Keeping Colorado Springs Lame

April 16, 2015

 

As mentioned in the Intro to this blog, I came to the Springs as an admirer. I had visited here during college and it was a turning point in my life, when I realized how beautiful the world could be outside NJ. I had friends who went to CC, friends from college who came out to live in the Springs for the summer (my mother made me come home), I heard tales of the Springs for many years.

 

I purposely chose to come here for an internship, when I had a couple of options that were closer to Denver, where I lived. To me, the Springs is the perfect town. Its small enough to feel cozy, yet large enough to have access to everything you could want (except, maybe, seafood). It has unlimited access to the mountains and fairly backcountry hikes can be had in under an hour. Its a humble town with lots of oddities -Independent Records is still running strong here. Keep your eyes out for some Colorado Springs history. I know there was a big technology industry here in the 90s which went bust -Apple's biggest factory was here or something like that. It feels like this town is preserved from that period. I think Bruce Springsteen is the perfect soundtrack for driving around downtown.

 

Anyway, when I saw the "Keep Colorado Springs Lame" bumpersticker I thought it was perfect. Apparently it comes from the original -"Keep Austin Wierd" which has produced a bunch of spinoffs. You can see people driving around with this sticker -to me it represents an endearing reference to a town that many people don't see for its multiple benefits, but that those that sport the sticker love for them, and for its quirky "lameness." We don't have multiple versions of every type of restaurant, but we have one of each. Downtown might not look sparkly new like some of the rapidly rising Disney-esque neighborhoods in Denver, but it has its own character. Maybe it also means to keep Colorado Springs lame so it doesn't get taken over by outsiders, though I think a little bit of influx could help industry in the Springs and maybe help some of its poorer people. 

 

I've been referencing the sticker's slogan for months, and I finally decided to look up where it came from when I wanted to use it for the subtitle of this blog. In case you want to get one, the Leechpit, a retro store on Colorado in Old Colorado City, is the maker and the seller. See the link to the left for more.