Stapps’ car dealership fueled community service

Editor’s note: BizWest is profiling inductees into the Boulder County Business Hall of Fame Class of 2025.

LONGMONT — Debbi Stapp and her husband, the late Art Stapp, are among nine individuals to be inducted this year into the Boulder County Business Hall of Fame.

From an automotive dealership to philanthropic leadership, the Stapps have embedded their names into the foundation of Boulder County’s business and community landscape. Even after Art’s passing, the Stapp family continues his mission of service and giving through the Stapp Inspires Campaign.

The hall’s Class of 2025 will be honored Wednesday, Sept. 17 at the Jewish Community Center, 6007 Oleg Ave., in Boulder. Other inductees include Ron Brambila, Kena Guttridge and Mark Guttridge, Josie Heath and Rollie Heath, Dee Perry and Bert Steele.

Art Stapp and his father, Bob Stapp Sr., purchased the year-old Longmont Toyota dealership at 125 S. Main St. in Longmont in 1974. They soon moved it across the street and enlisted other family members as the business grew. Art’s brother Bob Stapp Jr. joined the team in the 1980s, and Art’s sons Brion and Clint were added in the early 2000s.

In 2007, they built Stapp Interstate Toyota along Interstate 25 in Frederick, and 13 years later installed a 53,000-square-foot canopy system there that covers more than 335 cars. The system acts as a base for 720 solar panels that generate 100% of the dealership’s power. According to the Stapp website, “we take pride that we were the first in the world to integrate solar panels with our canopies.”

The Stapp family’s mission to be a caring, contributing member of the community was formalized in 2016 with the launch of the Stapp Inspires campaign. Since then, and through the hard work and dedication of Debbi Stapp, the campaign has contributed a total of more than $1 million to organizations including A Woman’s Work, Children’s Hospital, BridgeHouse, Colorado Therapeutic Riding Center, Centennial State Ballet, Longmont Community Justice Partnership, Happy Smackah Fun Run, Able to Sail Youth Empowerment Camp, Habitat for Humanity for the St. Vrain Valley, Rise Against Suicide, Truth North Young Adult Services, Ocean First Institute, Intercambio, Colorado Friendship Mobile Food and Clothing, Firehouse Art Center, I Have a Dream Foundation of Boulder County, Imagine!, the Longmont Chorale, the Inn Between of Longmont, TLC Learning Center, H.O.P.E. (Homeless Outreach Providing Encouragement), Longmont Symphony, Blue Sky Bridge, Parlando School of Music, Longmont Humane Society and Longmont Meals on Wheels.

After Art Stapp died suddenly at age 74 on July 19, 2023, the St. Vrain Valley School District’s Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution naming the athletic fields and facilities at Niwot High School the Art Stapp Sports Complex.

Debbi Stapp carries on the family legacy. She told the Left Hand Valley Courier two years ago that “we do about 65 sponsorships a year. When we sell a car, a percentage goes into a sponsorship fund (through Denver Region Toyota Dealers Association). We get to decide where it goes. Art and the boys fought long and hard [for the program].”

Debbi continued to coordinate sponsorship efforts, joining the board of a small nonprofit known as Roberta’s Legacy, which supports women who are suffering from cancer. “No one is turned away,” she told the Courier. “The only thing we ask for is a letter from an oncologist.”

Tickets for the Boulder County Business Hall of Fame induction ceremony are available at halloffamebiz.com.

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