By Jennifer Pund
ALLENSPARK
Tapestry Coffee House is back. Having always loved the coffee shop and café that came before it, Rainia Anderson couldn’t bare to see her mother and sister’s hard work disappear when it closed last winter. With support of the community and a dear friend, the only coffee house in Allenspark will remain open all winter to serve coffee, provide meeting space for the community and host live music and Saturday open mic nights.

Anderson grew up in the old log building while working for her mother, Tammy Ackerman, and then her sister, Chelsea Ackerman, so she was concerned when the family decided to put the building on the market.

“I was worried that whoever bought it would close the coffee house down and open some sort of retail novelty shop,” Anderson explained, as many potential buyers had expressed those intentions. “My sister and mother had put way too much of themselves into the coffee house to have it just wiped off the grid.”

After Anderson received many calls and e-mails asking about the coffee shop, she mentioned the situation to a friend who convinced her to keep the doors open with his help. The two now plan to purchase the building and business from her family this fall when tourist season is over. The response has been “awesome and humbling,” she says.
Tapestry Coffee House, 6 Ski Road in Allenspark, offers more than coffee, they have homemade soups and sandwiches made to order, specialty loose-leaf teas blended locally and dinner specials.

Beer and wine are also served to make it a great place for a break when heading across the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway or to and from Estes Park. Anderson says the coffee house is a cozy and homey place to relax in the Rocky Mountains and catch up with old friends, or make a round of new ones. The free WiFi they offer—in a town with no cell service—is certainly a hit with folks passing through.

“My partner and I have had a blast this summer working with the regulars and not-so-regulars that have come into the coffee house this season,” Anderson says. “It makes me happy to keep the hard work my sister invested in this business up and running. We will be adding our own element in time, but the heart will always be Chelsea’s.”

Anderson says the best thing about the coffee shop is meeting all types of people. Friday music nights are always a hit and Saturday open mic night—where it is encouraged to come with your guitar, your voice, your passion for poetry or comedy to share—always brings amazing people into the coffee shop. “Plus there is the added bonus of seeing the happiness of people’s faces when they sit down and hear the first strum of the guitar from one of the musicians,” Anderson says.

The partners would like to stay open at least Fridays and Saturdays and offer music nights through winter. Depending on customer response and support from the locals, more hours may be added. “As long as people keep coming though the door Saturday nights for open mic night, we will continue that through the winter also,” Anderson said. “My partner and I have a lot of different irons in the fire to keep us up and running for the winter.” While she is not ready to share those plans yet, stop in often to see what she has up her sleeve.

©MMAC Monthly – Published in September 2014 issue of the MMAC Monhtly