Greeley – A city seldom seen as pretty wants to become a place where great works of beauty – and the commerce they attract – will reign.
Officials say a proposed Arts and Entertainment District covering a 19-square-block area would revitalize a sagging downtown pockmarked with vacant buildings and worn storefronts.
An officially designated arts district would offer tax breaks to artists living and working in downtown Greeley as well as to developers who convert unused office and commercial space into lofts for artists.
“We have to create an identity for downtown,” said Mark Olson, executive director of the Greeley Downtown Development Authority, which helps promote businesses. “And as far as vacant offices that artists could use to work, we’ve got that in spades.”
The Greeley DDA is studying the idea in hopes of approaching the city for an official designation in about a year. The go- ahead by the City Council could allow the district to apply for government grants and other funding, said DDA officials.
Mayor Tom Selders said other arts-and-entertainment districts in Colorado have boosted downtowns, and he is willing to weigh the Greeley DDA’s initiative.
“I guess depending on what they require from the city, I certainly think the idea has merit,” Selders said.
Olson admits, however, that one of the biggest obstacles the district faces is Greeley’s less- than-sparkling image.
Greeley’s psyche and reputation took a shot late last year when the book “The Absolutely Worst Places to Live in America” was released. The city earned a prominent spot in author Dave Gilmartin’s work, which included the assessment that Greeley was ideal for “carnivores, farm folk, slaughterhouse workers, men with mullets, women with big hair, people who don’t mind smelling like manure, washed-up cowboys, (and) Republicans.”
Never mind that Gilmartin never visited Greeley or that the industry that causes the manure smell – beef-rendering plants – has been downsized and environmentally controlled for years, say city officials.
Gilmartin also didn’t mention that the Union Colony Civic Center draws more than 100,000 people to its musicals, plays, concerts and festivals. He also ignored the annual Arts Picnic, held downtown in July and bringing in 25,000 visitors, said Linda McSwain, also with the Greeley DDA.
“Basically, we are just looking at other things that will keep people here and get them to stay longer,” McSwain said. “We want to create a mecca for artistic activity.”
University of Northern Colorado professor and longtime Greeley resident Steve Mazurana has an open mind.
“There is a pretty active arts community in Greeley, and it has the backing of quite a few well-to-do people,” Mazurana said. “But there have been other attempts over the past few years to help downtowns, and they just haven’t met expectations.”
Some people have doubts about the plan.
“Greeley is 20 years behind the times, and because of that, people are bored to death with downtown,” said Jessica Jacobs, who co-owns a tarot- and rune-reading shop across from the street from the Weld County Courthouse.
Jacobs says Greeley could be too conservative to allow downtown to be taken over by the artist community.
“Officials here need to let people put tables out and let jugglers and musicians onto the streets,” she said. “People need to lighten up a bit … but a lot are still pretty set in their ways.”
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
