Cloudcroft's Commercial Kaleidoscope: A Whirlwind of Business Changes
Bigfoot's big exit, Rendezvous becomes Poke the Bear, new flavors at Dusty Boots, Trestle Medical Services welcomes patients, Homee expands, Speedy Deliveries promised, and Roots take bloom. Whew!
Most of the businesses in Cloudcroft are run by entrepreneurs and boy howdy, are they busy.
Several shops have sprouted recently. And popular stores have changed hands, expanded, or gone up for sale. Here’s our business breakdown.
Going Through Changes
Bigfoot Enterprises, housed in the impressive rustic building on the corner of Swallow and James Canyon Highway, is selling both its building and inventory. Bigfoot memorabilia and installations are up for grabs, including “the Vortex” tunnel and a large animatronic sasquatch designed by the same team that builds movie props for Universal Studios.
Recently, Cloudcroft Reader confirmed with Bigfoot Enterprises’ owner, Anna Mae White, that the business was for sale. She cited health concerns as her reason for letting go of the cryptid-based pursuit. She said she “hoped the museum would stay but would make a great building for another business, like a Mexican food restaurant.”
Just up the road past the library, Rendezvous recently changed hands and now sports a new look and name: Poke the Bear. The shop still carries many goods and tees that the previous owners, Cressie and Dwayne Brown, supplied, and they remain next door at their flagship store, Mountain Magic. Poke the Bear’s new offerings include eclectic antiques, lamps, oddities, and home goods.
Dusty Boots has a new sign: Dusty Boots Cafe & Tacos & Cantina, nodding to their new menu of carne asada tacos and beer.
The former laundromat at the quaint roadside motel and cafe is also renovating. Longtime ‘Boots waitress Athie Watson confirmed (with her musical laugh) that the laundromat will become an “old-fashioned ice cream parlor” and soda fountain, hopefully by next year.
Cloudcroft Brewing Co. is under construction of a new adjoining building that will expand indoor seating. The added bar will serve beer, wine, and cocktails crafted with in-house and New Mexican distilled spirits. The microbrewery has its own Mountain Smoke Whiskey, Skywater Vodka, and Mountaintop Gin on the roster.
An upstairs room is in the works for private parties, with its own bar and bathrooms, of which brewery co-owner Jim Maynard says, “We get a lot of requests for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, those kinds of things. And so it's got a little balcony there that looks off, which will make it neat for a wedding party where the bride could throw the bouquet.”
Just up the road, signs posted at 1315 Burro Ave. state it is for rent. The space previously housed the longtime pediatrics fixture Bloom and Grow and, briefly, Welchel Chiropractic.
Brand Spankin’ New
Trestle Medical Services, located in the new sky-blue stucco building on the northeast side of James Canyon Highway, is now open for business. “As of October 1st,” they are credentialed with Blue Cross Blue Shield and also accept self-pay, Medicare, Medicaid, Railroad Medicare self-pay, Medic, Molina (though Molina Medicaid is still pending), United Healthcare, Presbyterian, Aetna, Multiplan, and Cigna. Their current hours of operation are:
Mondays and Thursdays (and “some Tuesdays”) from 9:30-11:30 a.m. and 12:30-4:30 p.m. Check out their website.
Fridays from 2:00-4:30 p.m.
Homee, the vacation rental store, recently expanded to include retail space in the same wooden Village Plaza as their original storefront. Look for the grand opening on November 1st.
Signs for Speedy Deliveries recently cropped up, boasting Cloudcroft, Ruidoso, and Alamogordo delivery services. More about Speedy Deliveries:
Available Monday and Tuesday from 8:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m., Wednesday 8:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m., Thursday and Friday 8:00 a.m.- 8:00 p.m., and Saturday from 3:00- 7:00 p.m.
Deliveries cost $1.50 per mile, with a $9 minimum, and will run approximately $30 for a Cloudcroft trip.
Advertising states that you can “call or text Charlie” at (208) 794-7793 and that they make local deliveries when in your area, including “groceries, tools, packages, flowers…whatever you need!”
Uncomplicated flower deliveries may soon be on the horizon for Cloudcroft: Local Shanna Waitt announced that Roots Flower Co. will soon open at 62 Curlew Place, Unit B. You can follow their progress on Facebook.
What’s a Tourist Town to do?
One business that keeps it rocking is the phenomenon of Mad Jack’s Mountaintop Barbecue and its line-winding allure. However, success has its price: a tsunami of chatter recently took off on the Cloudcroft Community Facebook about parking issues the incredibly motivated patrons are causing. In the comments feed, page members lobbied for increased signage, proposals to pave paradise and put in parking lots, and brought up questions about the village’s zoning ordinances.
Even pitmaster “Mad Jack” James Jackson is frustrated with the lack-of-parking problem and crowdsources for help figuring out how to manage the long lines that form at his door. Recently, Jackson posted a call for brainstorms on reducing the wait times for his bbq—and offered to buy the person with the best idea (and their family) lunch.
Mad Jack’s has been a big boon for our tourist town, garnering wide support and features in food magazines, videos, and more. What’s a village to do?
A Public Proposal
The Parks + Recreation Advisory Committee met this Monday, October 7th, and came up with a name for what is colloquially called “the ballfield” at the top of Mescalero Avenue: Elevation Park.
They plan on proposing the moniker for the Village Council to vote on at the October 15th council meeting.
Parks + Rec’s chair Matt Willett, secretary Bri Jonnes, and members Adrienne West and Amy Coor polled the handful of community folks who attended the Oct. 7th meeting, and the crowd unanimously favored the new name.
Jonnes said, “It would be neat to put the actual elevation of the park wherever we have the metal sign.” The ballfield park and connected disc golf course will be some of the highest public park spaces in Cloudcroft, with a connecting Osha Trailhead to boot. The advisory committee spitballed naming the ballfields, the disc golf course, and other designated spaces within the park to “pay homage” to notable Cloudcroft figures.
Who would you name our public spaces, such as the disc golf course, after? Let us know at parks@cloudcroftreader.com
It’s Fall, Y’all
The Cloudcroft Fun Committee, led by various community volunteers like Phyllis Turner and CJ Beers, is sponsoring a “Pumpkin Patch in the Clouds” at Zenith Park. The pumpkins will be trucked in, with an unloading party (think: barn raising) at the Chamber of Commerce on October 12th from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
The patch will operate from October 13th through the 31st daily from 11:00 a.m.- 7:00 p.m. The Fun Committee calls for volunteers to operate the register, serve as “helpers,” and read stories—you can sign up here.
The Haunted Village at the Sacramento Mountains Historical Museum is back, starting weekends from October 11th through the 31st, from 7:00-10:00 p.m. The truly spectacular (and spooky) redesign of the Pioneer Village into a haunted venue is the museum's driving financial fundraiser. Brave souls beware; gory, grisly scenes and jump scares abound—we advise taking your “littles” on the outside paths only. Enjoy, if you dare!
Do you have a new business in Cloudcroft? Let us know at hannah.dean@cloudcroftreader.com
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Does Homee have their real estate license now? In NM you must be a licensed real estate agent to be a property manager