the new director and Corrado will work as the Chamber’s administrative assistant. Photo by George Lurie Longtime county resident Randy Wallace has opened a new store, Randy’s Antiques and Art, on Main Street in downtown Elizabeth. The new store is one of a number of new shops popping up on the town’s budding “antiques row.” Photos by George Lurie
Abuzz with business activity New shops enliven Elizabeth, Elbert commercial districts
By George Lurie
glurie@coloradocommunitymedia. com
By George Lurie
glurie@coloradocommunitymedia.com With the dawn of 2014, a bevy of new businesses have debuted — or will debut — in the heart of Elizabeth and Elbert. The list includes several well-known area antique shops, which are in the process of relocating, and a western-themed boutique bringing new life to a once-popular State Highway 86 location. Sonflower Antiques, for many years a mainstay of Elbert’s business community, closed last month and will reopen in early January in a new location in downtown Elizabeth. Sonflower’s owner, Pam Richardson, said she expects to be back in business by the first or second week of January in her new store at 244 Main. Richardson’s former 4,500-square-foot gallery in Elbert, located at 2295 N. Elbert Road, was a popular antique mecca for nearly 15 years. Meanwhile, Dancing Wolf Gallery, which for a number of years had been doing business just two days a week in a renovated, historic Elbert church a quarter mile east of Elbert Road, is moving into Sonflower’s former location. That building is currently closed while undergoing a major interior renovation. Debra Sherman, the owner of Dancing Wolf, said she is targeting Feb. 1 for the gallery opening. Sherman plans to continue to operate her church gallery too but is shifting the bulk of her business to the new location. Dancing Wolf specializes in cowboy and
Longtime area banker Peg Kelley tabbed to replace Beverly Durant
Brenda Moore’s new store, Lil’ Bit Ranchy, a western-themed boutique located at 322 E. Kiowa Ave., opened on Black Friday. The store carries everything from Western-style clothing to furniture, housewares and jewelry. Indian-themed antiques and artifacts but Sherman said the new location will also carry a wide variety of traditional antiques and arts and crafts. The new store will be open Wednesday through Saturday, Sherman said, and “possibly on Sunday afternoons too.” The old gallery will be open by appointment, “at least until my husband Lee retires,” Sherman added. Meanwhile, two new businesses have opened recently in the heart of Elizabeth — Lil’ Bit Ranchy, located at 322 E. Kiowa Shops continues on Page 6
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Debra Sherman’s Dancing Wolf Gallery has been located in a renovated church in Elbert. When Sherman opens her new location next year, the old gallery will remain open part-time.
The Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce has a new director. Peg Kelley, a longtime Elizabeth resident known to many around the area through her work as a community banker, has assumed leadership of the organization. Her first day on the job was Dec. 9. She replaces Beverly Durant, who resigned in October after leading the Chamber since January 2008. Joining Kelley at the chamber is Nancy Corrado, who started Dec. 16 and will serve as the chamber’s administrative assistant. Both Kelley and Corrado will work halftime at the chamber office, with Corrado taking the morning shift and Kelley the afternoon shift. “We’re still trying to get the office organized,” Kelley said. An Indiana native who moved to Elizabeth from Denver in 1993, Kelley worked for many years at Community Banks of Colorado in the Safeway Shopping Center and said she was “excited” about taking over at the chamber. “I know and have worked with so many people around the community through the bank,” she said. “I’m really thrilled about the opportunity to lead the chamber.” Kelley said the coming year should be an interesting one at the chamber since more than half of the board members are new. Joining the chamber board this year are Claudia Henning, Ed Robinson, Samantha Tanner, Janie Taylor and Ron Patera. Returning board members include Ann Koontz, Joyce Dickinson, Donya Lewis and Debbie Ullom, who currently serves as the board president. The chamber board will hold its first meeting of 2014 on Jan. 10. At that meeting, the board will install a new slate of officers. The chamber office is located at 166 Main Street, Suite E. Those wishing to meet the new director and/or join the chamber can contact Kelley at (303) 646-4287.