Photo: Mary Jo Coulehan & Sandy Douthey
It is with excitement of the future, and sadness of leaving something that has been such a large portion of my life, that I write this article. Most of our community knows that I have announced my retirement effective December 31 of this year. The Chamber Board of Directors has hired my replacement. I welcome Sandy Douthey to the position as the next Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce.
In the next couple of months, we’ll let Sandy tell her own story of coming to Pagosa. It’s not so different than many of our stories!
With this retirement, I’ve been pressed to reflect on some of the changes that have taken place this past 20 years! Twenty years ago, I inherited an artisan market that had already been very successful. Yet we have grown this event from about 50 vendors to 100 this year. Twenty years ago, we inherited WinterFest activities. We created the Penguin Plunge allowing non-profit agencies a “fun” – albeit cold – way to raise \money for their organizations. We passed on the “Anything Goes Downhill Sled Race” to Build Pagosa who now runs Sledz on Rez and uses this opportunity to raise significant funds for their organization. We’ve added a bonfire and in conjunction with Skijoring, are working to make WinterFest the ColorFest of the cold months.
Twenty years ago, there wasn’t a Car Show. This year we celebrated our 16th anniversary for the Car Show with over 100 cars participating each year. Twenty years ago, ColorFest was a hot air balloon rally and a wine and cheese tasting party in the parking lot of the Visitor Center. ColorFest now is a three-day event with a 10,000 sq. foot tent, a beer tasting event added and three events rolled into one weekend.
And this year, we’re adding another event, Grillin’ & Distillin’ to our event repertoire. This BBQ cookoff and whiskey tasting event will take place in August and will hopefully grow into another event to engage both the locals and visitors.
I talk about events as they are a significant source of the Chamber’s income while also being created to draw visitors to the community to help our tourism-based economy. We would not be able to produce these events without the support of all the sponsors for each of the events. We are grateful for your support and hope in some way that you have benefitted from the sponsorships.
We have also grown our business base. We now offer a tiered membership system that offers benefits geared to what your business needs are. We have produced educational symposiums and forums to help you grow your business. The most recent was this year’s Building Business Excellence Forum which we hope to expand and produce for years to come. We just need your engagement! One of my greatest honors has been to represent our community on a variety of boards both regionally and state-wide.
Representing Archuleta County on the Club 20 board while sitting on the Executive Committee, chairing the tourism subcommittee and sitting on the business affairs committee has helped me to learn about issues that are not only important to Archuleta County but to the Western Slope of Colorado and voicing our concerns to Denver. Representing Archuleta County at large on the Region 9 board, I was also honored to serve as vice-chair, although there was never a need for a second, as President Willy Tookey from Silverton is an outstanding chair! Two separate times I have sat on the board of the Colorado Chamber Alliance. This experience has put me in contact with Chamber peers and learning so much from their successes.
Sitting on the Archuleta Housing Corporation board has made me acutely aware of our housing needs and how it is never enough and never fast enough! And finally, representing Archuleta County for over 15 years on the El Pomar Foundation’s Southwest Regional Council has allowed our nonprofit organizations in Archuleta County to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in philanthropic grant donations. I have learned so much about a great number of organizations without whose tireless work, services in our community that help so many would not exist.
All in all, it has been a magnificent 20 years! I have learned and grown so much in experience, resources, contacts and friendship. I have made so many mistakes these past years! I realize I can’t please everyone, and we all have our own idea of how business should be conducted. I hope I have helped some people open a business here, grown a business here, or exited their business profitably and with grace. There’s a number of people out there that don’t want to come talk to me as I always say, “We don’t just want a business here, we want a successful business”. So, I don’t always give you the answer you want, but a realistic view. I have made many friends, and I have the greatest amount of respect for ALL of our businesses. You have accepted me despite differences of opinions or mistakes I have made.
That being said, I hope you will extend the same business courtesy to the new director, Sandy as she learns the ropes of the business community and makes her own path. When I replaced Sally Hameister, everyone said I could not replace her. I had no intention. My intent was to take her successes and build upon them. I hope that Sandy will do the same and the businesses will support her in that effort. Thank you for giving me the best job in Pagosa! Sandy and I will be shadowing everywhere around town in the next couple of months and I look forward to introducing her around. Pagosa is my home, and I will continue to live here, albeit less frequently, as I pursue my passion which is travel. And hopefully, I’ll have more time to actually speak to you instead of running around with my hair on fire!
Thank you Pagosa businesses. You are the reason leaving this job is so hard!