INSIDE THE SEPTEMBER 2024 ISSUE: Northern Arizona Remembers Fitness Promoter Jim Garretson p. 8
Puzzle Rides Wins Moonshot State Contest p. 3 Displaced Workers Receiving County Assistance p. 4
Amelia Danoff Crafts Organic Skin-Care Products p. 10
Author Coaches Leaders in BOLD Mission p. 6
Meet Flagstaff’s Mule Training Couple p. 14
Meandering with Music Entrepreneur creates new business to promote music education in scenic locations
J
By Betsey Bruner, FBN
ulie Sullivan Brace is accustomed to wearing many hats. After 46 years as a highly successful art director and graphic designer, including 35 years in Flagstaff, she is slowly and joyfully easing into retirement from her Shine Creative Industries design and marketing firm, as she builds a new venture, the Musical
Meanderings Series, an extension of her Roots and Boots Music Camp (RBMC), started in 2019 and inspired by the bluegrass tradition. This musical move is not a big stretch, as Sullivan Brace is an accomplished guitarist and songwriter who is also well known for co-founding Pickin’ in the Pines, the beloved bluegrass and acoustic music festival, now in its 18th year in the cool September
pines of Fort Tuthill. Today, she hopes to aim for a larger view, beyond retirement. “The story of me retiring is kind of boring and old,” she said. “I’ve always had the sideline of music, but now I’m transitioning to really just only music, including performing and curating these events.” Her passion for music began early in life when she learned to play guitar at 14. It continued as a young adult, when she moved to Berkeley, California, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after college as an art student and fledgling
guitar player. She began jamming in local coffee houses. She found that music, specifically bluegrass, was a universal language and that she could go anywhere in the world and find people to play with. Educating, sharing and inspiring others to play music is still at the root of her musical drive, and the popular Roots and Boots Music Camp continues in that tradition. It has afforded a strong foundation for launching the new Musical Meanderings Series, a sub-brand Continued on page 43
The 2% BBB tax funds many of the things we all CARE ABOUT IN FLAGSTAFF. LEARN MORE:
BBBrenewalflagstaff.com
Coffee Inn Thriving Downtown Popular Sedona gluten-free bakery expands to Flagstaff
I
Anastassiya McPherson is seemingly in constant motion, serving in-person, online and over-the-phone customers at her new Flagstaff breakfast and lunch eatery, the Coffee Inn. Photo by Kay Lyons
September 2024 | Issue 9 Volume 17
By Bonnie Stevens, FBN
t could be the vegan sourdough bread, organic peanut-butter pie, gluten-free coconut magic bars, scratch-made butternut squash soup, fresh fruit smoothies or any sandwich served on a croissant, but Anastassiya McPherson believes it’s more than any one favorite menu item that keeps the Coffee Inn bustling with return customers, even though it’s only been open for two months. “There’s a big moms’ community that wants healthy food for their kids,” she said of her new Flagstaff bakery and restaurant that opened on July 4 at 121 E. Birch. “The kids love our dairyfree, gluten-free cupcakes that are also free of dyes and processed sugar. We use all natural ingredients. Even our raspberry jam is organic. We make it ourselves and it’s good for kids.” Inspired by her own daughter, 2-year-old Victoria, McPherson created a kids’ corner in the café. “It’s a safe place for a baby to play and for parents to enjoy a cup of coffee. There’s nothing like that in Flagstaff. A friend once said
Call us if we can lower your payment!
to me, ‘If it doesn’t exist, make it yourself.’” She also serves a downtown workforce crowd of regulars, including lawyers, bankers, retailers and students and has a steady stream of takeout orders. McPherson is originally from Kazakhstan, where it is customary for girls to learn to cook and bake. “Country women have to know how to cook, including all the cakes and desserts. My first pancake was a disaster. I threw it out the window so my mother wouldn’t find out that I destroyed the pancakes. I was 10.” She left Kazakhstan for America at age 17. She studied psychology in Europe and then worked in a classic French bakery in Massachusetts where she developed her passion for croissants, eclairs and tarts. That’s also where she met her husband, Seth. She and Seth moved to Flagstaff three years ago so he could attend Northern Arizona University’s physical therapy program. She began working for a baker in Sedona. A year-and-ahalf later, another baker, Karen Russell, founder Continued on page 38
APPLY HERE:
PREQUALIFYWITHMORGAN.COM
2076 S. Woodlands Village Blvd. Ste 201 Flagstaff AZ 86001 NMLS#1963444 | MB-1008082 Equal Housing Lender
928-226-6908 | MOUNTAINCOUNTRYMTG.COM