Kirk C. Watkins, Ward. Summer has hit the Peak to Peak area and so have throngs of tourists making their annual pilgrimage to the mountains. Our local communities are responding, with new businesses popping up throughout the little towns that inhabit the area. One new business that has opened up is the Left Hand Stand in Ward. Located at the first turn into Ward coming off of the Peak to Peak, travelers now have a new choice for a bite to eat, a cup of coffee, or a place to relax in the shady seating area in front of the “tiny” stand.
One of the owners of The Left Hand Stand, Corienne “Ren” Mann, has a history in the area that goes back to the early 1900’s. From her own recounting of her initial foray into the area; Ren’s Great Uncle Joe Mann built a cabin in Allenspark in 1919, so she’d been coming out here since before she could walk for summer vacations. And when Ren was ready to move out into the big world, she chose a summer job as a wrangler at a local camp before moving to Lyons later that fall.
Ten years later and after having lived all over Colorado, she met her now fiancé, Isaac Gotthardt, on Facebook through a mutual love of snowboarding. At the time, Isaac was living in his hometown of Chugiak, Alaska. For three years they had planned to meet, finally deciding on a trip to Disneyland with Ren’s then 6-year-old daughter. It was then that they fell madly in love.
When asked how they ended up in Ward, she recounted that after living in the mountains where their daughter first attended public school, at Nederland Elementary, they wanted to stay local. They bought a house in the little town of Ward in order to raise their children, Akira (9) and Abel (1) and have loved every second of it.
A few months after moving in, because of Ren’s obsession with tiny homes and because it made sense for them to start hosting an Airbnb, they purchased one which was handmade by a local artist out of Santa Fe, NM. The tiny home was built with almost all reclaimed wood from an old barn in Denver that Ren felt also matched the vibe of Ward, and of their home as well.
The Airbnb business was doing well until COVID-19 hit the nation and everything came to a halt. That was when Isaac had the idea to start a coffee shop inside of the tiny home. Ren got busy researching how they could do such a thing and after a few months of tedious planning and long hours, on May 4, 2020, they opened The Left Hand Stand. The name was chosen as a play on words, to honor the curse of Chief Niwot/Left Hand.
They currently serve drip coffee, hot and iced tea, lemonade, chai, fresh baked goods made daily such as cake donuts and sweet breads, waffles and muffins, snacks and an assortment of refreshments. In the future, they plan to expand their menu to include espresso, ice cream, smoothies, breakfast sandwiches and burritos once they have obtained licensing from Boulder County. Thursdays, vegan options are available, and on Friday they offer gluten free options. Beginning in July, they will also be offering handmade popsicles and frozen treats.
Located at 201 Utica Street in Ward, Colorado, The Left Hand Stand is open this summer daily from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, weather depending. Special events are announced on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thelefthandstand. Some of the events they are planning this summer and into early fall are movie nights, spoken word poetry nights, and chess playing events. Fall and winter hours are to be determined depending on how business does this summer, and of what kind of winter presents itself.
(Originally published in the July 9, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)
