BLACK HAWK — Sometimes, moving at the “Speed of Barb” is exhausting. This is one of those weeks.
Saturday, I was blessed to be invited to speak to a group of locals about how The Mountain-Ear got to where it is and what our future looks like, after watching “Stripped for Parts” at the Gilpin Library. Then I enjoyed dinner with family in Central City.
Sunday, I took a day off. I didn’t open my computer. I read the rest of my book. I hung out at home. I made a nice dinner and I rested.
Monday I was blessed to work at home all day, other than a quick trip to the library to get affidavits notarized. I was able to catch up on billing and got our public notices uploaded to the state website. I returned a bunch of emails and called it a day.
Tuesday started early, getting work done before I had to head into Nederland for meetings. I started with a tenant meeting at my other job, going over all kinds of cool things about the building and what we can all expect soon.
Some very exciting things are happening at The Vault, including one more business opening this week. The work it has taken to get this space ready is massive. From the day of purchase, to the vision, to the implementation, it’s been a trek.
People ask me a lot, “what is taking so much time to get The Vault open?” To answer that, I'll start at the beginning, or my beginning anyway.
I came in about a year after construction started. For all intents and purposes, the building itself was essentially done. Some loose ends to tie up and, presto, it would be done. That's not the way it went though.
So what takes so much time? Well, permits. And inspections. And permits. And more inspections. And designs. And redesigns. And waiting for decisions to be made. And the pieces that fill it in: electrical, plumbing, furniture, removing unneeded equipment and replacing with equipment that is. POS systems. Internet. Security systems. Painting. So much more.
All of this was taken care of by Betters Construction (a Nederland local), one day at a time. But here we are, so close!
I was asked last year if I wanted to manage The Vault in hopes of finding people to fill the spaces and get it open. One thing I am good at is connecting people. I know a lot of them.
I looked for and found several potential tenants, and after presenting them to the owner some were selected, including Brightwood Music. Kitchen at The Vault was among that group. As well, Ink Haus Tattoo and 8236 Gear were definitely in. They all signed early in the process.
Then, the fire at Caribou Village. The fire changed some things. Suddenly, The Very Nice Brewing Company was without a home. And I thought, this fits in beautifully to take the unused space upstairs. Last to join us, 8z had been asking about a space and it was decided they would fill the final open slot.
Oh, and don't forget The Mountain-Ear has a space there, too. It contains our historical archive, and while closed to the public, will occasionally open up so people can look through the old editions.
And just like that, The Vault was fully leased.
So just after the fire, Brightwood Music reopened there (we were the first business to open our doors in the new space). Since we were already moving to The Vault before the fire, the fire just made it easier. There was nothing to move, and we didn’t have to clean the old carpets or paint the walls.
Come on—I mean, if I can’t find some humor, somewhere, in all of this, I am truly lost. I try to find humor in as many things as possible. This is the only way I can get through each day.
We are looking at a Grand Opening in May, but stop in before then and visit with those of us in The Vault. The place is full of amazing local businesses, favorite faces from the community, amazing spaces full of items ready for you to come check out.
The rest of Tuesday I worked at home on the paper. I wrote my column. I tried to rest my back, which has been in bad shape for over a week again. I’ll finish our CPA entries tonight. Tomorrow I work at the office and we have our regular staff meetings.
Other things happening at The Mountain-Ear include our Youth Art Contest, deadline April 3. The contest is open to artists 18 and under in the Peak to Peak region. More information and the submission form can be found here: https://mountainear-themtnear.creativecircleforms.com/youth-art-contest.
As well, this Friday is the deadline for the April Fools’ edition of The Mountain-Ear. We are accepting It’s Your Turn entries here: https://mountainear-themtnear.creativecircleforms.com/its-your-turn.
Check out our latest edition of the Caribou Current here: https://www.themtnear.com/stories/thursday-march-5-2026,84996 and our entire website for The Mountain-Ear here: https://www.themtnear.com/ .
You can always interact with us through our website here: https://mountainear-themtnear.creativecircleforms.com/contact-us which also includes email address and phone numbers for staff.
As always, The Mountain-Ear is YOUR community source for news, covering everything you need to know, where to be and what to see, since 1977. Thanks for reading!
