A tale of 3 cities….My first adventure in small town advocacy
Okay- so maybe not quite “cities”…. Cope, Anton and Idalia are technically listed as “villages”
I happened to land in Cope in a quirky twist of fate… You see, many years ago, we bought a café sight unseen on a handshake at a football game in Denver. That’s another story.
Cope had a population of 97. We helped grow it to 101.
Now, if you’ve ever lived in a very small rural community, you KNOW that revenue is hard to generate and so is entertainment.
We had the bright idea of starting “Café Racing”one summer. We had a little go- cart, and so did another family in Anton (pop 20) and another in Idalia (pop 115 +/- at the time)
So, we decided that to drum up business for each café in our towns,we would race around the café in Cope one weekend, and the other towns the following weeks… and then repeat. ~you could call it ‘Redneck Revenue’~
It only lasted a few months, but it was fun and did what it was supposed to do.
~Yes~ our little homemade go carts were wildly unsafe… kids strapped in with old back braces screwed to plywood and borrowed bike helmets…. But we all made it safely and the kids still talk about that summer.
Café Racing was a lesson in cooperation and collaboration with other towns. It was the start of “could be’s” Which led to other adventures….and bright ideas

Part of the “Toasties” café crew ~ Carmen, Dale, Jens & me
Now I am using over 25 years of gained knowledge to help others get things started in their communities and learn to connect with neighboring towns.
~Katy~
Posted on June 6, 2016, in Uncategorized and tagged a sell is a sell, business, earning a country living, entreprenuer, fun in the country, Humor, lessons learned, Main Street, making money in small towns, marketing your small town, redneck revenue, rural community, rural roots, Small Biz Survival, Small business, small town advocate, small town customer service, small town lessons, small town speaker, small towns, Small Towns thinking regionally. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.
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