Pueblo Makes February meeting

Dave Pump and the crew from Pueblo Diversified Industries set a new, HIGH, bar for speakers at Pueblo Makes at our Feb 15 meeting. Dave gave us an overview of PDI past, present, and future, including especially their new Project: Inspire Cooperative, and then Yorell Diamond, Susan Parker, and Heather Pump gave us material for making a ceramic disk (which will be fired and returned to us at the next meeting) and for making a card from recycled paper.

PDI has served people with diverse abilities for over 50 years. See https://pdipueblo.org/. They provide pathways of opportunities for people to thrive. Their five key values are: community, dignity, innovation, joy, and tenacity. They seek to change the way we think about people with diverse abilities. They are accredited by the Center on Quality and Leadership (see https://c-q-l.org/). The Project: Inspire Cooperative is a worker owned cooperative with artisans (who own a product line, currently paper products and ceramic products), specialists, apprentices, and investors and general membership. Space is available for makers.

James Cooper (from La Veta) couldn’t make the meeting due to the bad roads, but emailed me to say that his wife cried at how pretty the card was he got her at P:IC for Valentine’s Day.

In other updates, Kurt alerted us to the April 3 and 4 Southern Colorado entrepreneurial showcase and competition. Janet talked about events at Pueblo House, especially the radio. Drew updated us on PSAS activities. Tyler and Gregory said that April is film making month in Pueblo and will have a big focus on makers. April 17 opening night will be at the library and the big event April 18 will be at Memorial Hall. Deric talked about activities of the Pueblo Urban Farming Network. I am sure I missed some other comments. We are doing so much making!

Please send me information on upcoming events and I will add them to the calendar at https://pueblomakes.com/.

We talked about getting more Pueblo Makes swag. Cathy’s company Tuxedo Ranch can put the logo on water bottles, notebooks, pens, tools, etc. Zach said that the 6-color logo cannot be printed by any T-shirt company in Pueblo. Someone volunteered to look at reworking the logo (sorry, I missed who said that).

We discussed and agreed that we should share information about issues that affect makers (such as the May 5 ballot question on whether to end the Black Hills Energy franchise agreement with Pueblo City). We discussed, but reached no conclusion, about taking a stance on such issues, including also the need for artists to make artistic decisions, such as on art for the levee murals.

I said I am consulting with David Russell on the legal form that Pueblo Makes should have. I will change my individual membership in the LCC to a nonprofit membership for Pueblo Makes. A quilt group has asked me to be a judge in a competition this spring, on behalf of Pueblo Makes.

On a personal note, Kurt mentioned at the meeting that he and I started this group about two years ago – thank you to him for urging me to call that first meeting – and I am thrilled by how we are growing and supporting each other.

We have a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/PuebloMakes and a subreddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/PuebloMakes/. Email me at janemfraserphd@gmail.com to be on the mailing list.

The new Toni and Joe’s

Toni and Joe’s at Abriendo and Broadway closed in the fall. The location reopened On Super Bowl Sunday as the Colorado Taproom. Mark and I, with our neighbor Jessi, ate there today. I hope I don’t offend them by saying it is a nice upgrade of Toni and Joe’s, while maintaining the essence of the old place. The windows let in more light, the pizza varieties are more interesting, the salad bar has a selection of greens, and the dessert menu makes it hard to choose just one. The mushrooms stuffed with spicy salmon and covered in cheese are excellent. Jessi and I drank Arnold Palmers (half lemonade, half iced tea) and Mark had a draft beer (“nice pour,” he commented). It is still a good neighborhood bar/restaurant, but nicer.