In the tiny foothills town of Jamestown, residents are in a full-on sprint to buy the building that houses the Jamestown Mercantile Cafe after learning the property is on the market. The Merc is the town’s lone restaurant and unofficial living room, where music nights, pizza, and weekday chatter knit together a community of just a few hundred people. Locals say losing the building would tear a hole in Jamestown’s social fabric.
Community Campaign Launches
To keep that from happening, residents formed a new nonprofit, Save The Merc, which says it plans to buy and steward the property and has set a $1.5 million target, according to Save The Merc. Organizers told reporters they had raised more than $100,000 in the campaign’s first months and estimated it could take about a year to hit the goal, CBS News reported.
What The Merc Means To Jamestown
Built in the late 19th century, the Mercantile has done a little bit of everything over the years: cafe, music venue, gallery, and general store. It keeps Main Street lively and gives locals and out-of-towners a place to collide in the best way. Boulder Reporting Lab and public radio station KGNU have both highlighted the Merc’s role as a cultural hub and chronicled owner Rainbow Shultz’s push to keep the space community-run.
Where The Money Stands
Fundraising has picked up since the campaign launched. By late May, donations had reached roughly $33,000, and at the same time, the nonprofit secured an exclusive window to negotiate a purchase, The Colorado Sun reported. The outlet also reported that the building’s owner signed a letter of intent giving the group time to raise funds toward an asking price of $1.5 million. Organizers told CBS News they have since passed the six-figure mark in donations.
Neighbors, Musicians And Fundraisers Pitch In
The save-the-Merc effort is pulling in help from far beyond Jamestown’s few streets. Local and touring musicians with ties to the cafe are lending a hand: promoters say Gregory Alan Isakov will donate 1 dollar from certain ticket sales to the campaign, according to event listings on Higher Ground. A series of benefit events, including a July honky-tonk fundraiser at a nearby venue, will send proceeds to the cause, organizers say. The group running the drive is organized as a 501(c)(3), the Save The Merc website notes.
How To Help
Donations and details on volunteer opportunities are available through the campaign’s official online form. The nonprofit’s fundraising platform, Zeffy, lists giving tiers, upcoming benefit events, and contact information for people interested in hosting fundraisers or discussing major gifts.
