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Colorado - Wed. 08/19/26 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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MISSION FOODS SHUTTERING ITS PUEBLO TORTILLA PLANT
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Mission Foods, the largest tortilla producer in the U.S., informed the state that it will close its plant at 2110 Santa Fe Dr. in Pueblo and lay off 90 workers. “The entire facility will be closed and all employees at the facility will be impacted. This closure is expected to be permanent,” Kevin Shuman, the company’s director of human resources, informed the Colorado Dept. of Labor and Employment in a letter dated Aug. 14. Shuman said workers would be laid off from Oct. 13-27, which complies with the 60-day notice required under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. But United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 said the plant closure was immediate. Workers, including some who had been at the plant for more than four decades, were told to pack their belongings and leave immediately, resulting in both tearful and angry farewells, according to the union.
The plant traces its origins to Candelario “Candy” and Cedelia “Sadie” Estrada, who opened a popular family restaurant in Pueblo in 1956. So many customers requested their home-style tortillas that they opened a commercial production facility a few years later and shut down the restaurant. Their tortillas became part of Pueblo’s culinary heritage, and the plant provided stable jobs for decades. Mission Foods is a subsidiary of Gruma S.A. in Mexico, a conglomerate with nearly $5 billion a year in revenues controlled by billionaire Juan Antonio González Moreno and his family. In June, Pueblo had a 5.6 percent unemployment rate, the highest of any metro area in the state and well above the 3.9 percent unemployment rate statewide.
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VAIL ANNOUNCES 2026-27 OPENING DATES FOR ITS COLORADO SKI RESORTS
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On Tuesday, Vail Resorts announced its anticipated opening dates for the 2026-27 ski season, as enthusiasm for a possible Super El Niño drives hopes for a powdery winter.
- Breckenridge Ski Resort is the first scheduled to open on Nov. 6
- Followed by Vail Mountain on Nov. 13
- Beaver Creek Resort and Crested Butte Mountain Resort on Nov. 25
- As always, Keystone Resort will open as soon as possible in October in hopes of being the first place available for skiing in Colorado. (Lifts started turning on Oct. 25 last year.)
Vail Resorts is hoping to bounce back after a lackluster 2025-26, during which visitation to its resorts dropped 12.5 percent due to abysmal snow conditions. That’s one reason the company has invested more than $100 million in snowmaking throughout its network of resorts over the past 10 years. New this season, Vail is ramping up “white glove” amenities and elevating its food offerings to keep loyal guests coming back.
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INVASIVE, INSATIABLE MUDSNAILS HIT CARTER LAKE
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New Zealand’s worst export, the voracious and self-cloning mudsnail, have invaded Carter Lake reservoir for the first time, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials announced Monday, part of a dangerous invasion that has fast-crawled its way up the Front Range. The female New Zealand mudsnail can clone itself, meaning just one gastropod in a pair of waders or boat bilge can launch an infestation and quickly result in hundreds of thousands of snails per square meter. The snails survive a bird’s digestion so can be spread far and wide, and they have no nutritional value and can thus starve fish carefully stocked by local wildlife managers. The mudsnails eat up all the algae and aquatic life otherwise consumed by important insects, depriving other species of food. Their dense multiplication also clogs up reservoir inlets and outlets as well as recreational structures.
“To limit potential further spread, watercraft that have boated on Carter Lake should expect thorough inspections and, in some cases, decontamination when arriving at other bodies of water,” CPW said in a release. Warning and advice signs will be placed at Carter Lake, which is west of Berthoud in Larimer County. The mudsnails, which have clogged lakes from Ontario to Zurich, were first found in the Boulder area watershed in 2004, according to an interagency task force. Longmont found them in St. Vrain Creek, between Longmont and Lyons, in 2022.
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SEARCH FOR DENVER AIRPORT CEO BEGINS
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The City and County of Denver is looking for a new CEO to replace Phil Washington, following his retirement this month and has hired a top search firm to do so. Denver announced last week it tapped Korn Ferry, a premier executive search firm, to lead a global search for someone to lead DIA, one of the busiest airports in the U.S. An official job posting will be available in the next few weeks, the city said. The announcement detailed the timeline for finding Washington’s replacement.
Washington, who has more than 50 years of experience in military and public service, was nominated by then Mayor Michael Hancock and confirmed by the Denver City Council in 2021 to lead the fourth-busiest airport in the U.S. He spearheaded the airport’s Vision 100 and Operation 2045; two long-term master plans aimed at preparing the airport to support 100 million annual passengers and more. The city named Dave Laporte, the airport’s chief operating officer and executive vice president, as interim CEO for the time being.
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SUNDANCE PARTNERS WITH CU BOULDER TO GIVE STUDENTS 'FRONT ROW' ACCESS TO FESTIVAL
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As Boulder prepares to host its first Sundance Film Festival next year, students at the University of Colorado Boulder will get special access to experts in the filmmaking industry throughout the year. They also will be able to get discounted tickets for the event. The Sundance Institute and CU Boulder have signed an agreement to partner ahead of the festival’s debut and give students opportunities to be part of the event. The agreement allows students to not only participate in the festival but also make connections with Sundance leaders and professionals. It includes cocurricular activities planned by Sundance Institute, a volunteer and internship program, a sustainability research collaboration to study the greenhouse gas emissions tied to the festival and free and discounted tickets for students.
The Sundance Film Festival will run from Jan. 21 to Jan. 31, 2027, and will be spread across Pearl Street and the CU campus. The festival selected four locations on CU Boulder’s campus to host movie screenings and official Sundance events at the Macky Auditorium, Roe Green Theatre, Muenzinger Auditorium and Old Main. More than 80,000 people are projected to take over Boulder during the festival’s 10-day run. The festival will take at least 100 students to volunteer during the event and 30 students to serve on a student advisory board to help facilitate the festival’s campus experience. The pilot internship program will be available for eight students. The festival will also host several free screenings on campus and student-only panels with filmmakers.
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TRUMP ADMINISTRATION MOVES TO KILL 'ROADLESS RULE,' BUT COLORADO HAS ITS OWN PROTECTIONS
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The U.S. Forest Service filed a plan Tuesday to strip road-building and logging protections from around 45 million acres of national forest land. The “roadless rule” restricts building roads, commercial logging and other large-scale development on a huge swath of national forest land. Environmental groups say the rule has protected watersheds and wildlife habitat from decades of disturbance. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who oversees the Forest Service, framed the proposed repeal as a way to improve wildfire prevention and give more flexibility to land managers. Last year, the Trump administration announced its intention to dramatically increase logging on public lands. Rescinding the “roadless rule” could lead to more roads that are used to access timber. Environmental groups say that because humans cause most wildfires, killing the rule could lead to more ignitions if people start venturing more into previously hard-to-reach forests.
Colorado and Idaho are exempt from the move because they have their own roadless rules developed with the federal government. In Colorado, more than 4 million acres are protected as roadless, and more than a million acres have higher protection than under the federal rule, according to the Forest Service. The public has until Sept. 21 to comment on the proposed rule and draft environmental impact statement. Once the administration finalizes the proposal, which may be later this year, it is likely to face litigation.
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PITKIN COUNTY RELEASES BIENNIAL COMMUNITY SURVEY RESULTS
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The results of the 2026 Pitkin County Community Survey were released Tuesday, with 85 percent of people rating Pitkin County as an excellent or good place to live. But affordability lagged behind, with just 8 percent saying there was ample affordable housing and only 6 percent giving high marks to the cost of living. The biennial survey assesses quality of life across 10 areas, including safety, mobility and affordability, to name a few. In spring 2026, the survey was sent out to 5,000 randomly selected households, yielding around 550 responses — 124 additional responses came in through an online survey available to the whole community. The survey not only compares Pitkin County to 400 communities nationally, but also specifically provides comparison with about 20 resort communities in the region, such as Telluride, Vail and Frisco.
Respondents gave particularly high marks to the county’s natural environment, parks and recreation and safety. But affordability stood out as a weakness. Residents expressed concerns about the availability of affordable housing, food and childcare. Traffic also remains a key point of frustration but, while these ratings came in below the national average, they remained consistent with peer communities regionally. Survey results varied across the five districts that make up Pitkin County, which includes the city of Aspen and more rural areas like Redstone, which has an estimated population of 127 people. The Community Survey results are available to the public through an interactive online data dashboard, in addition to the traditional survey report.
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MEDICAL EXPENSE TAX DEDUCTION: WHAT TO KNOW
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You may be able to claim a tax deduction for unreimbursed medical and dental expenses that exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income. Eligible expenses can include payments for medical and dental care, prescription medications, insulin, medical equipment and supplies, certain health insurance premiums, and transportation necessary to receive medical care. Expenses paid for yourself, your spouse or your dependents may qualify. Keep in mind that the medical expense deduction is an itemized deduction. So, to take advantage of it, you must itemize deductions on Schedule A of Form 1040 rather than claim the standard deduction. For more information on qualifying medical expenses and the deduction, visit the IRS: https://bit.ly/3zDg8C0
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STEAMBOAT SKI RESORT UNVEILS WINTER FLIGHT LINEUP
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The 2026-27 winter schedule of direct flights flying in and out of the Yampa Valley Regional Airport in Hayden has been released by Steamboat Ski Resort Corp. Six airlines will offer nonstop flights from 18 different domestic airports and 17 different cities to Steamboat. Portland International airport in Oregon has been added to the upcoming winter’s destinations. Nonstop flights begin Dec. 10, 2026, and run into April 2027.
Nonstop service to the Yampa Valley will include flights from:
- Atlanta
- Austin
- Boston
- Chicago
- Dallas
- Denver
- Fort Lauderdale
- Houston
- Minneapolis
- Nashville
- Newark
- Portland
- San Diego
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Washington D.C.
An $84 million terminal expansion broke ground in June at Yampa Valley Regional Airport. The project is expected to increase the terminal’s footprint by 60,000 square feet and is expected to be completed in 2028. For more information, visit Steamboat.com/flights. Flights can be purchased at the airline’s websites or by calling 877-783-2628.
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ALPINE BANK ANNOUNCES PROMOTIONS IN MESA COUNTY
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Alpine Bank is proud to announce several promotions within its Mesa County team, highlighting employees whose leadership, dedication and community focus have helped strengthen our service to customers across the region.
- Nikki Clark has been promoted from banking officer to assistant vice president for the Mesa County region. Clark joined Alpine Bank in 2020 and specializes in both residential and commercial lending. In her expanded role, she will continue supporting customers and business partners while advancing Alpine Bank's mission of relationship-based banking and community engagement. Clark will also take on additional branch management responsibilities for the Downtown Grand Junction location. Her dedication to community service is reflected through her involvement with several local organizations and boards, as well as her recent graduation from the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce's Mesa County Leadership Program.
- Carissa Crawford has been promoted to banking officer at Alpine Bank's Downtown Grand Junction location following her successful completion of the bank's Officer Trainee Program. Known for her commitment to leadership and community involvement, Crawford has consistently sought opportunities to serve and make a positive impact. She currently serves on the RiversEdge West Board of Directors and will focus on residential and commercial lending in her new role.
- Brandon Cummings also recently completed Alpine Bank's Officer Trainee Program and has been promoted to banking officer for the Clifton location. Prior to joining Alpine Bank in 2025, Cummings built an extensive career in the nonprofit sector, where he developed a passion for serving others and strengthening local communities. In his new role, Cummings will focus on residential and commercial lending.
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MARKET UPDATE - 08/18/2026 Close
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(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
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Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
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Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
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30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 08/13/2026)
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*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
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Alpine Bank is an independent, employee-owned organization with headquarters in Glenwood Springs and banking offices across Colorado's Western Slope, mountains and Front Range. Alpine Bank serves customers with retail, business, wealth management*, mortgage and electronic banking services. Learn more at alpinebank.com.
*Alpine Bank Wealth Management services are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not guaranteed by the bank.
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