Long time locals, do you remember the “Howdy Partner” parking tickets? Back in the day the meter maids would leave a cutesy imitation parking ticket on first-time parking offenders with out of state license plates. A gentle reminder to our tourists to pay their meters before hitting them with an actual ticket. Gone are the days, but the sentiment is a nice encapsulation of the local Durango spirit. Friendly, welcoming and a wholesome nod to the old west cliché.
Our quintessential mountain town is continually growing (yes, to the dismay of some) but living here it’s easy to understand why others want to relocate to our little slice of heaven. Somehow the secret of the magic in these mountains made it’s way beyond our borders and continues to entice those looking for a more mellow pace of life.
As custom home builders we’re certainly a part of ushering these transplants into our community. Some building second or vacation homes, but many relocating full time. Of course there’s some education that comes with the territory when people do relocate.
“Yes, the City Market parking lot really is always that much of disaster…actually both are” or “Yep, a majority of restaurants do close by 9pm” or “No, it’s not unusual for us to get this much snow”. And “Durango Time” is absolutely a thing.
Facetious anecdotes aside, Durango does operate differently than most metropolitan communities, especially when it comes to construction. There aren’t a dozen different tile setters (at least that perform to our standards) to have bid jobs. Our welder who does custom work doesn’t have a website or a portfolio to show you because he’s a one man show working in the field all day. The painters do have to charge that much because material costs have increased and they also need to account for increasing costs of living.
We typically work with the same subcontractors on all of our projects because they’re the best of the best and our longstanding relationships equate to loyalty and exceptional work. So with that slower pace of life comes the acceptance that other things might be a little slower too, including shipments and freight. All this is said not to be snide, but realistic. Like all things in life, sometimes we have to make small compromises in order to focus on the bigger picture of what we want.
And on the flip side, us locals can choose to focus on the negatives of a growing and changing community, or we can embrace the change and welcome new neighbors with open arms and a “Howdy, Partner”, cliché and all.