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Dogwalkers make their way along the Animas River Trail behind Rank Park on Wednesday. The City will be tackling this section of the popular thoroughfare next, replacing the worn-out asphalt with more resilient
concrete./Photo by Stephen Eginoire
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Finishing touches
With Oxbow complete, City turns to missing pieces of ART
by Jonathan Romeo
Decades ago, the Animas River Trail was envisioned to become the centerpiece of the city of Durango’s trail system, both for recreation and commuting around town. Now, those efforts are on the verge of realization.
Following on the heels of the longawaited connection of the north end of the trail to Oxbow Park & Preserve last year, the City of Durango has planned over the next few months some finishing touches for the popular travel corridor.
This summer, construction is expected to start on a multi-million dollar pedestrian bridge at 32nd Street, which will effectively remove the last crossing that requires River Trail users to contend with car traffic.
Then, later this fall, the deteriorating asphalt section of trail between Rank Park and the Demon Pedestrian Bridge will be removed and replaced with a wider, upgraded concrete path.
And, finally, by 2023, the lofty vision to link the south end of the Animas River Trail to the Smart 160 Trail, connecting the city of Durango to the burgeoning Three Springs area to the east, should start to become a reality. Once finished, people will be able to ride from Oxbow Park to Three Springs, a more than 10-mile journey, uninterrupted.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Anthony Savastano, who serves on the city’s Parks and Recreation board, said. “I can’t think of too many towns that have something that expansive. It’s a remarkable thing to have accomplished.”
Laying the groundwork
The earliest sections of what would become the Animas River Trail started in 1976 when city crews installing sewer and water lines took the occasion to lay down a trail segment from 29th Street to Demon Bridge.
In the years following, more sections were added as opportunity arose, such as the strip from Demon Bridge to Rank Park in 1979, and Highway 160 to Santa Rita Park in 1980. But these efforts were significantly accelerated by a 2005 and 2015 sales tax increase dedicated for recreation projects.
Today, the Animas River Trail stretches nearly 9 miles from its northern reaches at Oxbow Park to Dallabetta Park, near Home Depot in south Durango.
Following the Animas River, the trail is inundated daily with walkers, joggers, cyclists, commuters, anglers, and rafters and kayakers, as well as people just enjoying a picnic along the river banks. In essence, it comprises a whole smorgasbord of Colorado outdoor activities. A recent survey found an estimated 95% of Durango 4
TLC
Time has taken its toll on some sections of the trail, however.
Asa Robbins, general manager at 2nd Avenue Sports, said years ago, a particularly rough patch south of Santa Rita Park was like a whoops section on a mountain bike trail, making for a sort of a rollercoaster ride (tip of the hat to editors who mountain bike and help reporters with such lingo).
“It was almost a fun, technical section of the river trail, which seems ridiculous,” Robbins said. “But for cyclists in general, yeah, I’ve had friends complain about those sections. As a commuter path, it’s necessary for it to be smooth, especially at night when it’s easy to crash.”
Cathy Metz, longtime Parks and Rec director who calls it a career on Friday, said asphalt doesn’t handle wear and tear well over time. Eventually it starts to crack, which is why the city converted to using concrete years ago.
“We’re basically tackling one section at a time,” Metz said.
Just last year, another problem segment along Iris Park was similarly upgraded. One of the oldest sections of the trail, from Rank Park to Demon Bridge, this fall will be widened from 8 feet to 10 feet, and replaced with concrete.
And within the next five years, the city intends to remove and replace the last few remaining asphalt sections on the trail, namely Highway 160 south to Santa Rita Park, and from Demon Bridge north to 29th Street. This project would also include a complete replacement of Demon Bridge.
“The Animas River Trail and upgrades are a priority (for the city), and we try to balance that with new trail extensions,” Metz said.
Stretch it out
It appears the last of the major construction projects are on the horizon, too.
In fall 2020, the city of Durango completed a nearly $6 million extension, providing 1.3 extra miles of the trail from 32nd Street north to Oxbow, which includes a 38-acre wildlife preserve and a boat ramp to the Animas.
Next up on the list is the at-times contentious project for a pedestrian route around 32nd Street, the secondbusiest road in Durango.
Originally a three-part, $4.1 million bridge, the city of Durango scaled back plans after significant public pushback questioning the need of the project and the amount of money to get it done. Even still, city officials and some members of the public maintained it was a matter of public safety to remove conflicts between trail users and traffic on the busy street.
Ultimately, the city settled on an alternate plan, purchasing a $710,000 property on the north side of 32nd Street to make way for a scaled-back $3.4 million pedestrian underpass.
“I don’t think we understand how at-risk people are (when riding bikes) adjacent to a car,” Mary Monroe, spokeswoman for Durango Trails (formerly Trails 2000), said. “And the car is always going to win.”
Whether for or against, the new bridge will remove the last existing pedestrian-road crossing along the Animas River Trail.
Get out of the car
More than 20 years ago, Monroe said Trails 2000 brought together a number of stakeholders to plan for a connection from the Animas River Trail to Three Springs, seen as the next area slated for substantial growth. The goal, this time, was not so much recreation as it was creating multimodal community.
“Getting people out of their cars and around town is an important element to growth and sustainability for Durango,” Monroe said.
Commuting between Durango and Three Springs – which is home to one of the region’s largest employers, Mercy Regional Medical Center – is only expected to increase in the coming years. This will be especially true with the rise in popularity of e-bikes, said Tim Zink, asset manager for GR Properties Group, the developer of Three Springs.
“We’re excited about the options (the extension) could bring to connectivity,” Zink said. “I think it’d be a cool Sunday afternoon ride from downtown to Three Springs and grab brunch. But I think there’s more potential for actual commuter traffic.”
By 2023, the city hopes to start the 2.6-mile connector. Once complete, it will be a major milestone for all those who envisioned such an asset to the community. But that doesn’t mean the effort for trail connectivity is over. A project to to link downtown Durango to the trail via Camino del Rio is also under way.
“You can’t look at the Animas River Trail as a singular thing,” Savastano said. “It’s a pretty amazing component and connector to a lot of different parks we have. It serves as the spine and a lifeline to greater communities.” n
– Anthony Savastano, member, Durango Parks and Recreation board
Telegraph classified ads can be placed online at www.durangotelegraph.com and cost a mere 10 cents a character.
(We don’t know how to say this, but it’s kind of a big deal.)
To place them the 1990s way: classifieds@durangotelegraph.com To place them the 1970s way: call 970-259-0133
by Missy Votel
Just as folks can peruse and buy the freshest greens and veggies from local growers at the Durango Farmer’s Market, they soon will be able to buy the freshest paintings, sculptures and other works of art from local artists.
Starting Sun., July 11, the Durango Art Market opens up at 11th Street Station, downtown on the corner of 11th and Main Avenue. The weekly market will take place from 10 a.m.–2 p.m. and run through Sept. 5.
The market, which will feature up to 16 artists a week, is the latest project from the Durango Creative District, which was established in the summer of 2018. The goal of the DCD, which operates under the umbrella of the Local First Foundation, is to foster and advocate for the local arts while helping to build a stronger art economy.
Like last summer’s downtown beautification project, the Art Market goes hand in hand with the DCD’s mission, said director Hayley Kirkman.
“The idea is for an art-focused market with a lower barrier to entry that is more visible to passersby,” she said.
For many artists, getting their work into one of the local galleries just isn’t feasible financially or otherwise, she said. Then, once in a gallery, there’s no guarantee one’s work will get seen by a wide enough audience. Selling art online poses a similar conundrum: setting up a website and then finding a way to drive traffic to the site. The Art Market provides a solution to these issues.
“We really need to give artists more opportunities in this community to showcase their work,” she said. “My greatest fear is artists and creatives won’t be able to afford to live here. We really need to prioritize these avenues.”
The idea for the Art Market came about last winter when Alyssia Alex, a sociology student from Fort Lewis College working at the DCD as an intern, was looking for ways to help bolster the creative economy. At the same time, 11th Street Station was talking to the DCD about ways to drive more people into the business.
“It just worked out,” said Kirkman.
Carmen Drulis, general manager of 11th Street Station, said the partnership and outdoor set up at 11th Street, is a natural fit.
“11th Street Station has become the hub for the community to gather, and we are honored to be able to support local artists,” she said.
Alex, who is now serving as the Art Market Coordinator, said mediums represented include everything from pottery and ceramics to paintings and pop art. (Sorry dancers, although performance art is welcomed, please note space is limited.) Although the application window for artists has officially closed, she said the DCD will still consider any late comers. Artists can apply online at www.durangocreativedistrict.org and need not appear every week but can choose the weeks that fit their schedule. “The goal is to mix up the vendor booths so we have a wider variety and every time you go, it’ll be relatively fresh,” said Kirkman.
In another effort to reduce barriers, artists can either buy their own booth, share a booth with another artist or put up a table under the communal tent. The costs range from $35-$20/week and there is a scholarship, provided by 1st Southwest Bank (which also paid for Alex’s internship), to help offset the entrance costs for artists.
“We think it’s really doable, not enough to break the bank,” said Kirkman. While the focus will be on regional artists, artists from outside the area will also be invited to display their works. In addition, the market is working with local tribal members, including Eddie Box III, a Southern Ute artist, to get more Native art represented as well. “That’ll be another important avenue for others who can’t find somewhere to show their art,” Kirkman said.
Art Market organizers are hopeful the market will help fill a void during otherwise “sleepy” Sundays in Durango and help bring the community together post-pandemic.
“I’m excited about creating an art community here in Durango,” said Alex, who enjoys creative hobbies like painting, drawing and simple sewing projects. “It will be great to accomplish something that brings the community together through art.”
Organizers and sponsors of the Durango Art Market, from left: Ken Curtis, First Southwest Bank; Carmen Drulis, 11th Street Station; Hayley Kirkman, Durango Creative District Director; Alyssia Alex, Art Market Coordinator; Cass Walker, First Southwest Bank; and Eddie Box III, Southern Ute artist, gather for a photo at 11th Street earlier this week. The Art Market begins July 11 and runs Sundays through Sept. 5
at 11th Street Station./ Photo by Missy Votel
Left: Eddie Box displays some of his beaded artwork. Box is working with the Creative District to get more Native artists represented at the Art
Market./ Photo by Missy Votel
Anarchy Brewing Co. opens on the south side of Durango
by Jonathan Romeo
Matt Sullivan, better known to friends and neighbors as Sully, spent years helicoptering into search and rescue missions, charging into burning buildings to fight fires and working in emergency rooms.
But it wasn’t until he decided to start his own brewery at age 51 that he knew the feeling of a true adrenaline rush.
“I’ve been in the worst conditions, and I was never scared,” he said. “But this was pretty scary. It’s all on me now.”
Sully just last week held the soft opening for Durango’s newest place to grab a craft beer – Anarchy Brewing Co., located at 225 East 8th Ave., in the same commercial strip as Macho’s south.
Durango boasts five local breweries, but Anarchy (now its sixth) has found its own niche in the craft-brewing scene. Spartan in nature, Anarchy offers no food or frills – just some seats at the bar or picnic tables, a couple of specialized batches of homemade beer, and always, some punk rock music on the stereo.
“Hopefully we’ll have some live music,” Sully said.
After serving 22 years as a firefighter in Albuquerque, Sully moved to Durango in 2015 and joined Flight for Life (the folks who save you when you’ve had a bad accident in the backcountry or require emergency medical transport via helicopter).
He spent the last year and a half, however, as an emergency room technician at Mercy, dealing with the madness of the COVID-19 pandemic, among all the other stresses that come with working in the ER.
“It was exhausting,” he said. “And having been a paramedic for 30 years, I was just tired.”
A lover of beer, Sully had been brewing his own batches ever since his early 20s growing up in Albuquerque. He never found a calling within the traditional arts, but with brewing he found a creative outlet. His friends, the lucky recipients of his creations, would always nudge him to open his own brewery. And he’d always give the usual excuses: no money, no time.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused the upheaval of so many peoples’ lives and careers, changed all that. He quit his job at Mercy, cashed in his 401k and went all in on running his own brewery.
“I decided it was time to live my dream,” he said. “And if you’re going to swim, you better jump all the way in. There’s no half-doing it.”
Sully knew a few things from the start: he wanted to begin small, be a spot for locals, ideally located off Main Avenue, and ooze the spirit of punk rock. On the beverage front, his forte is brewing small-batch, high-alcohol beer. He hopes to work up to five to seven barrels with about 10 beers on tap in constant rotation.
“Beer and I have a good relationship,” he said. “So we just feel each other out.”
The atmosphere of Anarchy Brewing Co. was just as important. A punk rocker and skater at heart, Sully wanted the space to serve as an ode to the music he loves – like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Flogging Molly and Social Dis-
tortion. Inside, it’s barebones, with no shiny steel tanks and no real rules to speak of (Anarchy allows people to bring their own food, as well as the big Durangoan prerequisite, dogs). At the soft opening Friday, one friend and patron at the bar remarked it felt just like drinking beer in Sully’s garage, albeit a bigger garage now. And, like the song of a siren, interested people walking and biking by saw beer, music, crowds and started to pop their curious, thirsty heads in. Sully said Durango’s brewing community has been more than welcoming, offering advice and even equipment. “It feels like a brotherhood,” he said. Bill Carver, co-owner of Carver Brewing Co., said he wasn’t surprised to hear of the support offered to Sully and Anarchy. Around the time craft breweries emerged in the 1980s, Carver said the industry was dominated by large, national companies, which fostered a sort of brotherhood and friendly competition among the independently owned brewers. “When the little brewers came along, we all banded together because we were small,” Carver said. “I think that ‘watching out for each other’ feeling has been maintained all these years, even though the number of breweries Durango welcomed its sixth local brewery last week with the opening of Anarchy Brewing has grown a lot.” Co., spearheaded by owner Matt “Sully” Sullivan. After working in firefighting and para- Scott Bickert, owner of Animas medics, Sullivan decided to start his own nano brewery at 225 East 8th Ave. Courtesy photo Brewing Co., said he felt the support when he started in 2014. “I think back in the day, before I got here, they coined the term ‘coop-petition,’” he said. “They were here for me when I opened and first moved to town.” Durango’s brewery scene has seen some shake up in recent years. Within the past few years, mainstays Durango Brewing Co. and BREW Pub & Kitchen closed. A spot called Chainless Brewing Co. opened in the former Durango Brewing Co. location, but closed abruptly and without notice recently. A new brewpub, called Durango Beer & Ice Co., appears to have opened in the same spot. Regardless, breweries all over face a challenging recovery from the past year after the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw numerous shut downs and limitations on capacity. Now, in what feels like the back end of the pandemic, restaurants and bars everywhere are suffering from staffing shortages. Sully, for his part, is optimistic that as long as he offers good beer, and has the support of friends and neighbors, he’s on the right track. The steady stream of customers during the soft opening certainly was an encouraging sign, and he hopes to have a grand opening in about two weeks. “It always comes back to beer,” he said. n
