Bricker leaves an alive Greeley downtown

GREELEY — On her first day as executive director of the Downtown Development Authority in Greeley, Pam Bricker went down to the basement of a building where her office was supposed to be.

She couldn’t find it.

She laughs about it now, as she prepares to leave office at the end of the year, a time when downtown hasn’t thrived this much since there were soda fountains serving cherry cola. But at the time, in 2010, it was a stark reminder of the DDA’s presence both downtown and in Greeley. If she couldn’t find the office, who could?

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Bricker changed that, just as she changed most of Greeley’s perception of downtown, especially the minds of those who lived on the west side, residents who were more likely to go to Loveland and Fort Collins for a night out than downtown Greeley.

Many, including Bricker, 69, and incoming executive director Bianca Fisher, give credit to a rebounding economy for some of the current boom as well as the millennial generation’s love of historic buildings and a willingness to preserve them and buy into Greeley. But Fisher also points out Bricker’s background as a business owner.

“She’s a doer,” Fisher said. “Business people get things done, and they know how to innovate.

She pushed everything forward.”

When Bricker moved her Mariposa Flowers downtown in 2008, the store had its best month that July since she opened with a partner in 1984 after working at the United Way of Weld County. Two months later, the market crashed, triggering the Great Recession and the worst months most business owners had ever had. But she survived, and others downtown survived, because the rent was cheap. It made her appreciate downtown even more: It made her determined to keep it going.

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See related story on Bianca Fisher, incoming executive director of Greeley Downtown Development Authority.

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The DDA at the time had a somewhat contentious relationship with the city and downtown owners, and no director had stayed more than two years, Bricker said. Bricker was on the DDA board at the time, and after another executive director left, the members suggested she go for the job. Bricker didn’t want it at first. She was already working 80 hours a week at Mariposa and as a volunteer, including president of the United Way board. But she had three women at Mariposa who had worked with her for 20 years, and they knew how to run the shop. They also suggested she apply for executive director, quite possibly to get her out of the way.

She applied because she wanted to solve a problem: Many residents were afraid to go to downtown at night, scared by Greeley’s reputation as a city infested with gangs.

Bricker found her answer a year after she took over, in 2011, when the state legislature approved a law that allowed customers to carry around drinks in a defined entertainment district. An expert in the law visited with Bricker about how the law seemed to be made for Greeley, with its one-way streets along Eighth and Ninth streets. Awesome, thought Bricker, and she devised a series of festivals and events to cater to it. Bricker wasn’t afraid to start entertainment events. She and her husband, Al, spearheaded the Greeley Blues Jam, an all-day session of nationally-known blues artists, as well as educational workshops. The DDA called the entertainment district “Go-Cup” once the Greeley City Council approved it.

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See related story.

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Perhaps the most successful and visible of those events was Friday Fest, a free concert every Friday night throughout the spring, summer and early fall on a closed Ninth Street, with several places ready to sell alcohol in a cup while patrons mingled about or danced to sought-after bands that played funk, disco, classic rock, folk or soul.

There were other events that did well, however, including a revised Oktobrewfest, which highlighted Greeley’s exploding craft beer scene and Monster Day, a spooky weekend run by Distortions, the Greeley company with an international reputation for scary props, designs and inventions used by theme parks and haunted houses around the world.

The events attracted residents from west Greeley and showed them that downtown was a cool, even hip, place to go, one free of gangs, Bricker said. Business owners took notice, such as the Gentrys, who opened several bars and nightclubs, and Ely Corliss, who opened a small music venue and hosted several big events a year, including block parties that featured dozens of bands in one night. Now, many other cities use Greeley’s Go-Cup system as a model.

“The events are the single thing I account our success to,” Bricker said. “You have people on the streets every weekend. It’s amazing what they’ve done for us.”

Once the festivals were established, Bricker encouraged artists to show their talents on downtown buildings. The city was skeptical at first, so the DDA funded an Einstein mural by Armando Silva. It was a big hit. The city now has a program that allows artists to apply for building space to paint murals and pays them to do it. There are many prominent murals now, including art alley, where creative murals cover walls on a space once known for dumpsters and rats. The dumpsters are still there, Bricker said, but you won’t notice them, even if you still may smell them. Bricker is also involved with the Greeley Creative District, which also encourages artwork in the space between downtown and the University of Northern Colorado, which led to dozens of artistic trees that line Eighth Avenue and sculptures in Lincoln Park and other places.

Now there are more than a half-dozen restaurants, a tea house, several breweries, a steakhouse, a quirky game and comics place called the Nerd Store, a couple of boutiques, a bakery and some antique stores and other established businesses. The crowning glory, Bricker said, is the downtown hotel that opened last year and should bring in many conventions and people wanting to stay the night after, say, a night of drinking.

“Where do you take people when they’re visiting and you want to show off your town? Every town has chain restaurants,” Bricker said. “Each city identifies with and is connected to its downtown.”

Downtown is thriving, and Bricker believes her staff is ready to take over, the same way she did at her flower store when she applied for the DDA job. Fisher will assume the role on Jan. 1.

Bricker will spend more time at her flower shop and work with the Creative District as well as continue to run the Greeley Blues Jam, which is now considered one of the finest blues events in the country.

Yes, the economy got much better, and yes, she couldn’t have done it without a champion such as Bob Tointon, who owned many of the buildings and kept them clean or renovated them at no guarantee the investment would pay off, but Bricker takes pride in having something to do with downtown’s resurgence.

“I’m not motivated by money or power,” Bricker said. “Downtown is special. I want to keep it alive. And I can tell you, knitting is not in my future.”