Durangoans migrating to Mancos
Increasing numbers choose small town for quality of life

Horses graze in a pasture just east of downtown Mancos late last week. As Durango continues to grow, more and more residents are opting for the small-town character and lower prices of the tiny burg to the west./Photo by Todd Newcomer.

by Missy Votel

While more and more residents are looking outside Durango city limits for housing within their means, at least one nearby town seems to be bucking the trend of becoming just another bedroom community. Always a haven for bargain househunters, Mancos is increasingly becoming a refuge for former Durangoans seeking a lifestyle change as well.

"We like to joke that being in Mancos is like being in an episode of 'Northern Exposure Meets Mayberry,'" said former Durangoan Tammy Graham. A 20-year resident of Durango, Graham moved to Mancos last summer with several others to the Purple Sage Ranch, 87 acres of wide open space about 4 miles north of town.

"With six of us going in on it, it made it affordable," she said.

While the deal was too good for Graham to pass up, she said she was drawn by the vibe of the funky small town of 1,110 as well.

"You might not think it, but it has a lot of pretty groovy people," she said. "It has a lot of similarities to Durango 20 years ago. It's a sort of a live-and-let-live type of place."

Graham, who most recently worked with the Braided River Peace Project and is now the Mancos director of parks, recreation and cultural affairs, said although living in such a small town can be "kind of a trip" such challenges also present opportunities.

"It's not 'if,' but 'when' this town booms," she said. "The opportunity here is tremendous to bring Mancos into the fold and make it an even better place to live. If we're going to grow, let's have it happen with people who are creative, conscious and progressive."

Like Graham, Seth Talmon, a licensed real estate assistant with the Wells Group in Durango, began looking at Mancos for affordability reasons. He and his wife, who have a young son, bought a home in downtown Mancos this spring for half of what they would have spent in Durango. However, Talmon said they also were swayed by what the town had to offer in other areas. Unlike some of Durango's more affordable outlying areas, Talmon said Mancos offered amenities, such as a natural foods store, bakery and restaurants, all within walking distance of his home.

But more so than being able to walk to get a cup of coffee in the morning, Talmon said he was drawn by the sense of community.

"There's a soul to the community; there's a heart," he said. "There's a good mix of people - ranchers, younger families, retirees - intertwining, and actually, it's working out really well."

Like Graham, Talmon spoke of the opportunity to have more of a say in the town's growth.

"People have a feeling that their voice is heard here and that they have a say in how the community develops," he said.

In addition, he said he is impressed with the forward-thinking, grassroots involvement of others in the town. "It was the progressive feel of the community that attracted us and attracts others," he said. "There are so many little, cool things that are happening."

For example, Talmon and his wife, Fawn, are using part of their lot as a community garden, which they plan to have up and running this summer. Furthermore, a Waldorf School, a nonaffiliated, private, experiential learning school for k-12, is also opening soon. Graham said the town is working on starting a recycling program as well as possibly bringing a biodiesel pump to town.

"We're trying to make the commute to Durango less daunting," she said. Recent Durango transplants Marja Goodwin and her partner, Sandy Lynn Johnson, also are doing their part to be socially and environmentally conscious in their new town. The two recently opened Jose de Mancos, a downtown café serving lunch and dinner on paper plates. While the practice may not seem politically correct, Goodwin said the plates are actually put to good use.

"We use paper plates to conserve water and the plates are composted, so we can make dirt out of our dishes," she said.

Customers head toward the Absolute Bakery, in downtown Mancos, on Friday morning. The bakery is one of the additions to the downtown scene in Mancos, which is seeing an influx of ex-Durangoans looking for affordable living and a small-town pace./Photo by Todd Newcomer.

"We use paper plates to conserve water and the plates are composted, so we can make dirt out of our dishes," she said.

Goodwin, who lived in Durango for 17 years before moving to Mancos last fall, said such activism seems to be the norm.

"Everyone who's moving here is offering something to the community," she said. "It's really cool. When we see each other, we spring ideas off one another."

Although Goodwin, like the others, cited financial reasons for her move, she said she also likes her adopted home for it slower pace.

"We left Durango because it's such a busy place now," she said.

Patty Markle, of the Mancos Valley Chamber of Commerce, said she and her husband, who are semi-retired, also have taken a liking to the tempo of the town since moving from Durango last year.

"There's a nice, small-town feel. I can walk to work when the weather's nice," said Markle, who has lived in the region for 30 years and nine in Durango. "It's a nice place to be retired."

Markle said she has seen a large influx of retirees such as herself, as well as young families coming to the area just in the few months she's been there. And also in that time, she said she's seen houses in the downtown area get snapped up quickly.

"Earlier this spring, every day you'd see a new sign up for sale, and now a lot of them are gone," she said.

Talmon said in his experience, houses in downtown Mancos don't last much longer than a week. Business is so brisk, in fact, that Durango's Coldwell Banker Heritage House Realtors recently opened a Mancos branch. Pat Janz, a 10-year Mancos Valley resident and Coldwell Realtor, said she has seen a steady increase over the years, not just of people buying in town, but those buying larger parcels of land outside of town.

"I moved here because the Mancos Valley is so charming and is such a neat area to live in, work in and play in," she said. "And there's just so many people like ourselves who are looking at it that way, too."

Of course, with an increase in demand comes the inevitable increase in price.

"The window of affordability is closing, for sure," said Graham.

Markle, of the Chamber of Commerce, noted the same thing.

"I understand that home prices have gone up quite a bit," she said.

Nevertheless, all transplants agreed that while they still harbor a certain fondness for their former home, they are quite content in their new one, which is still a great deal by comparison.

"I'll always say Durango is my home," said Goodwin. "We would have loved to have stayed, but we're just wanting what everyone else wants - a little piece of home."