KK Patton, owner of Durango gallery Sendero, has come up with an idea to get people to check out places they might not otherwise check out in Durango – either as a visitor or a local.
She has created the “Trail of Charms,” a path that takes you from Mesa Verde to Purgatory Resort – collecting charms at stops along the way. By the time you’re done, you have a total of seven charms that you can put on a necklace, bracelet, whatever you want.
“‘Sendero’ means ‘path,’ ... so it makes sense that I would create a trail,” Patton said. “The whole idea is to drive our locals and our tourists to all of these locations and to highlight what Durango has to offer.”
Patton got the idea when she found that people were coming in and asking if the gallery sold Durango charms. She started calling around and found the same thing was happening at other locations, such as Purgatory.
“In other places, you go to Aspen, you can get a charm that says ‘Aspen.’ If you go to Steamboat, you can get a ‘Steamboat’ charm. At Vail, you can get a ‘Vail’ charm,” Patton said. “So I started talking to all the locations and told them I wanted to come up with a trail of charms that ... you can only get at that location. ... The idea is to drive people to go to the different places and to collect the charms – it’s a treasure hunt.
“Somebody who comes into town and sees the board (that shows the charms and map) might go, ‘Oh, I’ve never thought to go to the Diamond Belle. I should check that out,’” Patton said. “It drives you to the different locations – it pulls you all the way from Mesa Verde to Purgatory.”
And the charms aren’t just going to be limited to the seven – Mesa Verde, Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, Strater Hotel, Diamond Belle, Durango, Honeyville and Purgatory. Patton hopes to add other locations. “It’s not meant to be exclusive, it’s meant to be inclusive,” she said.
The charms are $20 each and are available in a silver or bronze finish. Each charm is available at its home location, except for the Durango one, which you can pick up at Sendero, 835 Main Ave.
“The idea is they’re inexpensive, they’re fun and it’s a neat way to advertise,” Patton said. “It’s a neat way to connect multiple locations and highlight that there’s a lot of cool things in Durango.”
