Fireside Chat & MeetUp - evenings of insight and community

THE LOBBY Salida  is an inclusive support system for entrepreneurs, adventurers, creatives, innovators & game-changers in rural Colorado. THE LOBBY offers private workspace on a monthly basis and first-come-first-serve Flex Desks with a breathtaking view of Riverside Park and a fully stocked break room complete with fresh coffee, hot tea and snacks. This article is written by Megan, the community manager, with input from Wendy and Tim, the owners. 

The Fireside Chat series occurs on the 4th Thursday of the month from 4-6pm in THE LOBBY. Each chat features a different local thought-leader for a casual discussion accompanied by snacks and socializing (aka networking with incentives). Come join us by the fire to hear interesting stories and get more plugged in to this community that we all know and love. 

The Backstory

One cold January afternoon we were sitting around THE LOBBY, discussing how much we wanted to bring people together. The weather was dreary, the town was in the midst of its usual winter slump, and the basement ghosts were telling the same joke for the up-teenth time. It was definitely time to liven up our winter spirits.

What was the solution? Happy hours? Too free-form to spark connection when it was dark at 4pm and everyone had already been inside all day. Networking hours? Better but too formal and already covered by some other town activities. Sitting by a fire and picking someone’s brain about topics they enjoy? Now that sounded like a good time. 

So the Fireside Chat series was born.  A way to bring the community together, spark new trains of thought, and to kick the winter blues. 

February 27th - Deborah Cameron, Economic Development

Our first event featured Deborah Cameron - the incoming Director of the local Economic Development Corporation. Having just started in the role a few weeks prior, we were eager to hear about her vision and get to know her on a more casual level. We weren’t sure what to expect - would 100 people walk through the door? Would anyone show up at all? Would we be able to carry the fireplace up the basement stairs without injury? Much to our excitement, the event was a success and went off without a hitch. Tim’s back survived the stairs, Wendy’s muffins received rave reviews, and the conversation flowed easily between Megan and Deborah without any lost trains of thought. 

Deborah grew up in a small mountainous region of the US and found herself drawn into Economic Development early on. She had been a happy Salida visitor and supporter from afar for many years before moving down to lead the corporation at the beginning of this year. Prior to moving to Salida she was the Chief Business Development Officer for the City of Denver. She had great things to say about the Salida community and engagement of the town and wants to find ways to sustain a year round economy that supports local businesses and workers. She talked about the EDC Ascent program - a startup accelerator for small business and plugged the launch event that happened the following week. The biggest takeaway for us was her interest in integrating into the community. She is excited about promoting unique solutions for economic development that leverage the things that make Salida great and bring sustainable jobs here without losing the soul of the town. 

She would love to connect with locals who have something to say, so please feel free to reach out to her at deborah@chaffeecountyedc.com.

March 27th - Garrett and Sierra, Van Life and Settling in Salida

Our second installment featured Salida-born Garrett Lundberg and his fiance, Sierra Layton. Now both residing in Salida, during the COVID pandemic they did what many of us dreamt of doing - left it all behind and spent a year traveling around Australia in a van. It was a raucous night full of laughter and stories about adventure, embracing change, ginormous spiders, building community, and what drew them back to home. This one brought back many fond memories for a lot of THE LOBBY members. As it turns out, a lot of us had nomadic experiences of our own. Hearing recounting of vans stuck in sand or logistical challenges of making friends and holding down jobs brought a sense of comradery to the room. The biggest takeaway for us was how the lessons you learn during wild life changes such as van life shape you in ways you could not have predicted. The self-reliance, building a community, and ability to appreciate the small things hold many parallels to the mindset the people of Salida have. The post-conversation social hour ran long past our stop time of 6 pm and we enjoyed every minute of it. 

April 24th - Betsy Dittenber, Getting Involved

In our latest installment we hosted Betsy Dittenber, the Executive Director of the Chaffee Community Foundation. Betsy was always involved in volunteer initiatives and when it came time to choose a career path, she didn’t see any reason to stop. She joined the Americorp, a federal agency focused on volunteerism and service, and has continued to give back through the nonprofit sector. After many years building up the nonprofit sector in Las Vegas, she and her family moved to Salida seeking the outdoors and community. However, the slower pace of Salida has had no effect on her drive and she continues to be the main driver of more local initiatives than one can count. 

The conversation focused on what it’s like to be in the nonprofit sector and what the foundation is doing to build up local capacity. The Chaffee Community Foundation is an overarching framework, dedicated to aiding the nonprofit sector locally by identifying needs, allocating resources, and building infrastructure to grow capacity. This is accomplished through a variety of efforts including grant making, director training, and serving as a volunteer hub. Naturally, funding came up as a topic of interest. The Chaffee Community Foundation is largely funded by donations - a testament to Salida’s desire to give back. However, other nonprofits and local governments are feeling the belt tightening. The Foundation has stepped in to help identify gaps and keep the wheels moving. 

It’s hard to capture the breadth of topics that were discussed but we all came away inspired by the passion Betsy had for the community and the way she channels it into the Foundation. When asked what the individual could do to channel our own interest in getting involved, she pointed us to donations of time or money. The Foundation maintains a centralized volunteer page at https://www.chaffeevolunteers.org/. 

Upcoming Events

Our next fireside chat will be May 22nd with Emma Rosse, founder of allover apparel, a cool mountain apparel company moving headquarters from Golden, CO to Salida. Register here.

Sign up for our newsletter here to stay in the know. Come join us by the fire and we look forward to having you!Know someone that would be great as a speaker or want a tour of the space? Reach out to us at thelobbysalida@gmail.com. Good doggos like Max (pictured) are welcome.