On Saturday, July 17, 2021, The Ferncliff Fuel and Food complex in Allenspark celebrated its grand opening, which was a rebirth years in the making.

Holly and Cal Moore, who run Ferncliff Food and Fuel, included Spirit Hound Distillers from Lyons, BookCliff wineries from Boulder, and the band Sqwerv from Denver to commemorate the event.

Spirit Hound Distillers was present with some of their whiskey and vodka for tasting. Carrie Collins, the regional sales representative, is a native of Colorado, and her family has been in the Peak to Peak area for years. “My uncle used to be the butcher here when I was a little girl,” she said, “literally this is my backyard.” She has camped and fished the St. Vrain her entire life and was excited about the reopening of Ferncliff.

BookCliff Vineyards is a winery based out of Boulder with its vineyards located in Palisades, Colorado. The Ferncliff Fine Liquors store carries many of their products. “We have a full range. We sell many of them in the liquor store, both reds and whites,” said Holly when talking about the wine selection.

Many of the attendees had been regular visitors to the Ferncliff complex back in the 90s and were overjoyed to see the shops and businesses being reopened after many years being closed.

Roger Fahlberg has been coming to Ferncliff since 1969, when his family bought a little cabin in the area. “I’ve been running around here since I was a little kid,” he said, “and I remember Allenspark when Don Cole was running it. He had the grocery store going and the cabins going.” He talked about watching the place slowly shut down after Cole had moved out and being elated now that life was returning to Ferncliff.

Cyndi Miller, a resident since 1997, and an employee at the liquor store, is happy for the rebirth of Ferncliff. “Between the thrift store, the taco place, the laundromat, us, and the grocery store, we finally got a little community going again. It’s been over twenty years. People are loving that this is open again.”

Miller also talked about the advantages that the new businesses would bring. “Most of the locals are like me. You don’t want to spend an hour and a half going to Estes Park or Lyons to go get some milk, or a pack of cigarettes, or whatever it is you need. Oh yeah, I’m loving it!”

Daniel Ladenburger and his partner Ismael Luevano are opening one of the businesses, a taco shop, in the Ferncliff Food and Fuel complex. “We’ve been [business] partners for a long, long, long time,” said Ladenburger.

The two opened a couple of places together in the past, and when Ladenburger had moved to Ferncliff he called up his old friend one day. “He said … come up and have lunch… there’s a pizza place,” said Luevano, “I said ‘pizza? I want some tacos!” Ladengurger answered back, “they don’t have tacos. Let’s open up a taco shop.”

Luevano didn’t want to do it at first but after some convincing from Ladenburger, he was in. Due to delays with inspections and licensing they’ve had to delay the opening for weeks longer than they had anticipated but are looking forward to finally opening.

Ladenburger went onto describe his menu intentions. “We’re going to have a variety of tacos, everything from vegetarian to pork carnitas, barbacoa. We’re going to serve burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, salads, soups. And down the road we’ll do some desserts, and maybe we’ll get our tavern license and do some beer and wine.” He went onto explain, “We’ll keep our price point where we’re still affordable during the winter when people aren’t working as much.”

His wife, Caitlin Moriarty, owns the Lakeside Lucky Finds thrift store in Ferncliff. She had opened the store during the height of COVID pandemic period and has sustained through the year. She is anticipating the increased flow of customers with resolve, knowing that more customers will help her growing business. Moriarty admits having her husband opening a shop next to her was an unexpected twist. “I love it. I think it’s great,” she said, “it was really strange, but it was great the way it happened like that.”

She doesn’t consider her shop just a regular thrift store. Instead, she intends to offer collectibles and antiques as well as other valuable items, along with the standard thrift store fare. She is currently open from Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. She accepts donations during normal business hours, but if there are larger items that require assistance lifting, she requests a call before arrival.

Dylan Faflick owns a music lesson store in Ferncliff. He brought in the band Sqwerv for the event. He had met the band at University of Colorado Denver where he had studied music. Dylan teaches guitar, ukulele, and bass, charging fifty dollars an hour.

Natasha Jones, who recently moved to Allenspark from Houston, Texas, with her husband, Chase, explained the attraction for them. “Ferncliff wasn’t open when I got here. I’m excited about everything. I’m excited about the taco shop, we have an amazing chef, I’m excited about Caitlin’s thrift store, it’s starting to thrive. Cal and Holly [Moore] have done amazing things with the store and they’re only going to do better. There’s no downhill, there’s only uphill.”

For more information about Ferncliff including and hours of operation go to http://fernclifffoodandfuel.wixsite.com/ specials.