Move Over Aspen, Carbondale Is The Small-Town Hotspot For The Arts

Photo courtesy of Carbondale Arts

Warm weather and widespread vaccinations mean residents in Colorado are looking for ways to participate in responsible tourism. The town best known for mountain biking at the base of Mount Sopris is also one of a handful of stops connecting the 331-mile Colorado Creative Corridor. Now, with the nonprofit linchpin Carbondale Arts celebrating its 50th year in operation, Carbondale is poised for a full schedule of in-person and hybrid events affirming its placement as an arts destination.

Local artists founded Carbondale Arts knowing how the arts can shape a community. Moving “down valley” to the former coal-mining town might have meant defeat for Aspen artists in the 1980s and early 1990s. Forced out by Aspen’s rising housing costs and dwindling support for local art spaces, creatives set up home and shop 45 minutes to the west and almost 2,000 feet lower in elevation. Today the tables have turned.

Carbondale is the hip, creative enclave in the Roaring Fork Valley drawing in new residents and visitors for its buzzing arts scene, co-working hub, studio spaces and extensive public art. The year-round community supports upwards of 200 creative businesses and artisans. Downtown is home to the Carbondale Arts’ R2 Gallery at The Launchpad, Thunder River Theatre Company and a thriving restaurant and brewery scene.

The Carbondale Clay Center is known for packing in supporters ready to sip Roaring Fork Beer Company craft from a kiln-fired mug. Studio for Arts and Works, or S.A.W., hosts quarterly open houses for the public in its auto-mechanic shop turned working artist studios built from reclaimed materials. Carbondale is also home to the 15,000-square-foot Powers Art Center, featuring a private collection housed in a building as renowned for its sculptural architecture as for the art inside.

As testament to its early adopters, Carbondale is officially a Colorado Creative District. As part of the state-run grant program, funding helped create the bike-friendly, mile-long Rio Grande ARTway and the community-run Latino Folk Art Garden. Artists Chris Erickson and Stanley Bell painted a mural covering almost a block of pavement in bold colors and patterns mid-pandemic. Nearby, Denver-raised muralist Bunnie Reiss, selected out of 35 international artists, sprayed a building-wide mural with a mule deer.

A bevy of visitors to the block party-style event in April gave the feeling of shaking off hibernation from the past year. First Fridays on Main Street draw in people from all over the Western Slope each month for live music, gallery hopping and imbibing. Although, First Friday never really stopped and neither did the town’s arts community.

Streaming events created a new type of gathering thanks to the innovation of ThunderStream. The nonprofit Thunder River Theatre Company launched the platform soon after the state shutdown revealed the impossibility of hosting guests in a black-box theater. Executive director Corey Simpson says the theatre company hosted improv, solo shows and events in partnership with fellow arts organizations to support the community at large.

“Though the Carbondale creative community has remained as resilient as ever; this summer, especially July and August, will feel like coming up for air after holding our breath underwater,” Simpson says.

Photo by Amy Kimberly

“Though the Carbondale creative
community has remained as
resilient as ever, this summer,
especially July and August, will
feel like coming up for air after
holding our breath underwater.”

Carbondale Arts executive director Amy Kimberly says despite the loss of income at in-person events, the pivot to online sales, events and classes have supported many artists during a tough year. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reports arts and cultural production accounts for 4.1% of the state’s total GDP. Despite hurdles, Kimberly says, “Our philosophy is to keep planning and doing what we do until we can’t.”

Mere weeks after the shutdown, Simpson and Kimberly appeared on screen wearing masks and bringing levity through banter, guest musicians and bell ringing for healthcare workers in a time of crisis. If people couldn’t reach the arts, the arts would be brought to them. Viewers at home can tour the latest exhibition at R2 Gallery thanks to a 360-degree camera. Simpson says he’s hopeful larger cast productions and live, in-person events will return along with warmer temperatures.

Artist Stanley Bell working on the Main Street pavement mural. Photo courtesy of Carbondale Arts.

Pause for a collective sigh of relief: the festival schedule is back. Dandelion Day in May celebrates sustainability, while Potato Day in October remembers the town’s most prominent crop. The three-day Mountain Fair returns in August for its 50th year of music, art, food and late-night spectacle. Kimberly says the roaming stage will once again place performing bands on a flatbed. The fair will expand its footprint beyond the confines of Sopris Park. Read: less shoulder-to-shoulder and more room for dancing, shopping and drumming. Kimberly attributes the network of volunteers running the event and bringing generations together as a “secret sauce” to the general fervor of the long-running event.

Creative residents and visitors will likely embrace the potential for a semblance of business as usual. As more creatives and young families search for balance and community, this quirky mountain town in the Roaring Fork Valley is a tribute to a championing community, raising families and getting recharged by the wild. What makes Carbondale stand out among the Colorado mountain towns? Kimberly explains her hunch: “There is some magic, and we all believe that this magic comes from Mount Sopris.”

Originally published in the Summer 2021 issue