Business

By Chantelle Pence Emma’s Food of the Southwest sprang up along Main Street in Alamosa in 2017, but the restaurant’s roots run deep and can be traced back to one of the first families to settle in the San Luis Valley. The original Emma—Emma Espinoza—began serving burgers and red chili as a side business to the El Patio Inn, a historic bar in San Luis, sometime around 1954. She stayed consistent with her recipes, and eventually expanded to create Emma’s Hacienda, a successful establishment that attracted loyal customers for over 60 years. Emma’s granddaughter, Mona Russo, carries on the family tradition...

By Kim Black Scattered along Highway 17 are greenhouses dedicated to the cultivation of marijuana, an industry that seemed to explode overnight after legalization of recreational use in 2012. The influx of cannabis growers to the San Luis Valley (SLV) has brought notable changes to our economy, population, landscape, and trajectory. The town of Moffat has seen these changes perhaps more than most with the arrival of one of the largest commercial cannabis farms in the state, Area 420. Spanning 420 acres across from the highway, the Area 420 Cannabis Business Park attracts independent cannabis farmers from all over the...