On Tuesday afternoon, fresh Christmas wreathes and holiday decorations garnered more attention from customers of the nursery at 2001 S. Chambers Road than the shelves of cacti displayed farther back. Even as two women paused to peer at eye-catching varieties like golden barrel cactus, the spiky, green San Pedro cacti sat largely unnoticed among more than 200 other plants.

“I think it’s beautiful, but it doesn’t have any shocking features,” horticulturist Colette Haskell, 49, said. Still, when the garden center stocks up on San Pedro cacti, or Trichocereus, “they definitely do sell out pretty quickly,” she added.

An enthusiastic following of both professional and amateur horticulturists is growing around the cactus, as they largely prize it for its appearance. But with the recent decriminalization of certain natural psychedelics in Colorado, interest in San Pedro cacti is rising for another reason: it’s a source of mescaline, a hallucinogen that can result in euphoric feelings, a boost in energy, distortions of space, time and perception, nausea and more.

Native to South America, the San Pedro cacti is illegally poached for its mescaline, as is the peyote cacti, or Lophophora williamsii – a plant endemic to the southern U.S. and northern México that’s considered a religious sacrament by some Native Americans. Horticulturists and members of the Native American Church worry about how to effectively keep these plants around for years to come, but Colorado’s growers see hope in their survival.

“People are into house plants again,” Haskell said. “It’s like the ’70s all over again.”

Store-bought vs. home-grown

Typically, Nick’s customers choose San Pedro cacti for collective purposes, religious reasons and preventative measures to keep it from extinction, Haskell said.

The business purchases from professional growers certified by the U.S. Agriculture Department to grow the plants from seeds, not people who harvest wild cacti. It can only buy them in limited amounts because they grow slowly, “and they shouldn’t be harvested irresponsibly,” Haskell said.

She pointed to one real fear in her industry: plant poaching. “You can’t just buy from some guy who comes in and says he’s got all these San Pedros,” she added.

Among the seven in stock, the smallest at 6 inches tall was priced at $44.99, while the largest — towering over patrons in its seven-gallon pot — could be bought for $429.99.

Meanwhile, Jacob Lara, a 28-year-old Denverite, sells San Pedro cacti fully rooted at $15 per foot on Facebook Marketplace, with his plants ranging in height from 6 inches to over 2 feet.

“In California, you’ll find, I’m talking like, 8- to 10-foot San Pedro cactuses in people’s front yards,” he said. “I did not have perfect growing conditions,” so his cacti usually reach an average size.

Many of his customers are other plant cultivators. “There’s not really a very big psychedelic culture around mescaline,” Lara said. “It’s still kind of like a very elusive hallucinogen.”

Last year, Coloradans voted to decriminalize the personal possession, growing, use and sharing of mescaline for adults, along with several other naturally-occurring psychedelics, through the passage of Proposition 122. The sale of these psychedelics and any underage access remains illegal, with the federal government labeling mescaline a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act.

“A lot of people in this subculture really value just the aesthetic of the plants,” Lara said. “I’ve met nobody that cultivates them for the mescaline.”

Pre-Proposition 122

The 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that about 8.5 million Americans aged 12 and older who partook in illicit drugs over one year’s time consumed hallucinogens. Mescaline isn’t asked about specifically because “it’s not that prevalent at all,” said Joshua Kappel, attorney and founding partner of cannabis and psychedelics law firm Vicente LLP.

He said hundreds of cacti species contain various amounts of mescaline, with the plants legally sold across the U.S.

Even before Proposition 122 passed, “people have been selling San Pedro cactus in Colorado for decades. It’s not like this is something new,” Kappel said. “A lot of people buy these cactuses, and don’t know that they even contain mescaline.”

He called mescaline’s overall legal status “incredibly gray.”

“You can’t sell natural medicines in Colorado,” Kappel said, but “the commonly-accepted status is that you can grow cacti containing mescaline for ornamental purposes.”

“Special protections” are given to the peyote cacti, with “exceptions for religious uses of peyote by the Native American Church,” Kappel added.

“Original plant stewards”

The Native American Church considers peyote a sacred being, and “mescaline is part of that being,” said Troy, the Last Captive of the Comanches, taken in the old way by Eviyah and brought into the Ohnononuh band of Numunuh as Kwinnai mahkweetsoi okweetuni (He who saves the eagle from the water).

He also just goes by Troy. “Where the peyote grows is our homeland,” he said.

As a Kwihnia Puhakat (Eagle Priest), Troy’s part of the Piah Puha Kahni (Mother Church) of the Comanche Native American Church. The Comanche people settled in southwest Oklahoma after moving across the Plains states, including Colorado.

They’ve long held ceremonies where “all are welcome to pray, sing, and eat peyote,” according to the Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center. “The Creator also said when you eat the peyote, you will know me.”

And in South America, pre-Columbian cultures similarly used San Pedro cacti for rituals, with shamans still turning to them today for healing purposes. The name San Pedro is an allusion to “St. Peter’s role as the gatekeeper to heaven,” the Journal of Ethnopharmacology says.

The ritual includes “sniff tobacco with alcohol, ingest San Pedro, pinpoint the diseases, cleanse the evil and ‘florecer’ (flourish) the sick person,” according to the National Library of Medicine.

“The longer a cactus has been stored, the stronger and the higher its content in mescaline-derived alkaloids will be,” with an individual cactus’ mescaline content also varying based on its environmental temperature, levels of rainfall and more.

Mescaline can be consumed as a powder, tablet, capsule or liquid, with the option to chew peyote fresh or dried, the Alcohol and Drug Foundation says.

The decriminalization of mescaline and other naturally-occurring psychedelics “puts a deeper stress on these plant medicines,” with thieves stealing the San Pedro and peyote cacti, Troy said.

Instead, he’s pushing for the societal acceptance of synthetic alternatives like LSD, which remains illegal, to mitigate the damage to nature. However, “if people want to grow things, I really don’t have a problem with that,” Troy said. “That would help the destruction of these different natural areas to slow down.”

He’s working to support Indigenous communities that serve as “original plant stewards” through benefit honoring, the practice of individuals, medical and psychedelic companies donating percentages of their incomes to create land trusts, build conservation infrastructure for sacred plants and more.

“Maybe, one day”

North of the Colorado line, in Cheyenne, 34-year-old Joshua Church grows San Pedro cacti, which occupy a sentimental place in his heart.

In 2019, he proposed to his now-wife at the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Afterward, they visited their first cactus nursery, and spent about $400 on the spiny plants.

Two years later, their daughter was born with a natural green thumb. Church called her “very much involved, even only at 2 years old.”

He estimates that around 80% of San Pedro cacti cultivators grow them because of their love for the plant. “While some of the people that have been growing for years and years, they do partake” in mescaline, propagating them solely for that reason is considered “more of a newbie thing,” Church said.

He sells boxes made up of San Pedro cacti, succulents and other cactus variations – “collector’s items” – which average in price between $95 to $120 per box.

He’s turned down would-be customers who’ve tried to buy his cacti specifically for mescaline. “That’s not really the purposes of why I grow,” Church said.

Although he’s never taken mescaline, he’s not against it. “Maybe, one day, I will try that.”

She simplified a complicated industry for Garcia and, as the health center grew, she joined its board of directors, eventually serving as its chair.

“That was the type of person that she was,” said the Tepeyac clinic’s CEO and founder. “She was very adept at identifying a need within the community — and then not only committing herself to it, but rallying others.”

He was among community leaders who reflected on the impact of Rivera, 70, after she was killed on Nov. 18. Authorities have confirmed she was the victim of a murder-suicide in Northglenn.

Those who knew her remembered Rivera as an advocate for marginalized people, as well as an artist with a keen eye while aiming her camera.

Rudy Gonzales, president and CEO of the Denver-based nonprofit group Servicios de La Raza, sees her death as a “great loss,” and not just because they share family ties.

“We’re a small community when you think about Denver Chicanos,” Gonzales said. “She was someone who was fearless and decisive and one of our champions, making sure we were represented.”

Garcia said he put his trust in Rivera before opening the Tepeyac clinic’s doors in 1994. Several people had recommended Rivera, he said, given her robust experience in health care administration.

Starting in an entry-level position at Denver Health, “she worked her way up to managing one of their largest health centers,” Garcia said in an interview. “When she found a cause that she was passionate about, she just put her whole heart and soul into that work.”

Tepeyac, formerly Clinica Tepeyac, became one of those causes for her, catering to medically underserved communities. It’s now located at 2101 E. 48th Ave. in Elyria-Swansea.

But Garcia said he didn’t want Rivera remembered solely for her accomplishments in the health care field. He pointed to art as “her real passion.”

Her talent as a photographer first stemmed from a fascination with architecture. Rivera wondered what stories lay within a building’s walls.

“Over time, I have come to see that there is so much more in this world that fascinates and makes me wonder about what kind of stories life would tell if we would only listen,” she wrote on her artist’s page on the website of the Chicano Humanities and Arts Council, Colorado’s oldest Latino nonprofit arts organization. “… That’s what I do when I look through the lens of my camera, I see a story.”

Family mourns “senseless act of violence”

The Northglenn Police Department said that, on the night of Nov. 18, officers responded to a call at a house on the 11700 block of Delaware Court and found the bodies of an adult man and woman, who died in an apparent murder-suicide involving partners in a relationship.

The coroner’s office for Adams and Broomfield counties later confirmed their identities as Rivera and Gardell Neal, 67, and said in a news release that “their manner and cause of death are pending further investigation.”

Rivera’s son, True Apodaca-Cobell, wrote in a Facebook post Nov. 19 that his mother was killed in a “senseless act of violence.” An attempt to reach him was not successful, but he told CBS Colorado that Rivera and her boyfriend were going through a breakup, and her boyfriend killed her before taking his own life.

Gabriel Tresco remembers Rivera, who was his godmother, as a tough, but loving figure who helped him fight through addiction issues for two decades.

“She was very instrumental in my recovery,” Tresco said in an interview. “Lo and behold, I’m clean.”

He described his family as “devastated,” with her absence already poignantly felt by relatives, friends and community members.

“We thought she had a lot of time left here,” Tresco said. “I just want her to be remembered as someone who loved humanity.”

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The circumstances of Rivera’s death have spurred the organizations she worked with to put the focus on domestic violence.

Renee Fajardo, the board chair of the Chicano Humanities and Arts Council, noted that almost 70% of the women serving on its board have been affected by domestic violence.

“It is a serious problem,” she said. “It’s something that we don’t talk about.”

She called Rivera’s death “the last straw for us.” The arts council’s team is collecting stories and photos of Rivera.

Servicios de La Raza serves close to 2,000 domestic violence victims annually, Gonzales said.

His group gave Rivera an award in 2019 for her work with the Chicano arts council, but he said she helped make Denver better across the board.

“She manifested self-determination,” Gonzales said. “Now, we need her to help us from the other side.”

“One woman who should never be forgotten”

During her career, Rivera worked her way up the ranks of several organizations she joined, often taking on leadership roles. Once a clinic administrator at Denver Health, she was appointed by then-Mayor John Hickenlooper — now a U.S. senator — to the board of directors of Denver Health’s Community Health Services in 2010.

She has served as the Chicano Humanities and Arts Council’s executive director and as a board member at the Northglenn Arts and Humanities Foundation.

She watched her projects thrive. The Tepeyac clinic, originally located at 3617 Kalamath St. near the Highlands, Sunnyside and Globeville neighborhoods, expanded when it moved to its current home in Elyria-Swansea in 2006.

Rivera worked to secure a permanent space for the Chicano arts council in the Art District on Santa Fe, Fajardo said. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rivera built up the council’s community presence through partnerships with Metropolitan State University and others.

This year, she served as the show curator of a free gallery exhibition at Northglenn Arts called “‘Amor es Amor’: Celebrating LGBTQIA+ Chicanos/Latinos.”

Through their work with the arts council, Fajardo and Rivera learned that they were related as cousins. Fajardo described their lineage as Manito: multiracial people from southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, with ethnic backgrounds including Hispanic, Indigenous, Italian, Jewish and more.

“Lucille was able to see the possibilities that it means to be a people of woven ancestry and heritage — of what beautiful things can be created in the world,” Fajardo said. “This is one woman who should never be forgotten.”

Apodaca-Cobell has sought donations through a GoFundMe page to help pay for his mom’s memorial service. “Unfortunately, the cost of arranging a memorial service is beyond what our family can afford at this time,” he wrote.

As of Tuesday evening, donations had reached more than $8,000, approaching the fundraising goal of $10,000.

Rivera’s funeral service is set for 10 a.m. on Dec. 8 at Latina Funerals & Cremations, 3020 Federal Blvd. in Denver. Her burial will follow at 1 p.m. at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery, 12801 W. 44th Ave. in Wheat Ridge. A celebration of life memorial is set for 5 p.m., but the venue had not yet been announced.

The investigation continues into Rivera’s death. Northglenn police encouraged anyone with information to contact Detective Terrie Hoodak at 303-450-8858.

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Growing up in the suburbs of New Orleans, La., I had a leg up on my fellow Southerners, at least. Both of my parents skied in Washington State where I was born, with my dad proposing to my mom by surprising her with an engagement ring in her ski goggles on Christmas 1994.

I took snowboarding lessons as a teenager on family trips to Alpental ski resort near Seattle and Park City, Utah. That was sufficient enough to proclaim my love of the sport because, even as my gear gathered dust in the attic, many of my peers hadn’t even stepped foot in fresh snow before.

Then, at the age of 26, I found a sublet in the Mile High City after accepting a reporting job at The Denver Post, with ski season already on the brain. Before I said goodbye to Washington, D.C., friends on the East Coast raved about the ski resorts dotted throughout the Centennial State, and my mom shipped decade-old equipment up to my new home.

But as I befriended Denverites who had largely relocated from the Midwest, a horrifying realization dawned on me: Compared to them, I didn’t know the first thing about snowboarding. For instance, my Minnesotan boyfriend started skiing in his middle school’s ski club, and can land tricks like aerial 360s. My friends would weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the Ikon and Epic Passes – both costing extraordinary amounts in the eyes of an amateur snowboarder.

With the help of peer pressure, I committed to my first ski pass last winter, an Ikon, vowing to make the $1,000 price tag worth every penny. In my inaugural season, I woke up at 5 a.m. to beat the inevitable Interstate 70 traffic, and spent a total of 14 days on the slopes, graduating from green runs to a double-black diamond.

And I only managed to give myself one minor concussion.

Last winter, I frequented five ski resorts, and can humbly offer my opinion on the best and worst destinations in Colorado for snowboarders who are still learning.

5. Winter Park Resort

In a controversial pick, Winter Park Resort takes the bottom spot on the list as my least favorite ski resort. My reasoning is simple: Winter Park isn’t built for snowboarders.

First opened in 1940 before the advent of snowboarding, skiers have enjoyed Winter Park for decades. But I had the opposite experience during my two visits because of the sheer amount of cat tracks, also known as catwalks. They’re flat trails “that traverse across the fall line (downward slope) of a mountain,” according to snowboarding brand Burton.

In order for a snowboarder to successfully conquer a cat track, she needs to build up speed in advance, which can be tough for a hesitant first-timer. If not, then she’s eventually left sliding to a stop.

And this isn’t solely an inconvenience suffered by snowboarders, but also by their skiing friends, who will inevitably have to extend their poles and execute minor rescues.

I recognize the cult following behind Winter Park, particularly because it’s only a 60-mile drive from Denver. But its proximity to the city means the resort is often crowded, making parking difficult.

Still, on New Year’s Eve, I’ll happily give it another chance as the resort is where I ring in 2024.

4. Arapahoe Basin Ski Area

Arapahoe Basin, or A-Basin, is held dearly beloved by Denverites because it’s another one of the closest options.

It’s also home to the only “beach” at a ski resort, the reserved front-row parking area where skiers and snowboarders can party all day with easy access to nearby lifts. A-Basin’s warm welcome to revelatory patrons – accompanied by designated drivers – and their leashed dogs is part of its mass appeal.

It boasts one of the state’s longest ski seasons, typically opening in October and closing in June, and offers more affordable season passes and day lift tickets than other giants in the ski industry.

I snowboarded A-Basin twice last season, including one solo day. Its Montezuma Bowl is a great spot to practice snowboarding in the trees, albeit a little steep at the top. Practicing on blue and black runs, I unlocked my fastest speed: 40 miles per hour.

But in my eyes, the ski area earns the No. 4 spot because its amenities are lackluster compared to competitors like Vail Resorts. And for a first-timer, the drive along the U.S. Highway 6 over Loveland Pass to reach the high-elevation ski area left me clammy and slightly terrified, especially as a snowstorm rolled in.

3. Vail Ski Resort

Vail Ski Resort, about 100 miles from Denver, sits in the middle of the pack. Its world-renowned reputation precedes it as an extravagant locale that Coloradans either hate to love or love to hate, but I give credit where it’s due: It’s an impressive resort, with well-groomed blue runs that I flew down (and, then, trekked back up because my lift ticket blew off of my ski jacket).

Although I got stuck a few times on flatter trails, the fresh powder on its back bowls made Vail an easy place to practice carving and making small jumps, with jaw-dropping mountain views. Since it’s the largest ski resort in the state, I only explored a portion of its 5,000 acres.

The lift tickets were a surprise gift from a friend, so, without them, I wouldn’t have gone since Vail isn’t included on the Ikon Pass, and a one-day ticket can jump as high as $300 at peak window price. Parking is also scant, with drivers sometimes leaving their cars across the interstate and walking great lengths to reach the slopes.

2. Steamboat Ski Resort

Steamboat Ski Resort takes silver in my rankings because, even though I visited during closing weekend, April 15-16, the widely-lauded quality of its snow still managed to impress.

Of course, slush and ice pooled at the bottom by the lifts, but, as I climbed higher and higher into the sky, the remaining snow made for excellent end-of-season snowboarding.

Steamboat is also where I attempted my first double-black diamond slope, bumbling through the trees before making it back onto the run. Although I mangled it, I carved through to the end, and that’s what matters, right?

The town of Steamboat, which offers easy access to the resort by bus or even on foot, serves as the picture of a classic ski destination nestled in the mountains, with popular hot springs like Strawberry Park Natural Hot Springs ready to relax those aching muscles.

Although it’s a bucket-list snowboarding spot, it still falls short of No. 1 because of its distance from Denver at over 150 miles, which means three to four hours of driving one way.

1. Copper Mountain Resort

Easily navigable and luxurious, Copper Mountain Resort ranks as my top-tier Colorado ski resort. Just check my kitchen cabinet – at least three aluminum cups from various watering holes at Copper have been kept as souvenirs.

This is where it all began for me last December. In the season’s earliest days, I slid down the green runs, then transitioned to blue runs. I took advantage of the often-uncrowded slopes to make plenty of mistakes, falling hard when I tried to carve or even gracefully exit the ski lift (every snowboarder’s nightmare).

Still, I felt comfortable riding solo at Copper, and racked up seven days there, finally moving onto black diamond runs and moguls, or fields of bumpy terrain.

The main lifts – American Flyer and American Eagle – stay very busy at peak times, so arriving early is worth the sacrificed sleep.

Depending on the traffic, the 90-mile drive to Copper from Denver only takes an hour and a half on a good day, so it’s more accessible for city slickers. It counts as my go-to spot to bring friends and family members from out of town.

The free shuttle buses from the parking lots circulate reliably, with an easy system to ferry visitors to their preferred runs, with green, blue, black and purple express routes. And after hours of shredding, I can easily find a snack – and, more importantly, a strong cocktail – at one of several bars and restaurants eager for exhausted snowboarders to stay a while.

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Officers on Friday arrested Gido Izquierdo-Ortega, 64, after he was medically cleared of injuries sustained after police say he attacked the stabbing victim on Thursday near the intersection of Park Avenue West and Lawrence Street in Lower Downtown.

Izquierdo-Ortega was injured when the group of migrants he was harassing with a knife defended themselves by throwing objects at him, according to a news release. While initial reports indicated a second person was stabbed, no such victim has been found, police said.

According to a probable cause statement, police responded to the scene at 10:50 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day on a report of a stabbing.

Officers who arrived on the scene found the victim unresponsive. He was taken to Denver Health Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 11:26 a.m. The Office of the Medical Examiner has not identified the victim.

Izquierdo-Ortega was also taken to the hospital for “possible injuries to the head,” according to the statement.

Detectives who reviewed a witness’s cellphone video and nearby surveillance footage saw Izquierdo-Ortega “menacing multiple people with the knife” he pulled from a bag. People nearby waved him away and used a stick to maintain distance from him.

The video shows the victim crossing a street and approaching Izquierdo-Ortega from behind and Izquierdo-Ortega turning and stabbing him in the chest, according to the probable cause statement. Several bystanders then threw several items, including a concrete block, at the suspect, knocking him unconscious.

An unidentified witness told detectives that Izquierdo-Ortega was yelling at the group she was in because they were immigrants from Venezuela. She also told police the victim did not do anything to provoke the suspect before he was stabbed and he walked away and collapsed after the suspect attacked him.

Other unnamed witnesses also told detectives that Izquierdo-Ortega and three other men threatened people in the migrant encampment Wednesday night and that when the suspect returned Thursday morning, one person in the camp ran up and kicked him in the butt and another hit him in the face, which is when he pulled out the knife and began chasing people with it, according to the statement. The witnesses said it appeared the victim was trying to defuse the situation before he was stabbed.

The crime scene isn’t near any of the city’s four migrant shelters.

The police are asking anyone with information to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-STOP(7867) as the investigation continues.

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Dogs and cats must be licensed once they’re at least six months old and within 30 days of residing in Denver, according to the city regulations. Because it’s a requirement, pet owners in violation can receive warnings and even fines, although that’s rare.

More than 9,500 pet owners had obtained licenses in 2023 as of September, the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment said.

That’s a slim proportion of the city’s four-legged population, which Denver Parks and Recreation estimates at more than 150,000 for dogs alone. That puts Denver below the typical compliance rate for pet licensing nationally, which Lt. Josh Rolfe with Denver Animal Protection says is around 15-20% of animals in counties or cities that require licenses.

In neighboring Aurora, compliance is also low — estimated at about 9%, city spokesman Michael Brannen said.

Amy Keyes, 41, moved to Denver this year from Buffalo, N.Y., where she previously licensed her dog. Still, she had “no idea” about her new home’s license requirement for Rey, her three-year-old Australian Shepherd-Husky mix, she said recently while visiting Zeckenbark Dog Park at 601 Lincoln St.

She said the city could better get the word out by partnering with apartment buildings to mandate the licenses, but “I honestly don’t understand what the need for it is,” Keyes said. “I don’t think it’s necessary.”

But for Denverite Justin Pera, the license requirement ensures that his one-year-old Golden Retriever, Zelda, is safe to play with other pets that are also neutered and vaccinated.

“I want all the dogs licensed in the city,” he said.

Once Zelda reached the age when she could be spayed, Pera registered her with the city, paying for a three-year license. “It’s really easy,” he added.

A one-year license costs $15, while a three-year license is $40. A license that spans the lifetime of the pet, with no expiration date, costs $150. Residents ages 65 and older can obtain a three-year license for free, as can service animal owners.

“Most major cities and urban environments require pets to be licensed,” Rolfe said. “It helps get a sense of how many animals are out in the community, and — to be completely honest — it’s also a revenue generator for the city.”

Last year, more than $362,000 in revenue went into Denver’s general fund, which primarily operates Denver Animal Protection, DDPHE spokesperson Tammy Vigil said.

The pet license ordinance has been on the books since at least 1995, though it may predate that year, she said.

The license benefits pet owners by helping them reunite with lost animals more quickly than happens with standard pet microchips, Rolfe said. Their tags include a QR code that links to a pet profile with the owner’s contact information, which he called “a value-add to the pet owner.”

How to get a pet license

To obtain the required license, the pet must be vaccinated against rabies and spayed or neutered.

Denver pet owners can buy their licenses at the Denver Animal Shelter, 1241 Bayaud Ave., or online at PetData.com.

Notably, pit bull owners cannot license their pets online. They must visit the city’s shelter to get both their license and a breed-restricted permit.

Pet owners without licenses will typically receive warnings before it progresses to citations, Rolfe said. Within a 12-month period, the first violation is $75 and the second jumps to $100, with every subsequent violation fined at $200.

However, if the owner purchases a license within 15 days of receiving a citation, then the fine is waived fully.

Rolfe is trying to spread public awareness and clear up any misconceptions. For instance: “It’s a very common thing that people think that the rabies tag they get from their vet is the same as the city license,” Rolfe said.

Denver’s resources to properly crack down on compliance are limited. Operating under the health department, the Denver Animal Shelter has 16 animal protection officers and two sergeants, but it doesn’t employ a full-time team member dedicated to licensing compliance, Rolfe said.

Officers usually talk to owners about license compliance when they go out on calls for issues such as animal attacks, bites, and cruelty or neglect investigations, but they aren’t set up to take payments and sell licenses at front doors.

“Really, what we’re looking for is for people to get their animals licensed — not trying to hit them in the pocketbook over it,” Rolfe said.

An Nguyen said that, after the facility opened late last year, “there wasn’t any trouble” — at least, not initially. The owner of Savory Vietnam Restaurant in a plaza across the street, off West Alameda Avenue, empathized with the people staying there, most of them arrivals from Venezuela. Her parents immigrated to the United States as Vietnamese refugees, so Nguyen understood the feeling of coming to a new country with few possessions.

But as spring turned into summer, Nguyen noticed more people gravitating from the shelter to the business plaza’s parking lot. Then, she found human feces on the side of her building, and tents popped up nearby. Her customers asked questions about the people loitering outside.

Walking to her car at night, Nguyen said, “I did not feel safe.” The disruptions strained the Athmar Park community, she said, because of “pointing fingers” between neighbors and business owners over whom to blame.

As Denver city officials have worked to house the influx of thousands of migrants a month in makeshift shelters and other facilities, business owners and residents in the surrounding areas have been torn between supporting the city’s efforts and feeling frustrated by disturbances to their daily lives. Some Denverites recently rallied their neighbors to gather items and offer help to migrants ahead of winter, while others have weathered unwelcome disruptions down the block.

Both are responding to a city-marshalled migrant response that has cost more than $31 million, as of last week. As a surge of migrants began arriving from Texas border cities in late December, Denver first housed people in recreation centers and then found other places to turn into shelters.

“I see a problem happening that is not being helped quickly enough by government,” said Sunnyside resident Emily Wilfong. “At this point, it’s really taking everyday citizens stepping up and doing something.”

She’s a member of a Facebook group of more than 1,000 parents and neighbors that has coordinated donations for migrants at a motel off Speer Boulevard that serves as a shelter in northwest Denver.

Wilfong got involved after she heard that 52 newcomers — some of them refugees — enrolled at her children’s dual-language school.

The community efforts aren’t going unnoticed by Venezuelan migrants, such as 45-year-old Francisco Daniel.

“There’s a lot of people with good hearts who come over here and support us,” he said on Thursday through a Spanish translator.

He walked through eight countries and experienced “a lot of struggle” to get to Denver 25 days ago, he said. Back home, he worked in an office as an engineer, and his wife had a job as a nurse.

Now, Daniel’s family of five, including three girls under the age of 6, is among dozens of people living in tents near the motel, which has city-imposed time limits for migrants staying there. He said his priorities are to find antibiotics for his illness and to seek out better housing before winter.

“I know the cold is horrible,” Daniel said.

“We came here to get a better life,” one man says

Right now, about 2,000 people are staying in Denver’s four migrant shelters across the city’s northwest and northeast neighborhoods, said Jon Ewing, a Denver Human Services spokesman. That is quadruple the 500 who were in shelters in July before a more recent surge. The peak in early October was 3,136.

On a given day, several dozen migrants can arrive in Denver, typically by bus.

Since last December, the centers have served more than 27,000 people, primarily from Venezuela, where widespread violence and economic instability have sent residents fleeing for safety and opportunity, often on foot through Central America and Mexico. Many of those arriving in Denver are stopping en route to other cities, while some have stayed here while awaiting asylum hearings.

The city has used at least 10 locations, including the current four, as migrant shelters, Ewing said. Individual adults can stay 14 days, while families can stay for 37 days under the latest policy. The city has relocated some shelters based on capacity needs or once a short-term contract ends.

“Our resources are really, really strained,” Ewing said.

City officials are pressing the federal government for more money to help them better handle the continuous arrivals of migrants, with Mayor Mike Johnston and four other mayors calling on President Joe Biden for aid earlier this month.

Outside the motel serving as a shelter in northwest Denver in early November, migrants set up more than a dozen tents along sidewalks after the city forced them to move from parkland nearby. During one visit by a reporter, men, women and children sat outside in the sun, as a few made sandwiches on the hood of a parked car.

By last week, the number of tents had quadrupled. Adults asked passerby for work as children played, chasing each other down the pavement. On Wednesday, City Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval and her staff members counted 138 people living in the tents, Denverite reported.

She told The Denver Post that council members agreed to pool $330,000 so far in leftover money from their budgets to help get more people into shelters, especially children, when the weather turns.

Still staying in the motel was Simon Fernandez, 58, who recounted walking for 28 days after leaving Barinas, Venezuela, with his wife and two teenage children. They traveled through six countries, including the rain forests of Panama.

Back at home, he earned a living as a trucker. “I love my country, but there’s a lot of hunger, and the government over there is horrible,” Fernandez told The Post on Thursday.

His family could stay in the motel only until Saturday, he said, and then would have to find housing somewhere else. He’s walked the streets of Denver looking for jobs, but he’s still waiting on his work permit. The federal government made that process easier in recent months when it granted temporary legal status to migrants and asylum-seekers from Venezuela.

“We came here to get a better life, to get a job and to pay taxes,” Fernandez said. “I don’t want the government to support me.”

Jose Daniel Andrade, 30, left his family back in Portuguesa, Venezuela. There, “the economic situation is hard,” he said. “There’s no jobs,” which is what he hopes to find in Colorado.

Andrade arrived in Denver more than three weeks ago. To reach the United States, he and two friends train-surfed, the dangerous practice of riding on top of rail cars. Both of his companions fell off and died, he said.

“I do really feel very welcome in Denver,” said Andrade, who’s staying in the city with friends. Even as the colder months loom, “I’m not scared about the winter coming in. If I have to face a winter, I have to face it.”

“Don’t let us be in the dark,” former shelter’s neighbor says

Berinder Singh, who works at a gas station near the motel, has heard a few customers complain about panhandlers outside. But Singh usually just asks the migrants to leave the property, and they oblige.

“They don’t have any other source of income,” he said. “They have not bothered us.”

Several miles to the south, the former Denver Prep Academy gymnasium on South Zuni Street, near Nguyen’s Vietnamese restaurant, now sits empty, with little sign that it kept newly arrived migrants warm until Oct. 31.

City Councilwoman Flor Alvidrez described the area’s historic population as made up of immigrants, largely from Vietnam and Mexico. “Overwhelmingly, the neighborhood wants to do our part” to help, she said.

But in recent months, constituents began getting in touch with concerns about the shelter. Problems arose, she said, “when they started kicking people out at 14 days — so that was really tough because, then, that’s when encampments started to happen.”

Alvidrez faced trouble getting her own questions about the shelter answered.

“It turned into a single-male shelter, so that’s a red flag,” she said, particularly because of the schools located nearby.

In August, the Denver Police Department responded to four calls at 333 S. Zuni St.: two for assault and two for encampment. The next month, officers responded to a suspicious occurrence and another call to report an encampment.

In September, resident Teddy Zeskind reached out to Alvidrez and other council members repeatedly about the shelter.

“When we called your office previously, they told us many constituents were calling,” Zeskind wrote in emails to Alvidrez shared by him with The Post. “We’re concerned that if something isn’t done now, the situation is going to continue to get worse and the encampments will grow.”

Zeskind recounted seeing more litter on the ground, tents on public and private property, and “partying at all hours of the night in the parking lot next to Savory Vietnam,” he wrote. Recent attempts to reach Zeskind for further comment were unsuccessful.

The shelter closed because Denver Human Services’ contract ended with Denver Community Church, which purchased the building last year. The agency was able to find space at other facilities, Ewing said.

Nguyen, Savory Vietnam’s owner, said that in the future, Denver officials should pass out fliers to provide residents and business owners with information about migrant shelters in their area. A hotline to ask questions and report any issues also would serve as a helpful resource, she said.

“It’s really important to notify the neighborhood so they know what’s going on,” she said. “Don’t let us be in the dark.”

Overlapping challenges with homelessness

In northeast Denver, the Salvation Army operates a family migrant shelter in the Montbello neighborhood.

Councilwoman Shontel Lewis, whose District 8 includes the shelter, said she’s found that the top need among migrants is “overwhelmingly, jobs,” followed by access to housing, transportation and culturally appropriate food.

“There are folks who are able to work, ready to work and don’t necessarily have the authorization to do so,” she said.

When she discusses how the city can support migrants, she emphasizes the importance of ensuring “that we aren’t pitting our migrants against the folks that are unsheltered in our communities,” even if they have similar needs.

Councilman Darrell Watson represents neighboring District 9, which includes the River North Art District, Five Points and parts of downtown.

For decades, the area has hosted the majority of Denver’s service providers that help people experiencing homeless and, now, refugees and migrants. A migrant shelter is open in Globeville.

“I’ve heard no opposition” from constituents about the shelters lately, said Watson, a native of the Virgin Islands who empathizes with migrants. “What I’ve heard is the community wanting to do more.”

Andrew Mongrain works at a lighting contractor located near the Globeville shelter.

“We obviously see the traffic up and down the street,” he said, referring to migrants who often traverse the road in front of their building.

Coworker Daniel Medina said that because they aren’t yet familiar with U.S. laws like jaywalking, the migrants have occasionally stood in front of trucks entering and exiting the property. He called it “dangerous for them because they could get hit.”

But, Mongrain added, “I can’t honestly say there’s been a direct impact on our business at all.”

Earlier this month, City Council members gathered for an emergency meeting to discuss Denver’s migrant sheltering strategy ahead of the winter. Watson said they discussed alternatives available to house migrants in the future, such as places of worship and using host families.

“We don’t have the infrastructure and the resources set up to be a city that is receiving refugees and migrants in the thousands,” he said.

But Denver is continuing to welcome them — which Watson says is “what we’re doing right.”

• Furniture retailer Joybird opened a Denver showroom at 121 Clayton Lane in Cherry Creek at the end of the summer, selling customizable pieces.

• Cannabis company LivWell Enlightened Health opened a dispensary in Denver Tech Center at 7795 E. Belleview Ave. as its 27th location in the state. “The booming areas of the Denver Tech Center and nearby Greenwood Village comprise one of the region’s most affluent and diverse populations,” said vice president of retail Rick Baughman. “Our DTC location has regular customers that run the gamut from seniors to young couples just starting out.”

• Law firm Olson Grimsley Kawanabe Hinchcliff & Murray LLC, headquartered in Denver, launched in early September. Its five trial lawyers offer their services to plaintiffs as a public interest firm.

• Financial services provider Apex Group opened its new Denver office at 4700 S. Syracuse St. in September. It plans to expand its team over the next year, adding to its existing client service delivery teams.

• Facial spa chain Heyday opened its third Colorado location in the University Hills neighborhood at 2770 S. Colorado Blvd. on Sept. 29, occupying an almost 2,000-square-foot shop.

• Buck Mason, a Los Angeles-based clothing brand, opened its first store in Colorado last month in the Cherry Creek Shopping Center at 3000 E. First Avenue. “The Denver area has always shown us so much love,” said co-founder Erik Allen Ford. “It’s great to finally have a space where customers can fully experience the brand and collection.”

• Veterinary clinic chain GoodVets signed a lease last month at 990 Bannock St. in Denver, with construction set for early next year. Its tentative opening is next summer. GoodVets anticipates that three other locations will open by the end of 2023 in south Denver, LoHi and Castle Rock respectively.

Denver’s suburbs

And outside of the Mile High City, more businesses are setting up shop.

• Department store chain Nordstrom Rack opened a 29,000-square-foot store at Aurora’s Southlands shopping mall at 24101 E. Orchard Road.

• Retail furniture chain American Freight opened a 25,000-square-foot store in Centennial at 9667 E. County Line Road on Sept. 1. The location offers same-day delivery on all of its items in stock.

• Metal Supermarkets, a supplier of small-quantity metals, opened its Sheridan location at 1500 W. Hampden Ave. on Oct. 9 as its third store in the Denver area.

• Fitness center franchise Planet Fitness opened a 27,800-square-foot gym in Littleton in the Jefferson Marketplace Shopping Center at 8194 S. Kipling Highway on Oct. 14.

• Department store retailer Burlington Stores Inc. opened a new store in Lakewood at 7350 W. Alameda Ave. on Oct. 27 — its 15th location in Colorado.

• Milano Nail Spa Belmar — the first Colorado outpost of the Texas-based nail salon chain Nails of America | Milano Nail Spa — will open in Lakewood at 340 S. Teller St. on Nov. 19, taking over a 5,056-square-foot space.

• Mathnasium Learning Centers is reopening its tutoring center at 10443 Town Center Dr. in south Westminster on Nov. 11 under new ownership. “Being able to re-open this location is critical for so many students, because we know there is no better approach to math challenges in 2023 than what Mathnasium offers,” said franchisee Karen Lossing.

Denver police officers responded to reports of a shooting at 5514 E. 33rd Ave. at 3:09 a.m. Sunday, said Kurt Barnes, a spokesperson for the department.

Based on preliminary investigation, the shooting appears to be linked to an after-hours gathering at the Hell’s Lovers Motorcycle Club at that address, Denver police Cmdr. Matt Clark said.

Investigators found evidence of multiple guns fired outside of the club, but officers are still determining whether any shots were fired inside, Barnes said.

Barnes said six of the victims were adult men and one was an adult woman, but their names have not been released. One of the victims, an adult male, died from his injuries Sunday morning.

Just after 5:30 p.m. Sunday, the Denver Police Department tweeted that another adult male victim had died from his injuries at the hospital.

The Denver Office of the Medical Examiner identified the victims on Tuesday as Joshua Batts, 39, and Michael David, 44. Batts and David both died as a result of gunshot wounds, and their deaths were ruled to be homicides.

UPDATE: A second victim from the shooting has been declared deceased, an adult male. We are continuing to investigate the circumstances of this shooting, and this is an ongoing investigation.

— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) November 5, 2023

The extent of the five other victims’ injuries is unknown at this time, police said.

Shareef Aleem, a Park Hill resident who lives nearby, said he heard about 20 gunshots around 3 a.m.

“I thought it was firecrackers,” said Aleem, who woke up from his sleep to the sound. “For about three to five seconds, it was like silence. Then, everybody was screaming.”

He said he watched people jump into their cars and speed away in the aftermath.

On Sunday morning, the parking lot of the shooting scene and the Horizon Lounge, at 3298 Hudson St., remained closed off with police tape.

Kelly Marquez, a Park Hill resident, said she stood outside Sunday morning trying to learn more when she noticed the block was taped off.

“Over the years, there’s been crime off and on in the area,” she said. “They’ve cleaned it up quite a bit since when I was younger.”

Anyone with additional information is asked to call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-713-9867.

The Hell’s Lovers Motorcycle Club made news in Colorado in 2012 when federal agents, Denver police and other law enforcement agencies around the state arrested 19 members of the motorcycle club on various drug and illegal firearms charges.

Then-U.S. Attorney John Walsh indicted the members of the motorcycle gang on a variety of criminal allegations, including stealing and using gear from the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, possessing drugs and using Hell’s Lovers clubhouses in Denver and Commerce City to distribute cocaine and marijuana, according to the Department of Justice.

UPDATE: 7 total shooting victims have been confirmed, one of them, an adult male has been pronounced deceased. There's evidence of multiple guns being fired. The circumstances remain under investigation. Anyone with info is encouraged to contact @CrimeStoppersCO at 720-913-7867.

— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) November 5, 2023

The overnight incident in Park Hill is the latest in a string of Denver shootings in recent months with more than five victims.

Six people were shot — three fatally — on Oct. 14 at what police said was a party in an industrial area of the city, at 12445 E. 39th Ave.

A 17-year-old is accused of shooting and injuring five people outside Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row in Lower Downtown on Sept. 16 after being denied entrance. Keanna Rosenburgh is being prosecuted as an adult and is facing 28 charges, including seven counts of attempted murder and 15 counts of assault, in connection with that shooting in the 1900 block of Market St.

And 10 people, including a suspected gunman, were injured in a shooting in downtown Denver in June during the celebration of the Denver Nuggets’ NBA championship. Police have said that incident, during which at least 20 shots were fired from multiple guns near Market and 20th streets, may have been linked to a drug deal.

At least three suspects have been arrested in the June shooting.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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The Admirals Club lounge opened on Oct. 18 after the project first started in late 2019 as a rebranding for the carrier’s airport lounges, said Dwayne MacEwen, founder and principal of DMAC Architecture and Interiors. The Plaza Premium Lounge – developed in partnership with Capital One – opens to the public on Friday, Nov. 3.

DIA spokesperson Ashley Forest called the latter lounge “the first common-use lounge here that technically is not connected to an airline or credit card.”

United Airlines also recently opened the carrier’s largest club in the world in DIA’s B East Concourse, with another club planned for 2025.

American Airlines’ Admirals Club Lounge

To access the Admirals Club lounge in Concourse C between Gates C30 and C32, travelers must be flying American Airlines, any Oneworld Alliance airline or JetBlue, except for those to and from Europe. “Any traveler can pay a fee for a day pass for entry, or become a member through an annual fee or by enrolling in a special American Airlines credit card,” said IBP Media spokesperson Mayra Agredas.

The lounge includes a kids club, a lounge pavilion and a dining pavilion with a bar, serving area and seating options. “It’s about making a space that you remember, that you want to be in,” MacEwen said in an interview.

DIA is one of four airports in the country chosen for the redesigned Admirals Club lounge model, joining Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Austin, Texas.

MacEwen described DIA as “an important travel destination” that suited it for the project.

“The timing was perfect,” he said. “The airport was pushing for it as well. They wanted American to take over the space.”

Plaza Premium Lounge

In Concourse A near Gate A34, the new Plaza Premium Lounge can be accessed every day from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. by any passenger – regardless of airline or credit card – if they pay the $65 daily fee and reserve their slot online on its related webpage.

If the passenger is a Capital One cardholder, then they can check their benefits on the bank’s website to see if they qualify for free entry.

The lounge features shower suites, relaxation rooms, a conference room, prayer rooms, nursing rooms, a children’s area, food stations and a bar, Forest said.

The project has been in the works for a couple of years. DIA is only the third airport in the U.S. with a Plaza Premium Lounge, along with Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Dallas and Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Fla., she added.

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Eleven years later, the 55 year old channeled his adolescence working at his father’s bar to create a space for Midwesterners to rub elbows — and, more importantly, drink beer — downtown: Cap City Tavern at 1247 Bannock St.

The successful business model of serving the state’s population of Midwestern migrants has resulted in other spots like Badgers Pub and Wally’s Wisconsin Tavern popping up throughout the city to please newcomers, with almost 44,000 moving to Colorado from the region’s 12 states from 2021 to 2022.

Although Californians and Texans have historically led the charge in leaving their respective states for the Rocky Mountains, the pipeline from the Midwest to Colorado proves to be a reliable source of tens of thousands of new residents year after year. Their reasons vary, whether it’s to enroll at a Colorado university, escape to better climates or connect with nature.

But with Midwesterners historically shaping the state into what it is today, it raises the question: Is Denver destined to eventually become the next Chicago, metropolis of Middle America?

McTaggart doesn’t think so. He also doesn’t foresee Midwesterners staying put in their home states anytime soon.

“I love Denver for its weather and its people,” he said.

When McTaggart and a partner bought Cap City Tavern during the Great Recession, it served as the territory of Nebraska Cornhuskers football fans on Saturdays, which “allowed us to pay our rent and keep going,” he said.

Eventually, to churn up business on Sundays, they decided to adopt an NFL football team, and an allegiance to the Minnesota Vikings was born. One game between the Vikings and the Green Bay Packers, they found themselves standing room only.

“We sold our souls to Minnesota,” McTaggart said.

Fans of all ages now cram into the bar to cheer on their favorite team, with regulars settling into their usual seats.

He recalls “a customer of ours who became part of our family,” hitting a snare drum during games to rile up customers into the Viking chant of “Skol!” The man recently passed way, and his daughter now carries on the tradition.

“Even if they’re losing — and the Minnesota Vikings are a classically awful team, they always lose — Minnesotans just want to be with other Minnesotans,” McTaggart said.

Which states are Midwestern?

One controversial topic for Midwesterners is determining which states actually make up the region.

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin are solidly Midwestern states. In addition to them, the U.S. Census Bureau also classifies North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri as Midwestern states. Those areas have a lot in common with the other Midwestern states — particularly the friendliness of the people — but the residents who live on the High Plains often find more kinship with the states to their west, and Missouri can be considered a Middle America, southern hybrid.

The agency considers Colorado a state in the Mountain West.

From 2021 to 2022, California had the most residents move to Colorado over a one-year span with more than 33,000 people, followed by more than 25,000 from Texas. The No. 3 state was Florida at over 11,000, followed by Illinois at over 9,000 and New York at about 8,500.

It’s worth noting that four out of five of those states also have the largest populations in the country: California at close to 39 million, Texas at almost 30 million, Florida at 22 million and New York at over 19 million.

As a region, the Midwest contributed almost 44,000 new Coloradans across its 12 states, with Illinois at the top, then Missouri with 6,100 and Ohio with almost 5,000.

But a decade earlier, from 2010-11, these patterns saw more divergence. California barely held in the top spot with 23,000 people moving to Colorado, followed by Texas at 22,000, Arizona at 12,000, New Mexico at almost 9,000 and Florida at 8,000. Still, the Midwest remained a consistent contributor with almost 44,000.

Over 40,000 Midwesterners resettled in the Centennial State from 2005-06, making it a steadfast source of future Coloradans for the past 17 years.

While Arizona and Florida entice older adults and Texas draws mid-career workers, Colorado attracts young people “based on job growth,” state demographer Elizabeth Garner said. “We have a tighter labor force than other states.”

For example, a contributing factor for Illinois residents moving to Colorado has historically been the state outperforming Illinois economically, Garner said.

But she wouldn’t call it an influx of Midwesterners — “more like a steady flow.”

She’s anticipating similar migration patterns in the future, “but it will really depend on job growth and relative competitiveness,” Garner said.

Jordyn Reiland, 30, is a newcomer to Denver. The Illinois native moved to Colorado in March from Chicago with her fiancé Aaron Sidrow.

They met in late 2019 on dating app Bumble, and their relationship blossomed through the COVID-19 pandemic. Sidrow, a 31 year old originally from Littleton, lived in Chicago because of his job at the time as a pilot at SkyWest Airlines.

He “really started to notice what Chicago kind of lacked during the pandemic,” Reiland said, as museums and restaurants remained shuttered, with nowhere to go on chilly, windy days.

In 2021, they started weighing their options for a potential move, considering both Salt Lake City and Denver. Reiland described herself as hesitant to leave, given her family roots in Illinois and fondness for Chicago.

But once she visited Denver, she changed her mind, falling in love with the access to the outdoors and the weather. Throughout the process, Reiland leaned on a friend who had moved to Fort Collins from Chicago a year earlier.

She’s still needed time to adjust. For instance, in Chicago, “I never drove my car, and, unfortunately, that’s just not really possible in Denver still, regardless of the light rail and the buses,” she said.

Still, “it’s nice to see the sun” in Colorado, Reiland said. She considers Denver “something that’s different enough from the Midwest, but it still has that little bit of familiarity.”

University recruitment of Midwesterners

Some Midwesterners move to Colorado in their youth as they pursue college degrees in the Rocky Mountain West — and, then, build their lives here.

Heather Daniels, executive director of Colorado State University’s Office of Admissions, understands that draw as a resident of 10 years who’s originally from the Chicago area.

“The opportunity to take advantage of everything that Colorado has to offer is appealing to students coming from the Midwest,” she said.

Daniels describes the state as “close enough that even the long drive is manageable,” with many affordable flight options. “I think that our students love the opportunity to explore a new environment, community and way of living,” she added.

At CSU, the 12 states of the Midwest region contributed almost 2,200 undergraduate students for this year’s fall semester, with the highest numbers from Illinois at about 800 and Minnesota at over 300, according to its Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Effectiveness.

That’s more combined than the 2,100 undergraduate students from California and 1,100 from Texas, with a total of more than 24,000 undergrads at CSU. Midwesterners made up 10% of first-year students to apply, and 9% of enrolled students.

One of the university’s regional recruiters is in the Chicago area, covering Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, while another counselor travels throughout Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and Kentucky to connect with prospective students.

The University of Colorado Boulder typically recruits prospective students from Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana and Ohio, expanding this year to include Missouri and Wisconsin, spokesperson Nicole Mueksch said.

“Illinois tends to be one of our top represented states among our first-year classes,” Mueksch said. It ranked as the No. 3 state for the fall 2023 and fall 2022 first-year classes — and the No. 2 state for the entire fall 2022 out of the state undergraduate population.

This year, about 8% of the university’s undergraduate first-year student population hailed from the Midwest, with 579 students representing all of the region’s states except for South Dakota. The top three states ranked as Illinois, Minnesota and Ohio.

That’s a slightly higher percentage than a decade earlier when Midwestern students made up about 7% of the first-year undergraduate class of 2013, with 395 students. Still, the top states remained the same.

“In addition to the strong academic programs our campus provides, prospective students from the Midwest have expressed interest in attending CU Boulder to be in close proximity to the Rocky Mountains for outdoor recreation activities like skiing and snowboarding,” Mueksch said.

The college also “provides them the opportunity to attend a state school that is smaller in student population than some of their in-state options,” she added.

“We’re still here”

Sam Gettleman, 30, first considered a move to Denver after looking at CU Boulder and the University of Denver as potential college options. Ultimately, the native of Deerfield, Ill. — a “quaint suburbia” outside of Chicago, he said — opted for Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Gettleman “basically spent the first 22 years of my life in that gray weather that I just kind of accepted,” he said.

But Colorado never strayed far from his mind. He’d stay at a family friend’s home in Vail during his spring breaks to ski and snowboard.

Then, in late 2015, he received a text from his best friend who quit his job in Cincinnati and planned to resettle in Denver.

At the time, Gettleman only knew a few Midwestern friends in the area — all of whom decided to go to college in Colorado and stay after graduating. He considered it a nontraditional choice for Midwesterners, outlining the typical path as attending one of the Big Ten Conference universities, joining Greek life and securing a job in Chicago.

But he signed a six-month lease in Denver anyway, with a back-up plan to move home to Deerfield if it didn’t work out.

“We’re still here, coming up on eight years later,” Gettleman said. A resident of the Capitol Hill neighborhood, he’s fond of its walkability, with easy access to both green space and downtown.

So, is Denver destined to turn into the next Chicago? Gettleman disagrees.

Real estate developers would “need to build up and out so much to catch up to Chicago, but I think that’s a good thing,” he said.

“The stereotypical thing of Colorado is, it’s just a lot more laid-back,” Gettleman said. Denver is “a lot quieter, but you still have that city feel, which is what I love.”

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