The town of Mancos will distribute more than $47,000 among 13 small businesses and nonprofits in the first round of the Mancos Cares Cornonavirus Relief Fund.
Mancos received 17 applications, but 13 met the criteria and were approved to receive the federal funds the town secured through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
Businesses and nonprofits that receive the funding also will receive a one-year Mancos Valley Chamber membership, which includes free marketing services.
Recipients are the Mancos Valley Chamber, Raven House, Beehive Boutique and Spa, Mancos Common Press, Old Mancos Inn, Painted Turtle, Absolute Bakery and Cafe, Mancos Grange, EcoSolutions Hair Design, Fahrenheit Coffee Roasters, Pink Porcupine, Fenceline Cidery and Lawrence Speech and Hearing.
Victoria Petersen Lewis, one of the managers at Beehive Boutique and Spa, said the business is grateful to the town.
When the stay-at-home order began, Beehive Boutique had to shut down its spa, which is “really the main component of the business,” Petersen Lewis said.
“We were basically dead in the water for two months,” she said.
Now that the spa is open, business is “starting to pick back up,” but not to where it was before the pandemic, Petersen Lewis said.
The Beehive Boutique will use the funding to order retail items for the store for the holidays.
Dana Timmons, manager at the Old Mancos Inn & Hostel, said a “huge part of revenue is international travel to visit Mesa Verde.”
When the COVID-19 outbreak began, the Mancos Inn “lost a lot of typical traffic,” which “hurt financials big time,” Timmons said.
April and May saw almost no guests, she said.
Although businesses started picking up in June and July, the hotel only received half the number of guests it does in a normal year.
“We’re very grateful the town granted us the full amount,” Timmons said.
About $42,800 is left, which the town of Mancos will give away in the next round of applications, due Nov. 30.
Money that the town is unable to grant to local businesses will be given to the Mancos School District to help cover costs for students.
