The Mancos Creative District is launching a quarterly event Thursday to create a space where residents and nonprofits can meet for happy hour in Mancos.
The first gathering will be 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Mesa Verde Motel’s M Bar & Cafe, 191 Railroad Ave.
The creative district is just one of the more than 40 nonprofits in and around the Mancos Valley that dreamed this up a few years ago at the Mount Lookout Grange downtown.
“Mancos has a lot of nonprofits that serve a small community,” said Chelsea Lunders, executive director of the creative district.
Years ago, those nonprofits would meet among themselves, and they recently decided to meet in a “community-facing way,” she said.
The Quarterly Community Happy Hour is nonprofits’ way to stay engaged with one another and to engage the broader community so that they can learn more about what the nonprofits do, and to also learn about volunteer opportunities.
On Thursday, 14 nonprofits will be there, and attendees can enjoy complimentary, light finger food thanks to grant money from the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority.
They’re also welcome to bring their children – the grant money is paying for a guided kids activity so parents are free to mingle, said Lunders.
“Each quarter, a different nonprofit will host it at a different location,” Lunders said. “The next one will be in July at Medicine Horse. ... Each time it happens, it’ll have a different character and feel.”
There are three more happy hour events already scheduled, and they’re all on Thursdays:
- July 10 at the Medicine Horse Center, hosted by Medicine Horse.
- Oct. 9 at the Mancos Brewery, hosted by the Montezuma School to Farm Project.
- Jan. 8 at Fenceline Cidery, hosted by Mancos Valley Resources.
This initial event is “experimental,” said Lunders.
“If it’s beneficial, we hope other nonprofits will want to host in the future,” she said.
