{"id":8605,"date":"2018-12-28T13:06:34","date_gmt":"2018-12-28T13:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=3290735"},"modified":"2018-12-28T13:06:34","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T13:06:34","slug":"pot-took-parachute-from-bust-to-boom-but-competition-is-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/pot-took-parachute-from-bust-to-boom-but-competition-is-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"Pot took Parachute from bust to boom, but competition is coming"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/pot-took-parachute-from-bust-to-boom-but-competition-is-coming\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>It was 2015, and the situation in Parachute was hitting bottom.<\/p>\n<p>Natural gas prices had collapsed, and the town halfway between Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs on Interstate 70 was staring at a budget crunch the likes of which it had rarely seen.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\">\n<p><em>On Jan. 1, 2014, Colorado became the first U.S. state to allow legal recreational marijuana sales. It was sold to voters as a way to fix up crumbling schools, but that\u2019s only the start of where the hundreds of millions of tax dollars has gone, according to Denver Post reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Sales tax revenue had shrunk by more than $200,000 from the previous year, and Town Manager Stuart McArthur was preparing for a possible curtain call for the 1,100-population community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRestaurants were closed; hotels were closed,\u201d McArthur said. \u201cWe had to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That something was cannabis. After voting down legal pot sales in 2013, Parachute\u2019s town council revisited the issue two years later. In fairly short order half a dozen pot shops, including Colorado\u2019s only drive-through weed store, sprung up.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3310523\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter size-article_inline\"><img class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/pot-took-parachute-from-bust-to-boom-but-competition-is-coming.jpg\" width=\"5568\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/pot-took-parachute-from-bust-to-boom-but-competition-is-coming.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/pot-took-parachute-from-bust-to-boom-but-competition-is-coming.jpg 620w,https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/PARACHUTE-12-01-2018-JA-6189a.jpg?fit=780%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 780w,https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/PARACHUTE-12-01-2018-JA-6189a.jpg?fit=810%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 810w,https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/PARACHUTE-12-01-2018-JA-6189a.jpg?fit=630%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 630w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n<p>Joe Amon, The Denver Post<\/p>\n<p>The Tumbleweed Parachute Dispensary features a drive thru window at their flagship location in Parachute.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Parachute\u2019s sales tax revenues have bounced back from a low in 2015 of $831,000 to a projected take of nearly $1.6 million this year. The town hired a new cop and fortified its public works department with more staff.<\/p>\n<p>But new trouble may not be far away, as more and more towns along the I-70 corridor in Garfield and Mesa counties get into the cannabis game. Palisade, which is on Grand Junction\u2019s doorstep, opened its first recreational pot shop just over a year ago, while De Beque has been slinging weed for a bit longer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Palisade opened, it took the Grand Junction market,\u201d McArthur said.<\/p>\n<p>He estimates the two towns together have bitten into Parachute\u2019s sales by about 20 percent.<\/p>\n<p>And now competition is increasing from the east, where just last month Rifle \u2014 a mere 19 miles down the highway \u2014 approved recreational marijuana sales. <\/p>\n<p>McArthur said Parachute still holds a trump card when it comes to capturing customers, most of whom are drive-by travelers plying I-70 in both directions. <\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3310519\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter size-article_inline\"><img class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/pot-took-parachute-from-bust-to-boom-but-competition-is-coming-1.jpg\" width=\"5568\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/pot-took-parachute-from-bust-to-boom-but-competition-is-coming-1.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/pot-took-parachute-from-bust-to-boom-but-competition-is-coming-1.jpg 620w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/PARACHUTE-12-01-2018-JA-5962a.jpg?fit=780%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 780w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/PARACHUTE-12-01-2018-JA-5962a.jpg?fit=810%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 810w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/PARACHUTE-12-01-2018-JA-5962a.jpg?fit=630%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 630w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n<p>Joe Amon, The Denver Post<\/p>\n<p>Clouds descend on Battlement Mesa above the town of Parachute.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what we have going for us \u2014 easy on, easy off,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>But even so, Parachute is planning for a future where neither natural gas nor marijuana is a prime economic engine. With the Colorado River flowing through the center of town, McArthur said outdoor recreation is a natural target for economic development.<\/p>\n<p>The town has already used marijuana tax revenues to upgrade a basketball court and build a boat ramp into the river. It is negotiating the purchase of a 35-acre island in the river for campsites.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe wouldn\u2019t have been able to pay for all these things without marijuana,\u201d McArthur said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>After voting down legal pot sales in 2013, Parachute&#8217;s town council revisited the issue two years later. In fairly short order half a dozen pot shops, including Colorado&#8217;s only drive-through weed store, sprung up. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5062,52,6907,6811,6857,8052,6813,6848,77,6815,5667,6858,9,5019,441,8018,8038,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[5063,2632,6909,6816,6859,8053,6818,6851,2655,6820,5673,6860,5022,3015,8022,8039],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8605"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}