If you live in the Palisade area, Tammy Craig probably knows what the inside of your house looks like. Twenty years of helping people sell and buy houses will do that to you!
An entrepreneur at heart, when the space next to her brokerage, Fruit & Wine Real Estate, became available, Tammy also added gallery owner to her resume. The Craig Galley recently had their grand re-opening, with a new format, new artists, and new hours.
I caught up with Tammy in her office in downtown Palisade to hear more about her art and the artists who are showing at The Craig Gallery. We also talked about her path back to Palisade, why Palisade is such an unusual place to buy and sell real estate, and the surprising reasons that she, as a seller of real estate, isn’t very into subdivisions, Airbnbs, and VRBOs.
We also touched on the tensions that long time residents have felt as so-called city people (like yours truly!) have moved into Palisade over the past few years. But not in a Facebook-comment kind of way – in a thought-provoking way that should make us newbies pause and realize that, if we’re very lucky, we’ll be saying the same things twenty or thirty years from now.
For more info on Fruit & Wine Real Estate: fruitandwine.net or The Craig Gallery: craiggallerypalisade.com
Music by Romarecord1973 from Pixabay.
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Transcript:
Welcome to Postcards from Palisade, the podcast about the people and places that make this slice of western Colorado wonderful. I’m Lisa McNamara.
If you live in the Palisade area, Tammy Craig probably knows what the inside of your house looks like. Twenty years of helping people sell and buy houses will do that to you.
An entrepreneur at heart, when the space next to her brokerage, Fruit & Wine Real Estate, became available, Tammy also added gallery owner to her resume. The Craig Galley recently had their grand re-opening, with a new format, new artists, and new hours.
I caught up with Tammy in her office in downtown Palisade to hear more about her art and the artists who are showing at The Craig Gallery. We also talked about her path back to Palisade, why Palisade is such an unusual place to buy and sell real estate, and the surprising reasons that she, as a seller of real estate, isn’t very into subdivisions, Airbnbs, and VRBOs.
We also touched on the tensions that long time residents have felt as so-called city people (like yours truly!) have moved into Palisade over the past few years. But not in a Facebook-comment kind of way – in a thought-provoking way that should make us newbies pause and realize that, if we’re very lucky, we’ll be saying the same things twenty or thirty years from now.
Keep listening to hear all that and more, on today’s Postcard from Palisade.
TC: I’m Tammy Craig that’s it that’s how I would introduce myself I don’t usually lead with what I do okay I usually just lead with me so
LM: always have the train in the background so what do you do
TC: I’m a Realtor first I’ve been a fruit and wine real estate opened in 2004 in the part-time chamber of commerce building that was over in the old bank building and my broker came from ReMax Two Rivers and she wanted to open out here so her and I opened the office and then I bought it from her in 2007. and I’ve been doing that ever since we were over by the distillery in the old train depot over there
LM: that would be a cool office location I love that building
TC: it’s a cool building so the the guy who bought it was run down and he redid it and he was a builder and so we worked for him for a while but it was a real fun place to be and then the distillery came in shortly after that and grew their business right there and the worst part about it was the train because you get fight or flight right there so the door my door was right there and I think I’m okay I’m okay but you’re right in that pattern
LM: oh yeah T
C: and I would have to fight the urge to go I need to run now so we did that for a long time and then it was two thousand ten nine um Diana Fritzler and Mary Mansfield who are friends of mine had the Twisted Brick Art Studio here Dave and Mel Treadway own the building and they bought it he put his workshop in the back and the artist came here my lease was up over by the distillery so um they asked me if I would put my office here so we were up front where it is now and then when they left there was a Etsy shop over there
LM: okay
TC: for a couple years very busy Etsy shop but it wasn’t open to the public it was all mail order stuff and then when they left I talked with David and Mel they said we don’t care what you do you just do it and so I thought okay I’ll put it put a gallery over there and so we opened as an exhibition space in 2016 on that side so real estate comes first it’s the one that supports and sponsors the art gallery and um and then I’m an artist so I we just did that and we did exhibitions and anybody could enter and we had themed shows so um I think it’s still going to be on our website when we revamp if people want to look at past exhibitions they’re very cool and um so we were doing that
LM: okay so how did you decide to open a gallery like how how was that something you always wanted to do or what
TC: I’m an entrepreneur first I thought you know as I I was a librarian in the past in a past life and I when that you don’t make much money doing what I was doing which was in a small town in Grand Lake and then I was librarian in Granby and um the opportunity to be a computer consultant came up because there wasn’t anybody to do it so we had to take our library computers and haul them all the way to Denver haul them back and I was like well that doesn’t work so I just started kind of teaching myself how to how to work on what we had then I had people start asking me to go home with them and help them and so I started doing that at night and then I switched over to doing that I did that for about three years IT stuff
LM: okay
TC: in Grand County and then I bought a restaurant
LM: oh my gosh
TC: I just and that’s when I went I think I’m an entrepreneur because you know opportunities arise and you go hmm I think I could do that I I fully understand when I can’t
LM: yeah
TC: an opportunity arrives and I go yeah that’s a good idea but it’s not for me but I Mary and Diana encouraged me I’ve been painting and drawing since I was little but um so I talked to Diana and she said well you can’t you’re not a serious artist until you have at least 15 uh pieces so I set about doing 15 pieces once I did that I went okay all right so I was actually in the Blue Pig Gallery for a while I did that for a year okay but it kind of interfered with my real estate practice which is where I make money so I when this came open I was like okay I’ll just invite people to come here so I can do my real estate practice and play art for a little bit
LM: yeah right next door that’s really nice that’s convenient
TC: it’s really nice yeah
LM: and I did see all the past shows on still on the website
TC: did you see the fear one
LM: I didn’t look through the I didn’t look through that one should I check that out
TC: yes it was on the first one so the first one we did was flowers and then mud and then I did a fear show in in October I’ve had two of those but the first one was the best one for sure we had a when you do it that way it’s younger artists who are poorer so they just can pay the entry fee for three months and do it you know this is a different type of gallery operation the format is different but so I had young so I had machetes not machetes um what you cut chicken up with
LM: oh like a oh gosh
TC: what are they called
LM: I want to say hatchet but that’s not right either like a cleaver
TC: cleaver
LM: okay
TC: and uh some young artist did like tattoo work on cleavers and they were in a box that was beautiful and I had some gourd work and Jasmine Maples is one of the first ones that came with me and Sandy McCabe she was a client of mine from real estate and when I sold their house I was kind of helping them move a little bit and because she’s a friend and I was like why aren’t you showing this stuff so she came in with us and there were some people who who you know on and off there’s about three or four of them that are in there now have shown with us on and off over time so it was fun
LM: yeah and I love an idea of just here’s a topic and seeing how everybody interprets it
TC: so normally I did this um cars and stuff but then when I started doing themes like one of them Jim Cox he’s lived here for a while and he’s a photographer he’s I think he’s retired now but he used to do all our real estate uh work and took our office photos and a lot of other photos so we did a five five photos so the artist had five photos as reference of Jim’s and then everybody did something and so that’s one of those I had just come from Washington DC and the Hirschhorn Museum of Contemporary Art uh Smithsonian Museum I was inspired so that’s uh bubble wrap and uh he had a photo that had it was winter photo and it was leaves that were crystallized over rocks at like a dry stream bed and so I fussed about and fussed about and I went oh bubble wrap that’ll do it and so anyway that this one is we had had two Masters shows and so that is in the style of Lautrec Toulouse-Lautrec he painted on cardboard very loose and did oil color almost like watercolor so it’s very thin lots of layers and so that was fun I would have never done that if we weren’t doing themes so we’ve had cubism a bunch of different stuff so it was fun um but then when I was thinking okay it’s a lot of retail space and it’s needed to make more money per square foot so came back from somewhere and I heard Kay was on the loose and so and so we talked and she said she’d be interested and I said why not
LM: yeah
TC: I have the space so um this is where we are
LM: yeah so you recently closed and remodeled or spent a month remodeling and just reopened today
TC: yeah do you want to see or do you want me to tell you about it
LM: tell me about it and then I definitely do want to see it but yeah tell me about it for the people who are just gonna listen to it
TC: sorry I’m crunching ice
LM: that’s ok, it’s hot
TC: um so I had for people who have been here a long time artists are for the most part older because that’s when you have the time to practice so the so for artists who were practicing in Grand Junction a long time ago the art on the corner in Grand Junction was started by a group of sculptors when they were young things and they put it all together and Dave Davis was one of those and he did a thing called paint the piece so I felt oh scared oh no so I got a hold of him through Facebook and I said can I come and he said well sure so we formed a relationship that way and he had the the walls that I have in there and he knew I was doing the exhibition space and so he asked me if I wanted to use them so I got those so I’ve had those so those those are from Dave and I have three of his pieces up front that his daughter just lets me leave here because he was going to enter them in the black and white show and they’re my favorites of his or I call him the white girls I don’t know what he called them they’re they’re drywall spackle on canvas and they’re beautiful
LM: oh cool
TC: so there in there I’ll show you those those right there that you’re touching that is Mary Mansfield and Tish Collins have did a collaboration those are prints that they did but the the originals are huge and uh they did a a process epoxy resin and and graffiti paint and they dry it and then they sanded sanded sanded and uh I’ve had a couple of the originals in here for shows but they are beautiful but they’re large and so anyway those are some of Mary’s prints right there
LM: so is the idea to make it more uh less of a monthly exhibition and more of like a permanent gallery space
TC: yes
LM: where you have permanent artists
TC: yes
LM: okay
TC: so we were we did three months quarterly exhibitions they changed and this is uh it is permanent so we’re more like traditional gallery gift shop now so hopefully we’ll get some of that traffic we’re down here across the alley on the wrong side of the tracks yeah um hopefully with your help and some help word of mouth help people will get down here
LM: so you’re going to do a grand old a grand reopening in a couple of weeks um are you gonna do you ever see in the future doing like you know I don’t know Fruita has like third Friday third Friday or some places do first Friday or things like that do you think you’ll ever do anything like that
TC: they it that’s been uh talked about quite a bit it’s there’s more traffic at night here but as you probably see we don’t have traffic at night the streets roll up so uh there’s been events and Kay was one of the ones who helped uh push art and chocolate walk and so and the blue pig birthday and and so when they had things there would be things at night with art and food and but um it Palisade has changed some so the it’s changing but they’re still not you know heavy traffic heavy foot traffic here so you have to kind of weigh that a bit when you’re a business owner and figure out what makes most financial sense
LM: yeah
TC: there’s a there’s a balance between you know you have to be open but you also have to make enough money to be open
LM: right
TC: so there’s um there’s um a balance there that it’s it’s changing but I still don’t see a whole lot back to the question some of the artists here have talked about what they call it third Thursdays or something and I think the artists that are participating are going to be doing working while they’re here especially Sunday markets because the Sunday market the town it has an emergency exit down the alley so the Sunday market blocks right there and so it’s kind of like okay don’t go past here so we’re working on that but in the meantime if people can work outside and you know just draw or whatever outside it it attracts people and then maybe we can get more in plus um we have no probably probably 20 plus artists but we would have those for our exhibitions too but these are more serious artists so um I see a lot more participation in helping get the word out
LM: okay sure so like they’re motivated to draw people in here because they’re here full time
TC: oh yeah very excited very enthusiastic and
LM: that makes sense
TC: when people uh when artists that you have have had a lot of life experience they aren’t shy about jumping right in there and getting things done and they don’t worry about much and they know what works and so we have a ton of experience over there to help with things and I’ll need it because it’s a much bigger operation than I had before
LM: and you’ve referred to Kay a couple of times so who’s Kay I mean for anybody who doesn’t know
TC: Kay Crane is uh she started with the blue pig when it was at the library um it was there and that’s when a lot of artists started there and uh much younger than all of us but uh they were there and then when the building on the corner sold that buyer bought the blue Pig business as well so it moved over so Kay was the director there for a long time and so she has a huge contact list and a lot of experience so yeah when she said she’d come here I was like I think I need you because I’m spread too thin so she could come help
LM: nice that makes sense um I noticed the mural outside is that a new mural
TC: no that’s been there for a long time
LM: okay I saw the picture of Kay with it and I was like is that a new mural?
TC: isn’t it cool
LM: it is really cool
TC: I love that
LM: what’s the story behind that
TC: the story um because we are on the wrong side of the alley I since I came here trying to track people down this way so when I opened the gallery in ‘16 I thought okay we need to do something so I was looking for a muralist that’s Matt Goss did that for me from uncanny valley he owns that gallery I think still I think he does and he came out at night and did that mural so I was in uh Savannah and there we were taking a tour and I went past this building that had protesters and it was prohibition and it was old looking and I was just attracted to that and so Matt and I collaborated I wanted more funny stuff he wanted you know we want art so we kind of compromised so I have some funny stuff up there too on the sign so it’s supposed to make you look so we did that and if you look outside it’s got Matt’s signature and I think the year he did it on it and then Rondo needed more stuff so he put up storage sheds so my great idea of having something you can’t see it but you know we try we all try we do we do what we can
LM: gotta get a mural on the sheds now like and make it extend down
TC: just keep it going
LM: yeah
TC: um but you know he needed the space and it’s fine it’s not a big deal but it did block my mural also you have to kind of know somebody who knows somebody to notice it
LM: so it’s sort of a vintage look ladies protesting they say we want art
TC: there’s men protesting too you have to look
LM: I need to look more closely
TC: yeah and some of them say I want beer there’s the old lady that the sign sideways it says my arms are tired and I think we have one reference to Napoleon Dynamite clear in the back like vote what was it vote for Pedro or something like that so there’s little nuggets in there you have to look for
LM: awesome I’m going to look for it on the way back one of the things I noticed that you do is an art drawing which I think is pretty cool is that something you’re going to keep doing going forward
TC: thank you for noticing that yes um I have uh a highly experienced professional agents and so we have past clients and most a lot a lot of my business is repeat or past and so in 20 years it’s a lot of people so we put put I think we have maybe the last eight years names in a bucket and once every quarter we draw a name so if you look back through there you see these different people holding you know they won so that’s fun and the real estate office uh buys them
LM: that’s so they get to pick whatever they want within reason
TC: yeah within reason so it’s a $300
LM: okay got it alright I could see like hmm
TC: yeah in the beginning I picked I I would pick um what I was offering as a as a prize and then I art’s very uh subjective so I thought it’s better if they just can pick so they do so you see Beck Bracken did you see the one he has the vase
LM: the vase yeah
TC: yeah so um I’ve known back a long time he’s an old farmer and I sold his property sold his home here in town helped him out quite a bit so he’s a friend and uh he won and so he came in and we didn’t have things that he liked and I was like well you got to pick something that vase uh was one of the first pieces that we bought for the office in 2004 so it has been riding around with me forever and because I needed space I started just hauling things out of here because I needed to make room and he’s like I really like that I think and I was like okay then there you go
LM: that works
TC: just come just come take anything
LM: I like the idea though it’s fun and it also it’s just another way to give the artists some more publicity and it’s kind of fun to see what people pick
TC: well it’s a nice thank you to people who use us on the other side too so
LM: yeah yeah so tell me about real estate so you said you’ve been working real estate here for 20 years in the Grand Valley not just Palisade right
TC: no it’s always been Palisade always
LM: just Palisade
TC: so when I moved here I was 44 and I thought I had skills because I was an IT person I was a had been a librarian I ran a restaurant a successful restaurant so I was like I have something to offer nobody else thought I had anything to offer so my real estate agent was taking me around and I was like I don’t know what to do you know could I make this much money x amount of dollars and she said oh yeah so I talked to my husband he’s always like you need to and he’s like you should sell real estate and I didn’t know what else to do a lot of Realtors end up in the profession that way they hit and they’re like I don’t know what to do I can’t you know and so you figure it out so that’s how I came to real estate plus the entrepreneurial thing you know kind of works so
LM: yeah so in that time um you’ve definitely seen a lot of change here you’ve probably worked with a huge majority of the people who have sold their houses here or bought houses
TC: I was like we were thinking about a marketing campaign for us and we were laughing because it’s like you know me peeking around the corner going I know your house yeah right I’ve been in your house
LM: yeah you probably have been right
TC: but it’s true it’s true I mean you know some people have lived here forever and I have not but a majority yeah we have a lot I’ve I’ve been in a lot of the homes so
LM: yeah how have you seen things change over those years
TC: uh the general population were um last five six years maybe more you interviewed Laura so about the time that Laura and Brandon came here there was kind of an influx of city people for lack of a better word and so I had three agents here that had moved here from somewhere else and since that time they’ve all brought their friends and you know word has gotten out the marketing is is a huge part and that’s been going on for 20 years there’s been CAVE has promoted the area the Chamber of Commerce we had a chamber director who was huge on relationships and pushing and the tourism board but you know it takes a while and I saw the tip about six years ago so our our population is different it was hobby farmers usually either double income no kids or people whose kids had just left home so they were retiring here and just and farming a lot of farming and the people I see now is just not it’s not the same you know they’re people who are doing what you’re doing or you know like um Laura or you know the it’s just a different dynamic plus there’s however I think they’re seventy rooftops in Cresthaven which is you know 70 homes with people and cars and and it happened it took a while for that to get going but I always knew if we had something to sell because out here people move here when they’re retired and they fix the house up and then they die there and so what I have to sell is a house that needs some work and we didn’t have anything really you know
LM: that was new like that yeah
TC: right yeah yeah so fruit and wine did Palisade Vineyard subdivision so the one by the high school we did that one an agent in my office did Blue Sage so that one and we did Montclair and those were new and now when I go in they go this needs updating you know
LM: so fast it happens
TC: yeah so the Cresthaven uh just having more homes new homes because the biggest market is for homes like that
LM: sure
TC: you know where you can go to work you come home there’s not a lot of yard and they don’t need a lot of upkeep so there was a big market for it and I knew there would be and there they are
LM: yeah
TC: so it’s changed
LM: right right and then after that they put the hold the moratorium on subdivision development and so that must have changed what you do a lot too um but
TC: it’s fine with me
LM: yeah
TC: Palisade is one square mile so you know there’s still property that can be that can be subdivided um but that push we need to absorb that in everything roads traffic school infrastructure all of that needs to absorb that and so I’m okay with it it’s never been you know my my drive I work here because that’s not my drive so my broker said she worked with conservation easement and she did a big sale 200 acres up on the hill that’s what the money she used to come here and and the land trust was out here and so when she was talking like that I thought I could do that you know the the big stuff you know the subdivision push that kind of thing it just really isn’t my style I don’t mind that they’re doing it thoughtfully and not you know just going yeah yeah you know let’s get everybody in here and do everything because what has happened in the last five years is a lot for the people who’ve lived here for a long time
LM: oh I’m sure
TC: so a little a little pause to let people adjust is a good thing so but a lot of changes you know the wineries and things they they made wine and sold it they weren’t event centers and now that’s what you have to do to make money I understand that
LM: yes
TC: but um you know everybody’s there’s music everywhere there’s food everywhere there’s and that’s all new they even like the Clarks I know them and you know respect them and they uh putting the distillery and the wedding venue and stuff out there it’s just kind of what where the market was and smart farmers like the Talbotts and you know they go where the market is and that’s where the market is now it wasn’t before but it is nice
LM: interesting yeah yeah that makes sense um what’s the who’s or what’s your favorite property that you’ve ever worked with or favorite person you’ve ever worked with in real estate
TC: I can’t tell you
LM: ahh it’s a secret
TC: no it’s just you know real estate is a I didn’t get a chance to sell it but my um my favorite property is one I can’t tell you about but it’s fabulous so behind that um yeah
LM: second favorite
TC: second took out behind Clarks there’s a contemporary house out there and it was uh Rancho Durazno uh they’re an organic farmer out that way and him and his wife built it and then they sold it and these people that came from Craig very homey comfort you know but they bought it and it is outstanding
LM: is it right on the river
TC: it’s right on the canal so if you go well there’s a couple back there actually but the how would I tell you uh we’re the Clarks Fruit Stand is at if you go just due East there’s a rocket in the yard so it’s across a canal so it’s not a traveled road but if you walk on the canal or go up behind Clarks you’ll see this big rocket and it’s on their property so they have bikes that have rabbits on them and she just has a great aesthetic and so they’ve taken this contemporary house and it has the warmth of a old Victorian but it’s totally contemporary and it is really something and then there’s one right back behind them that is uh it was built we sold the land to the people years back and they built a nice home and it’s it’s um really pretty there’s there’s some things tucked away that are surprising and I have always thought just like rooftops if we had new things to sell people would come and the I never worry when people put a lot of money into their home if you’re in the right location because there’s always there’s a a reservoir of high-end buyers that haven’t had anything to buy here and so when those come up they sell pretty strong and and well
LM: yeah that’s interesting it’s and it’s really cool to see what people do with their places I think one of the things so I just published Laura’s episode today um so you haven’t had a chance to listen to that but one of the things that she mentioned that she found so interesting here compared to where she’s worked before is how there aren’t comparable houses like
TC: none
LM: there’s no comparable there’s no comps
TC: so when I go in I go well um my gut says and and it’s after this amount of time it’s usually right but um and then you have one where there just happened that reservoir of buyers you know that have money uh occasionally drop in and over overpay for something and when you have this small of a market it really messes with your with your averages yeah so it that makes it hard too but yeah there’s no comps and Laura did subdivisions in Denver and was very good at it and you know she’s like what oh you’ll get it you’ll be fine but
LM: but it makes it really challenging for appraising and
TC: yeah
LM: yeah making sure everything holds up um and I thought that was interesting when she said that and as soon as she said that and now what you’re talking about with the different properties you really start to see that like it is every property is pretty unique
TC: the largest buyer pool is for subdivision homes that’s that’s where the main is at and we don’t have that and older subdivisions is next we have a little bit of that but not really so you know
LM: yeah well and what I think is really fun so my husband and I managed to get an older house built in 1909
TC: where did you buy is it blue
LM: it was blue we painted it
TC: okay
LM: yeah it was blue and silver checkerboard
TC: is it real pretty inside oh no blue and silver checkerboard I’m thinking of the one right
LM: you’re thinking about oh you’re thinking
TC: the really cute one
LM: yes ours was a little rough
TC: oh you got the checkerboard yeah
LM: yeah we got one that was a little rough around the edges
TC: yeah good
LM: but well what I think is so cool though is like everybody in downtown everybody you meet who has bought one of these really old houses downtown you just have all the same problems
TC: oh yeah
LM: it’s so fun it’s like oh yeah my wiring was also a disaster
TC: and maybe your foundation’s messed up it goes and you know maybe you have knob and tube and then maybe it’s all right it’s to be all right but any homes that are that old all have the same thing
LM: yeah and it’s kind of fun though because we do have this stock of really old homes downtown and people want to live here so you buy what you have and then yeah
TC: and when they’re fixed up they are really cute and very unique very very unique yeah so and everybody’s tastes are different so even within the same structure it’s they’re not subdivision homes they’re all they have personalities
LM: yeah I love it personally for future the future real estate market or the future of Palisade like how how do you see things changing like in the next five years or so
TC: well uh historically we’re due for correction but I’ve been thinking that was gonna happen for five years now and so it’s hard to tell you know interest rates being high and the prices are still holding high it’s really it’s really putting a pressure on on uh people who aren’t well moneyed can’t get homes and the people who have money are buying investment homes which brings me to VRBO thank you town for or we would be one big motel room no lie one square mile of Motel
LM: right
TC: right and so I’m happy that they did that
LM: me too, yeah because you completely lose the character of our town and yeah I’ve been places where they never had a cap on vrbos and it just completely changes the feel and you can’t buy it people can’t buy entry level houses oh no it’s even hard here as it is so yes
TC: when the market turned last time the highest priced old house in town was 200. and I thought what and the last one I remember the last one that sold at that price and I went oh no you know that hurts ouch but and then it took it took eight years nine years for it to come back to 200 and then uh in 2020 everybody lost their mind and were it was like what you know locational cures you know if I run over here I run over there or whatever then life will be better yeah everybody lost their mind and so what would have been maybe time for a natural correction turned into this big bump instead and I don’t know if it’s gonna hold or not I really don’t it’s like I was saying the new uh the newer people just have a different sensibility and it’s a different it’s a it’s a new generation and so um we’ll see what that does but I know you have to make so much money to do a four thousand dollar a month house payment come on who can do that who
LM: I don’t know everywhere
TC: like I can’t I can’t
LM: I mean that’s a question anywhere like who is affording these house yeah um so just for you personally like what is the what do you feel like is missing in Palisade that you would really love to see here
TC: nothing and it was fine with me 10 years ago so I’m really excited that I can like go get like a taco somewhere you know we had a great little Palisade Cafe it was open in the morning farmers you know where Peche is at was a tea house when I they did uh you know English style teas and then she wasn’t there and then Anaris bought it and they were great I loved them that was like woo this is great and so I’m good you know
LM: yeah
TC: I we lived in Grand Lake for a long time and so you had to buy two or you had to drive two hours to buy underwear you know and so I went to town once a month and we power shopped we called it power shopping and loaded the car to the gills and the kids squished in and that’s what we did and I’m good with that
LM: yeah well and there too you could always have a chance of getting snowed in in the winter and maybe in the pass is closed or something
TC: babies
LM: oh you get through it
TC: oh yeah I had little kids at home and I had a rear rear wheel drive station wagon
LM: oh my gosh
TC: and it was old it was fine babies
LM: it’s all about knowing how to drive
TC: yeah I don’t know I couldn’t do it now I was young and stupid but then it was like whatever we got to get where we’re going load up let’s go it was good I loved it so
LM: it’s a beautiful place to be so this is completely different though Grand Lake cold kind of high elevation Mountain climate to the desert
TC: I was born here so I came back when my parents got you know my dad got sick and I came back and my mom just died in March so I just um you know it’s they stayed here so I went to school here I graduated from Central High School
LM: it was a homecoming
TC: it’s my home I’m Colorado native a fourth generation I was figuring the other day the other day no lie I lie my grandson is fourth generation I am second generation
LM: okay
TC: so edit that because I don’t want to lie I’ve been here since the beginning of time
LM: well I don’t know who’s gonna fact check you it would have to be a family member or something
TC: yeah that’s true, big liar yeah but no I’m second generation I just did a trip with my grandkids and we were talking about it and I was like you’re fourth generation so
LM: what do you have like a favorite Palisade story or a piece of Palisade history that you’ve heard along the way
TC: hmm there’s a lot
LM: working here
TC: let me think hmm my mother so there used to be packing sheds all along the railroad tracks did you know that
LM: yeah like where well I think the only one left probably is the ordinary fellow took over
TC: yeah the the building on the other side of the street was a peach co-op and where my first office was was the peach co-op so all the farmers came down brought their peaches and there were I think Lois Clark told me she was um so they had sales people so farmers bring them down the sales people would go all over the United States and sell these peaches and ice you know put them in the cars and have ice and cars while my grandmother worked in a packing shed there and my mom was very puritan and she was telling me a story about her being there being under the table and uh stealing cigarettes from the migrant workers and I went what what I just learned this like last year and so yeah just the idea of you know that um I packed peaches yeah I worked at a flower nursery where they pollinated off of G Road I rode my bike there and it was huge greenhouse all these flowers need to have a hose and suck the pollen out
LM: oh my gosh
TC: it was horrible I didn’t last long
LM: that sounds like really hard work
TC: it was hot yeah so yeah but yeah that’s probably my favorite is my grandma worked in those packing sheds and my mom was not a good girl
LM: that’s really cute
TC: I though you could have told me that a long time ago mom
LM: yeah
TC: saved her a lot of grief
LM: you could have teased her about that for years
TC: well I she’s gone but I did though I just tucked it in like I am I know you so
LM: that’s really cute well is there anything that I missed about you or your business that you want to share with anybody listening
TC: I know your house
LM: and the look you gave me was
TC: nobody knows it better but yeah there’s really not you know there’s Realtors last about three years five years and so there’s about a 70 percent attrition when people get their license so when you’ve worked with people a long time agents in the business across the valley that started before me or around the same time I don’t know Patty may know as much as me but probably not she might know your house too
LM: yeah
TC: there’s two of us old ladies
LM: you know where things are stored yeah oh man and you do you work with buyers and sellers
TC: yeah
LM: okay just to make sure
TC: everything we do ranch farm commercial residential so since I’ve been here I just do whatever business comes do what I need to do to be able to represent it so we’ve been lucky enough to do so Grand River Resort tournament for it we’ve sold a lot of nice homes long you know along the way and finally finally after 20 years I feel it takes a long time to get trust in a small town and maybe the new influx it won’t be as bad because there’s a lot of people so you can kind of you know mix together but when you’re one of the few that come it takes a long time so I feel like we’ve earned the trust and so I know your house I’ve earned your trust please use us
LM: that’s the new tagline
TC: it’s unique right would it get your attention
LM: oh yeah definitely
TC: might be scary no we laugh about that a lot yeah
LM: yeah well thank you so much for your time
TC: I’m scared
LM: why
TC: because I never know how it’s gonna be but I know you’ll be fine
LM: yeah
TC: so and thank you for allowing me to do this with you when I first saw your stuff I thought she’s doing it right and so when Laura said she interviewed she goes just ask her and I thought good because of all the things that I see going on I like what you’re doing
LM: awesome
TC: yeah it is may I show you around the gallery
LM: I’d love to yeah so let me stop this and then…
LM: …and then we went next door into the gallery and ran into Lisa Moose Kral of Dancing in my Head Photography. This is one of the big reasons why I love Palisade.
But back to the gallery – it’s a large, open room filled with art from over 20 artists on freshly painted walls with great light filtering in from the windows that open onto 3rd Street. Go check it out for yourself at 128 E 3rd Street in downtown Palisade.
If you’d like to be on the podcast or you have an idea for an upcoming episode, I’d love to hear from you. You can reach me at lisa(at)postcardsfrompalisade.com, on Instagram or on Facebook at Postcards From Palisade, the podcast.
Thanks for listening. With love, from Palisade.