No. 1 Vol. 1
MARCH 18, 2022
LOCAL RESTAURANTS 4 | SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW 6 | PUEBLO ARTS 8 | HOMETOWN TOURIST 10
• DIG DEEPER •
| COMMUNITY | ACCOUNTABILITY | CURIOSITY | CONNECTION |
Staying power: Adversity fails to dampen town spirit
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By Juan Espinosa Special to The Pueblo Star Journal
or generations, life in this village of about 600 has been challenging. Aside from the current crop of teenagers, however, no one has plans to move anywhere else. Avondale is situated just east of Pueblo on the banks of the Arkansas River. The area’s biggest employers – the steel mill to the west and the Army’s Pueblo Chemical Depot to the north – can be seen in the distance. Since the days of famed settler Charles Autobee in the early 1800s, this fertile mesa has attracted hardy men and women to clear ground, dig canals and coax the earth into producing an abundance of foods. For more than a century, life in Avondale has ebbed from feast to famine and back as the prosperity of the steel mill, depot and Pueblo in general also fluctuated.
Despite an apparent lack of amenities, Soto declared, “Avondale is Colorado’s best-kept secret. It’s a small, close-knit community – that’s the best part of living in Avondale.” Her list of highlights includes community traditions such as the Sacred Heart Church Festival, the annual Veterans Parade and softball tournaments. The ART works on solutions to problems that affect physical and mental health, Soto said. For example, when COVID closed schools, many Avondale students did not have access to the internet to do their work. “I had to take my children to my uncle’s home in Pueblo to get online to do their school work,” said Kassi Robinson, a program specialist for the resident team. Avondale continued on page 14
The recent years of COVID have been particularly difficult, but nobody leaves. They just hunker down and get through. “Nobody wants to move,” observed resident Lynn Soto. “They’re older; some are retired from the depot.” Avondale is an unincorporated town that, for a lack of local government, relies on the Avondale Resident Team for direction. Soto is the team’s project director. The ART is in the fourth year of a five-year Colorado Trust grant that focuses on the health equity of the community.
Photos by Mike Sweeney, Special to The Pueblo Star Journal
Here to stay
Avondale is Pueblo County’s eastern-most town, with a population of just under 600.