08/20/2026
Does This City Really Suck? This Is What I See
By Jonathan Haas
Business Owner | Royal Gorge Chamber Alliance Vice-Chair
I recently saw a post in the “Canon City Rave and Rant” Facebook group. Beside a photo of a temporary notice about a citywide water issue, the writer declared that Cañon City “sucks,” calling it “a dead end with nothing for kids, nothing for job opportunities and nothing to offer its citizens.”
This kind of post is not uncommon. So I decided to dig in and find out just how bad we actually suck.
Spoiler: We don’t. Not even close. The anonymous certainty is impressive, but the claim is simply wrong.
Our community is not perfect. Housing remains a challenge. Infrastructure headaches still occur. We need more people to show up rather than simply complain. Those issues deserve honest attention. The assertion that there is simply “nothing” here does not hold.
Nothing for kids?
Much of the frustration traces to the unresolved community pool. Voters approved construction funding but repeatedly rejected funding for operations. That gap is real and disappointing. Jumping from “no pool solution” to “nothing for kids” is not serious.
The Cañon City Area Metropolitan Recreation & Park District, led by Kyle Horne and serving more than 28,000 residents, runs more than 20 youth sports activities each year with over 2,600 participants: soccer from age 3, baseball, basketball, volleyball, wrestling, track, football, Kids Klub, fishing lessons, and youth rafting. The high school mountain bike team competes in the Colorado High School Cycling League. There is an annual high school fly-fishing tournament. Commercial outfitters offer family rafting. The Boys & Girls Club runs after-school and summer programs for hundreds of kids. The library offers story times, Lego Club, and summer learning.
For a city of roughly 17,000, that volume and variety compare favorably with many similarly sized Colorado towns, especially with a river running through town and trail access. The pool gap is real. Pretending it erases everything else is not.
No job opportunities?
Fremont Economic Development Corporation, led by Executive Director Rob Brown, works daily to attract, retain, and expand businesses. Its TechSTART partnerships helped launch Emergent Campus. Under CEO Brad Rowland, Emergent has created dozens of jobs, placed more than 200 people (including 125 in the last two years), built tech and advanced manufacturing programs, and secured major state and federal grants while partnering with schools and employers to build talent pipelines.
City Economic Development Manager Rick Harrmann and staff focus on Main Street, housing, and commercial projects such as Four Mile, as well as grants and business retention. Just outside Cañon City, Legacy Metal Center is expanding near Penrose with a roughly 61,000-square-foot facility on 37 acres. More than 20 people already work there, with plans for growth.
Established employers (Mytikas, Amrize, St. Thomas More Hospital, the Department of Corrections, and others) provide stable, skilled positions with benefits. Wanting more options is fair. Claiming there are no good jobs here is not.
The numbers undercut the idea that people are not coming or spending. Fremont County reported a record June 2026 sales tax collection of $989,065, more than $80,000 above the prior June. Through the first six months of 2026, the county collected $4.8 million in retail sales tax, well ahead of the prior year and on pace for another annual record. 2025 was already a record year for sales and lodging tax.
Education is a quiet strength
Cañon City Schools, under Superintendent Adam Hartman, is widely regarded as one of the more innovative rural districts in Colorado. Cañon City High School was selected as one of only 24 school systems nationwide for the Carnegie Foundation’s Future of High School Network, the only one from the Rocky Mountain region, and received a $100,000 grant. Concurrent enrollment is strong; students earn college credit, industry credentials, associate degrees, and complete internships.
Voters approved a multi-million-dollar bond that unlocked a major BEST grant. New construction and renovations are on time, on budget, and visible. We also have a full Pueblo Community College Fremont Campus offering degrees, certificates, nursing simulation labs, concurrent enrollment, and workforce training, an asset most towns our size lack.
Infrastructure and those who serve
Voters have twice approved dedicated street funding through Project 2A. More than $30 million has gone into road repair and reconstruction under rules that restrict the money to streets and require independent audits. Pavement conditions have improved from a poor starting point.
Multiple mayor and council seats regularly go unopposed. Complaints are easy; filing a petition and doing the work is harder. I respect the effort Mayor Phil Lund and other city officials are making. I do not always agree with every tactic, but they show up. Too many are content to gripe anonymously while others carry the load.
The people doing the work
Rob Brown and the FEDC team, Brad Rowland and Emergent Campus, Rick Harrmann and city economic development staff, and school leaders continue to write grants, place interns, expand facilities, recruit businesses, and build partnerships.
The Royal Gorge Chamber Alliance, led by CEO Rich Millard and Board Chair Bob Stovall, is advancing the ACCE grant. Roughly 25 local businesses, school representatives, and Chamber staff are volunteering. The first stakeholder meeting is the week of August 17. The goal is a community plan that supports people who have started but not finished degrees, aligned with broader workforce resources, including COSI funding through CSU Pueblo.
The time to advocate is now
We have real strengths: youth programs at competitive scale, employers expanding and creating jobs, a high school earning rare national recognition, a community college campus most towns our size lack, voter-supported street improvements, and record sales tax collections showing people are here and spending.
If you see the value (outdoor access, schools, small businesses, and the people who care enough to serve and build), say it out loud. Share the stories. Show up. The next generation deserves a community that amplifies its strengths rather than only cataloging its shortcomings.
We will not always agree on every decision or every person doing the work. Jumping straight to “this city sucks” still does no one any good.
The time to advocate for Cañon City and Fremont County is now.
