By Shannon Lukens.
The Community Agriculture Alliance is celebrating 25 years in the Yampa Valley, and the grand opening of Yampa Valley Foods. That is their new store at 35 11th Street in Steamboat Springs, selling all products from Yampa Valley producers and ranchers in Northwest Colorado. This includes meat and eggs, seasonal produce, and more.
Amber Pougiales is the Executive Director, here with her dad, Paul Sachs.
“I truly believe that Yampa Valley Foods is an approachable platform on which anyone in the community can stand on and show up to support agriculture and continue to create bridges between ag and the rest of the community.”
The mission of the Community Ag Alliance is, “to preserve agriculture in the Yampa Valley by initiating and supporting programs and policies that benefit and connect producers, consumers, and the community.”
It started with a grant in 1997 from the Wallace Foundation and the board was formed in 1999.
CJ Mucklow is a board member and the former CSU Extension agent in Steamboat Springs and regionally.
“It got going because we were lucky enough to get a grant that enabled us to look at ways to keep agriculture as part of the economy and the community which is a rarity in resort towns across the west. Having that mindset here enabled us to build into what we have today, and had great leadership that actually followed through and made it happen with Marsha and other executive directors.”
Marsha Daughenbaugh is a long-time Routt County rancher and former executive director of the Community Ag Alliance.
“I think we’ve been really fortunate to have this organization in this community. It’s built a lot of bridges between the urban, the rural, the ski resort, and the businesses and our producers so we’re really lucky that it has come this far this way.”
Store hours for Yampa Valley Foods are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
Pictures from the grand opening are below and more are on the Steamboat Radio Facebook page.
