Colorado rural community Las Animas fights for economic survival

By Kevin Strong, Writer/Editor

Tumbleweeds fill the front window of a storefront on 6th Avenue in Las Animas. Yes, it's staged, but the storefront -- like many others -- is vacant, in a town for which Colorado's economic boom seems to have passed by.

While the Front Range continues to grow, many eastern Colorado rural communities struggle to survive.

"Not only do we not have many small businesses here, many of our businesses here are corporate businesses," says Grace Gardner, a fourth generation resident of Las Animas. "It's hard for people to sustain a living off of what little we have here."

What little they have, they make the best of it. Yet, their options are limited. Gardner's grandfather and former Bent County commissioner Bill Long says the toolbox doesn't have a lot of tools in it.

"What we need is base jobs and more of them, similar to what we have at the prison, similar to what we have in agriculture."

The prison and a large hog farm are the two largest employers in the area. The town's tax base comes largely from them, along with tax revenue from the railroad and utilities. It's not enough, but if there's one thing that can be said for rural Colorado communities, they love the small town lifestyle and will fight to maintain it. 

That makes for strange bedfellows in these traditionally conservative regions. Agriculture--of a different nature--lies at the heart of the downtown revival.

"There were people who would comment that I'm doing wrong, that I'm bringing drugs to my hometown. There was definitely a negative stigma about it," says local entrepreneur and head shop owner Andrew Montoya. 

His father pushed to legalize marijuana in Bent County, but passed away before that effort came to fruition. Montoya pulled his father's business plan out of the drawer and put it into action. 

"Location, location, location," quips Montoya. 

Las Animas is what Montoya calls a flag point. It's the first town on the highway as you drive in from the east where you can buy marijuana and that draws a lot of business.

"The tax revenue, the businesses, the jobs, my dad's goal here was to bring jobs.. multiple, bring businesses, plural to Las Animas, and I feel that's what we did. The last time we did a count, it was like 50 jobs, five dispensaries. I think that's a positive thing for the city."

The first year's tax revenue amounted to nearly a quarter million dollars. 

"I was sitting at that city council meeting and it changed everyone's mind it felt like. I could feel like everybody's eyes look right at me when we made that much tax revenue and all I could do was smile and say I thought there wasn't a market for this here," he said. 

Long says sometimes you just have to roll with what works. 

"There's no question that rural communities have to hold their nose and accept some things that maybe we wouldn't, but it's necessary for survival," he said. 

For many residents of Las Animas, that small-town feel is everything. 

"It's not something you can explain unless you experience it."

For those who do experience it, it's hard to walk away. Long's granddaughter says she's here to stay. 

"Whenever I think about growing up, I end up back here. The [Arkansas River] valley has given me so much to me and there's so much I can give back," she said. 

And to give back, they'll take whatever help they can get.