mmccolm@valleypublishinginc.com 

SOUTH FORK - Residents from South Fork and surrounding areas gathered at the South Fork Community Building on Thursday, May 14, to explore new ways to improve grocery access and expand food choices in rural communities. 

The South Fork and Creede Grocery Conversation, hosted by the San Luis Valley Local Foods Coalition in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center, focused on practical solutions that included community-owned food cooperatives, buying clubs, mobile markets and new grocery businesses. 

Leading the discussion was San Luis Valley Local Food Coalition Program Director Jae Sanders, who emphasized that the purpose of the meeting was to present options and allow residents to decide what approach would best serve their communities. 

“I am laying out options for you guys to determine what you want to see and what you want to work on,” Sanders said. “We can be here to assist, but we’re not coming and trying to do any of this necessarily.” 

A major topic of the evening was the possibility of creating a community-owned food cooperative. Sanders explained that co-ops are businesses owned by the people who use them, allowing community members to share in decision-making and help ensure that the store reflects local needs. 

Representatives from the Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center discussed how worker-owned and community-owned cooperatives can provide long-term stability while keeping ownership and profits in the hands of local residents. 

Sanders said a cooperative model may be particularly well suited to rural communities such as South Fork and Creede, where residents have a strong interest in shaping the services available to them. 

In addition to a full-scale co-op, Sanders outlined several smaller-scale options. One possibility is a community buying club, in which neighbors combine their orders to purchase food in bulk at discounted prices. 

She noted that Simple Foods Market is willing to work with customers who want to order products by the case, often at discounts of about 15 percent. 

Another option would be for existing businesses — such as coffee shops, restaurants or convenience stores — to begin carrying staple grocery items. Sanders suggested that a local entrepreneur planning to open a grocery store and restaurant in South Fork could also offer essential foods that residents regularly need. 

“What people can’t get through other programs, they may be willing to buy,” Sanders said. 

Representatives from Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado also attended the meeting and shared information about the organization’s mobile market, which brings food directly to communities and can help supplement local grocery options. 

To support businesses interested in expanding food access, Sanders said the Colorado Department of Agriculture offers tax credits covering up to 75 percent of the cost of equipment such as refrigerators, freezers, generators and point-of-sale systems. 

During the discussion, residents spoke candidly about the challenges they face during the winter months. 

“The shelves are often bare, and what is there is very expensive,” one husband and wife said. 

Another resident noted the challenge of operating a grocery business in a town whose population swells during the summer tourism season. 

“It’s a pretty small community, but it’s also a community where a lot of people come in the summer,” the resident said. 

Sanders also highlighted the coalition’s recently completed food and agriculture assessment, a two-year project based on feedback from more than 1,300 people across the San Luis Valley. The assessment identified four major priorities: community education, support for food producers and businesses, food access and environmental stewardship. 

“We’ve really been trying to get as much community input and expert input from our region in these reports,” Sanders said. 

By the end of the evening, residents left with a better understanding of the many options available and a renewed sense that improving grocery access in South Fork and Creede will require cooperation, creativity and strong community involvement.