Coming up on studio 12.

Our coverage of Colorado Startup Week continues.

Tonight, we hear from mayo Mike Johnston on what it takes to keep businesses thriving in downtown Denver and his vision on what the future holds.

Plus, a fifth generation family owned company is celebrating 100 years in business.

We're taking you inside Denver's own Polidori sausage and how to put your summer garden to bed for the winter.

And what does that really mean, exactly?

Jungle Judy helps us out and end the show.

The high energy sounds of country, folk and rock n roll from Shane Smith and the Saints.

That's on Colorado's sound stage.

Don't go anywhere.

We've got all of tha and more right here on studio 12 from the Five Points Media Center in the heart of Denver, Colorado.

This is studio 12.

Hi, I' Bazzi Kanani, and I'm Ryan here.

Colorado Startup Week isn't just about the entrepreneurs, it' also about the community leaders who help shape the environment for business innovation.

That's why PBS Twelve's Frannie Matthews sat down with Denver Mayor Mike Johnston to chat about the mayor's early days attending Startup Week to now leading the city.

He shared how Denver's can do attitude is fueling both start ups and the revival of downtown Denver.

Take a look.

Mayor Johnson, welcome.

Thanks for having me.

We are really happy to have you here.

It's exciting.

What's going on here at 1900 Lawrence Street and Startup Week?

Tell us a little bit about your experience with Startup Week and why it's so important to Colorado.

Yeah I've been coming to Startup Week almost since it started.

I think probably now 17 years ago.

And what was so amazin is so many of the founders here were people who had a drea they wanted to start a business, want to start a company, and, you know, this is a pioneering spirit state.

People come here because they have a can do belief.

They can do hard things.

And but often what happens is they start an idea.

We start to grow and someone say, that's a great idea.

You should move your company to San Francisco.

That's a great idea.

We're coming to New York because you can't possibly launch a big company in a city like Denver.

And these are the people wh said, no, I refuse to do that.

I'm going to build my company here, and I'm going to build an ecosystem so that other peopl can build their companies here.

I just did an interview with Ryan Leach, who's the CEO of Ibotta, the largest tech IPO in Colorado history.

They went on the IP in the stock exchange last year.

I remembe when his idea was a napkin.

You.

Yeah, it was it was scrawled on the back of a napkin.

And he was at Startup Week like everybody else.

And I have a crazy idea.

And he stayed.

He's doubled dow on having an office in downtown that a thousand employees are here.

They have a policy to hire Denver people first and sort of tha kind of value statement of, yes, I'm going to build the company, but I'm more in it to build a community that's what Startup Week is about.

And today's been a great feeling of that being still true.

Well, and Brian is a great advocate for the vitality of downtown Denver.

Yes.

And that's that's what I also see.

That Startup Week does too, is, is it shows the manifestation of the vitality of our downtown area.

What do you think is unique about Colorado that makes it such a great place to start a business?

We know a couple.

One is, you know, we have the strongest, women led startup community in the country right now.

This is the best place in the country for for women founders.

But I think there are two things.

One is there is a real sense of opportunity her and of entrepreneurial spirit.

That's just true of Colorado since its founding.

But the second is, as people often say, you'll hear in these rooms, Carl doesn't have sharp elbows like other parts of the country do.

So people are both deepl committed to their own mission, and they're also excited to help you along the way in your mission, you know, so it's not as if everyone else has to lose for me to win.

People are deeply committe to building their own company, but they also actually want to see their neighbors, their partners, their friends succeed at the same time.

And so people feel like here you have a lot of stories of someone giving you a hand up, as opposed to someone kicking away the ladder once they make it to the top.

And I think that to me is very Denver.

And that's the that's the vibe we love about the city.

That's what I have always foun in my career, being in Denver.

You have you can pick up a phone and get to somebody with one telephone call.

As opposed to some of the larger markets that your ethical behavior may not be known to everybody, but here it is, it is, it is.

And so I always say, you know, I use the model for the city of Denver.

We believe that all our problems are solvable and we're the ones to solve them.

You don't have to wait for someone else, point to someone else, blame it on someone else.

You just put people in the room.

And you're right.

There's no problem in Denver.

You can't solve by calling six people and say, hey, let's all get in a room together and figure it out.

And I think Startup Week really embodies that spirit.

Well, and I think your administration embodies that.

Thank you We are working hard to do that.

We say sometimes we really want to be an open API.

You know, we want to be a place where if you're building something great they can make the city better.

We want you to plug right in and make and help us improve.

And so we're open on partners.

We're looking for solutions.

And we're looking, to work together, knowing that no one city does this alone, no one company does it alone.

But the revival of downtown that you can see happening now is a function.

A lot of folks who said I want to build a business here, and I'll say a lot of city employees and nonprofits working on that, but you can feel the momentum as it goes together.

And that's exciting.

Well, I it feels to me like you you do have that collaboration in the private sector with what you're doing.

At the city and county.

Tell me about the in your second DNA, or Denver AI summit that's coming up at the end of the month.

We're really excited.

We launched last year the first convening of its kind in North America, really, which was call it den AI.

And the idea was, how do we use AI as a tool for social good?

And a lot of folks that are really excited about AI some folks are worried about AI.

Our belief is we have a lot of hard problems to solve in the city.

Can we have some of the best innovators and technologists help?

Think of solutions for how we can solve those problems.

So we bring together people from the private sector who startup companies and people from the public sector who are running cities or running states.

And we say, here are the things we're trying to fix.

Can you help us fix it?

So the last year was very successful.

We're doing our second one this year.

It's sold out months ago.

It's kind of the hottest ticket in town.

But the benefit is will be bringing in real solutions that help make, public services cheaper and make them more effective.

The one example I love from last year is we had a founder that had a system called Sieve Check, which helps expedite the process of permitting when you're tryin to build something in the city.

Not a sexy topic.

Very important.

If you ever tried to get your patio finished out and your business as a general contractor.

Okay, so you know, it's very well I know the dinner time.

So I'll just say very quickly I used to take us about 28 days when you submitted an application for a permit for us to process the application and let you know we had received it and confirmed that the process had begun.

We can now do that in about one tenth of a second, right.

Because we have an AI tool that we're going to partner with, young Founder to do.

And what that means is our plan reviewers now can use their time to do the things that only humans can do, and they can actually sit dow with the substance of the plan, look at it, evaluate it, give feedback.

They don't have to manage 75 stacks of papers to sort through and find out what needs to stamp.

That's awesome.

We're very excited about it.

I'm happy to go home and talk about it.

So so when you loo at from a founder's perspective, if you could change one thing with a blink of an eye in our in our ecosystem to make it easier for founders, is there anything that comes to mind, make it easier for founders?

You know, we're trying to really build, community of investors here in Colorado that makes it easier to rais capital right here in Colorado.

And you see that happening?

And the benefit is when you have companies that build and grow here and exit and make a lot of money, they then reinvest in the next generation of founders.

And so you take a Dan Caruso from Zillow or again Brian Leach, we talked about to my bought our, Rachel Romer Carlson.

You know, those are all folks who started companies here and are now reinvesting in the city here.

And so we want t we want you not to have to fly to New Yor or San Francisco to raise money.

That's part of it.

We're really focused on, having great talent here.

So that people can hire up.

Right now, we're one of the second or third most educated cities in the country in terms of, preparation.

We're the top destination for kids under age 30 to move to Colorado.

That's a great win for us.

So we're trying to keep bringin talent, keep bringing dollars, and then removing any barriers that are in the way for founders to grow.

And so we're always sitting down with them to say, what can we do to make your life easier?

And I think that's a big part of it.

One of the things I'm excited for founders to d and for growing companies to do, is to have more and more o a presence in the city center.

One of things we want to help do and have them help us do is fill some of our empty commercial office space, like every downtown in America post-Covid, a lot of folks started working from home, didn't come back.

We really focused on reactivating that a couple of million square feet of office space that's empty.

We're going to conver a lot of them to be apartments.

But many of them, we're going to attract businesses that have gone remote to come back downtown or folks that have left to come back and recruit new businesses to come.

Because we think the more of an ecosystem you create, the more people love the work and the more positive impac it has on the city as a whole.

Yeah, we talked to Kurt and Courtney earlier, talking abou multidimensional city centers, and I think we're well on our way.

The last, year has been really, beautiful to see what's happened in downtown.

We come down quite a bit to the theater and go to opera, and it's a great place to be.

So, so what would you the momentum that you've gotten in the last year, where do you want to see it taking forward?

Yeah, I mean, we want a couple of things.

We want this to be the best place to do business in the country.

So for you to start a business, grow a business.

We're in a business.

We want to be the safest big city in America.

We're on the path to do that with.

Now we have the largest reduction in violent crime of any top hundred city in the country.

In the last year, largest reduction in homelessnes of any city in American history.

So we want it to feel safe and vibrant.

We want to be affordable for folks.

When our goal is that anyone in Denver who grows up with a dream of starting a company knows they can start it here.

That you'll have a city center that's the env of all the rest of the country.

It's the most vibrant downtown in America.

As you know, we have the best theater in the country, have some of the best sports teams in the country, have some of the best art of some of the best restaurants.

Now with our seven Michelin star restaurants.

So we want it to be a destination for folks around the world, and a gem for the folks who live here.

Well I think we're on the right path.

Thank you so much for coming in and talking to us today.

It's great to see you and we appreciate everything.

I enjoyed it.

Look forward to doing it again soon.

Mayor Johnston say Denver has what it takes to be the best place in the country to start and grow a business.

We will be featuring interviews from Colorado Startup Week in our upcoming show so be sure to look out for that.

In the meantime, if you can't wait, you can catch our full Colorado Startup Week conversations on our YouTube channel.

Or you can listen to the podcasts on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon podcasts.

Next up, what does it mean to put your garden to bed for winter?

PBS Twelve's Erica McLart stopped by Denver Urban Gardens to find out firsthand from gardening expert Jumbo Judy herself.

Take a look.

As summer is transitioning into fall, we want to give our garden a little TLC.

I'm Erica McLarty, and I'm Judy with Denver Urban Gardens.

Wonderful.

And we are learning how to put our garden to bed.

Now, what does that mean?

So when you put your garden t bed, we concentrate on the soil.

We know that the healthiest gardens grow with organically and rich soil.

So we're going to practice some techniques that will allow us to hav our best garden yet in spring.

Perfect.

Let's keep going.

Let's get going.

First thing we're going to do is to realiz that a lot of things growing in our garden are actually sources of organic material.

So, for instance, I've got an old marigold growing here.

And, Erica, I' going to have you do what I call chop and drop.

Chop and drop and drop.

So this marigold that's growing, we have plenty of marigolds.

We're going to attempt to just chop its top foliage down and leave the roots to decompose in the soil.

Will you please show us how to drop?

Drop.

Here we go.

Marigold you have another purpose card.

So we're just going to pretend that she's angry at somebody.

A flower before.

We're just dropping his head right off.

Oh my goodness.

Look away!

Oh my goodness.

Almost there.

Her son is acting out.

She's saying oh no.

Oh my.

Oh, good.

Good job.

Good job.

Wonderful.

We've just ended up in drop.

And what we've done here is w really then allow those roots.

This is an annual.

It' going to decompose in the soil.

Those roots are going to provide sugars and starches for the soil food web.

We don't want to do chop and drop on tomatoes.

However lots of times they have lots of diseases so they do not go, but a lot of new peppers and flowers.

You can just do chop and drop.

Now.

All right, we've chopped and dropped.

We need to work on increasing the organic material.

Yes.

I've got an area here.

Erica, and this may be hard.

Here's where I got this.

I would like you to step on the shovel.

Let's go for it.

Okay.

Here we go.

Are you ready?

Can I do the two step thing, too?

Whatever works for you.

Turn it over.

Roughly chop it up.

And let's do some more in that area, You get a workout doing this every day, You can cance your gym membership right here.

Yes.

Let's think of all the money Gordon saves you.

This is holistic body exercise.

I'd like you to do two more of the stuff.

Yeah.

So this is Colorado clay soil.

Now, the area that Erica has dug.

Then I'm going to have her do something else with that, because we need to do some organic material.

Yes.

Would you?

We have a handy dandy bag of A-1 compost.

This.

Awesome.

So the compost goes first.

Compost here.

But here you just throw it in.

Let's do another two handfuls.

Actually.

One more, one more.

So you good gardeners always have dirty hands.

Can we see your hands?

Yeah.

It's got to hav got to have soil on those hands.

Oh, we don't garden with gloves.

Okay.

Next thing I want Erika to do is mix us soil layers.

So we have our clay.

Now, you're not going to step on it or.

You know, I want you to just lightly mix it.

Mix the compost in with the soil below.

Turning it around is fine.

That's okay.

That is lovely.

Now we have a handy dandy product someplace that we call cover crops.

Cover crops.

Got it.

We have a lovely little packet that we call cover crops.

And these are available on the Doug website.

And, Erica, will you read what?

These are a mix.

You're gonna make me read Winter wheat and Winter pea mix direct so early to mid-September.

So the key to getting cover crops are are crops usually a mix of a grain, such as wheat or oats or rye with a legume such as vetch, or in this case, winter peas.

And the whole purpose is to cover the soil.

They prevent erosion, they add organic material, and some of them even grow over the winter.

You only need a small amount.

So, Erica would you put your hand up flat?

And they're different sizes.

The piece or obviously the larger ones.

And here are the oats I'm going to have you bend low okay.

And I'm just going to have you sprinkle sprinkle with your hand over this.

Put these down and then sprinkle on.

All right.

And you can just use your hand whatever.

Do I like mix the in.

Yeah.

Here's a perfect tool.

Here's a step by step.

Here you go.

Free not too deep okay.

Then I'm going to use your hand.

Okay.

And here's what I want you to do.

The hand flat hand down okay.

And that's called seed to soil contact okay.

And then the next thing we're going to do is realizing that we don't want it exposed.

So we're going to use two types of mulch okay I'm going to have Erica use a little sprinkling of straw.

Not really okay.

And then we have.

Actually saved.

And this really does feel like you're like tucking in your garden.

Put it here.

You good.

We're good in her garden getting it close.

And look at what we've got in here for at least for the last flow.

Go ahead and just crumbled and I just save my leaves.

Love your leaves.

All right.

I love your leaf segment.

And maybe one more thing.

Know please.

This is called plantin cover crop mulch in your garden.

Look how beautiful that looks compared to.

Oh that's pretty hard.

So the last thing that I would do, which we're not going to demonstrate righ now, would be to water this in.

Well, okay.

Now if you don't mulch this, no only is the soil going to dry, but the birds might see a look.

She's provide a free feast for me late seed.

Or if you're like Jungle Judy in my home, the raccoons would say, oh!

Peas to eat.

So we are just preventing them.

We'r getting this ready to germinate.

This should germinate within about ten days.

The key to cover crops is to not plant in too late.

So definitely by about the third week in September before grounds get to cool.

Okay.

We are going to look for a miracle, and we're going to look for tiny little things that might be growing.

Are you ready?

Yes.

I think I'll pick this up.

Oh oh my goodness.

What do we have baby bok choy.

We have baby bok choy is member of the broccoli family.

And they're the cutest.

They are the cutest things here.

Would you look at those?

Those should produce those tiny little heads.

Here.

We have some more.

Here.

So our dead crops are being used to carefully nurtur and produce new growth in this.

And the soil is also softer.

Can you feel because she's been mulched so.

And you don't want to smush your bok choy?

No.

These are just harvest garden pathways.

So, you know, this brings us up to the importance of doing a garden plan, you know.

Absolutely, I think so.

So what we've what we've got here.

And again this may be an earlier season.

I always like to do pathways to divide your garden into different areas.

Perfect.

So this is essentially half of this plot.

And as it would look a little bit earlier in the season, but as you see, as you can see, I've got beans that are that are going to give nitrogen planted near one squash seed.

Garlic is still at the edge.

It has not been harvested.

But you see the number of things that I have planted.

So why do you do a map?

Wouldn't you just remember?

You think you know You think so?

I do two things.

I take my camera out to the garden each day, and I do a ma at the beginning of the season.

And then I look what I planted.

And when one crop is finished, like when my lettuce was finished earlier on in the season, I might want to plant this two beans.

So for some family like tomatoes and eggplants and peppers and potatoes, we need to practice something really important called crop rotation.

That is going to be crop rotation, isn't that you see that is really helpful.

I don't know about easy, but I also can walk in here.

So this is an area that says pathways.

When you're mapping for feet to walk and cultivate.

And over here we had a big cabbage plant that was originally covered with aphids.

We washed it every day.

We produced a seven and a half pound cabbage that we used in one of our presentation.

That's how much my son weighed, and we left the outer leaves to provide food as we cut the main head.

Can you show our viewers what we've got inside apps?

This is magic.

Absolute magic.

A second harvest, second harvest, the baby cabbages that were produced because we had the energy of the outside place.

Thank you Jungle Judy for all of your great tips today.

And now it's time for us.

Yes.

Relax.

Right.

This area is perfect for it.

Tell me why this area is perfect?

Because it not only feeds our body with wonderful crops throughout the season, as we've learned, but I think almost more importantly, it provides a place for nurturing and feeding our spirit and soul and allow us to realize that we're part of the same ecosystem.

And so be gentle with yourself.

Don't worry about what you can produce.

We've got some wonderful recycle Aspen stones that we'r sitting on right here on the LA.

Well, LA.

So so enjoy your garden.

Proud of that.

Thank you, jungle Judy I remember next time I'm Eric McLarty and I'm Jungle Judy, and we'll see you next time.

Starting in the new year, outdoors free door to door ride service for peopl with disabilities is going away.

Not the program itself, but the free part of the Access on Demand program.

RTD, the regional transportation district, says the program became too popular and too expensive.

Let's get some more contacts into this decision with Kyle Dyer and the Colorado Inside Out team.

Hi, Bosa and Ryan, the most recent meeting of the RT board of directors was riveting.

I was so moved by the stories of people living with disabilities who testified for hours, begging the board not to start chargin for the access on demand program that night, and the implications of the decision warranted a further discussion on Colorado Inside Out.

Speaking of scrutiny, the board of RTD, the Regional transportation District, voted this week to increas the cost of car rides for people who live with disabilitie since it started back in 2021.

The Access on Demand program offered free rides in taxis or on an Uber or Lyft rides.

This program has become super popular since its more convenien and easy than the communal vans that RTD also offers this group, and so it's costing the agenc a lot and therefore the push was we have to raise fro a free ride to a ride for $6.50.

And Elena, that meeting the other night went on for hours and hours with people saying, this is a huge increase, it's going to affect my life badly, right?

It was so emotional, hard to watch at times.

These changes drew so much attention and backlas because as you mentioned, it's such a popular service for people with disabilities.

And the word that we kept hearing used was lifeline.

People use this to go to work.

They use this to go t the grocery stores or even to, you know, see their families, friends, romantic partners.

And they have been quoted saying, using this kind of service instead of these, you know, specialized vans allows them to feel human, to feel like a regular person just like everybody else.

And so RTD ultimately did come to a compromise.

They lowered the initial hike proposal from 650 to 450, but still coming from a $0 base.

You know, that's a huge jump and people are going to feel it, not to mention the actual service cuts that they're making.

It used to be a 24 hour service.

Now it's they'r they're cutting that way back.

I'm still trying to figure out exactly by how much, but these changes go into effect in January.

And people are certainly very upset about it, even with this compromise.

The big picture is that RT is struggling with its budget, just like Denver is just like Boulder, which actually announced this week that they're, cutting people's jobs because of their budget gap.

And so these hard times are having real effects on people's lives.

And it's, it's a tough time to be in government.

Amber.

Yeah.

And I, you know, this, when I was running the elections office, a number of people would use these types of services to come, to register to vote or to come even to work, because we had a number of peopl that could participate that way.

So I'm, you know, this is an important program.

And I do also wonder about, you know, the introduction of autonomous vehicle and how that potentially affects the cost of this, perhap bringing it down in the future.

Because you wouldn' then have drivers and the other the extra cost of that.

So it's, it's interesting to also see how much technology is going to start impacting this exact kind of service and how it could really help, a number of people as that continues to expand.

Yeah.

Okay.

Patty, talking about government agencies cutting back, this is really one of the toughest ones because RTD when they also discussed how much it would cost to finally build out the light rail systems that everyone had been thinking we would get 30 years ago.

And it's well over $1 billio to even just finish constructing what was talked abou to get in the northwest lines, the North lines.

So you're looking at huge, huge problems to get to serve the areas that were supposed to serve.

But on the other hand you want RTD to be able to serve these individuals who rely on it so much.

These people who do not have a lot of they're not they don't have a choice in this.

I mean, they either stay in or the van might not work or they go out on this.

So 450 is going to be a huge amount for them.

But you also are seeing that they're not foundation and they're not government funds that are going to be able to come in and replace what is cut by RTD because no one has any money.

Now, and Krista, I just love the way you phrased that.

You said people who live with disabilities and and that's the thing is, people aren't disabled, people live with disabilities.

And how can we help our neighbors, our friends, our brothers and sisters below Denver rights who live with disabilities live independently.

And so this is a really important program.

One of the things that I appreciated about that RTD meeting, as emotional as it was, is that there was some listening going on.

I think that perhaps, maybe Congress could learn a thing or two of what it means to listen and to compromise.

So they heard the emotional testimony.

They took it to heart.

Yes.

They're facing pretty strong, financial constraints and are having difficulty figuring out where they, you know, where they have to cu in order to pay for everything.

And yet they were willing to say, we hear you hear that?

This is your lifeline.

Let's let's change the figure.

Let's take it back.

And maybe it's still a little too high.

Who knows?

But I like the fac that they were willing to listen and to make changes.

That's a model everyone could learn from.

I think we agree with you.

Yes.

That was just one of the topics we talked about on the latest episode of Colorado Inside Out.

For the entire show, go to PBS 12.

Org.

The PBS passport app or the CIA YouTube channel, where in addition to the show we have pullouts on each topic, which is grea if there is one particular issue that you're attracted t and want to share with others.

We also have our conversations on Spotify and Apple Podcasts as well.

And for this week's show, I'm already speaking with our insider about possible ideas to discuss.

See what we choose this Friday at 8:00 here on PBS 12 the Switching Now t the Business of Colorado PBS 12.

Photojournalist Rekha Romero takes us inside Denver's own Polidori sausage company to celebrate 100 years in business and five generations of family ownership, from former small grocery store and butcher shop to America's oldest family owned Italian sausage company, Paula Dory's history and legacy is rich in flavor and deeply rooted in tradition and more.

Take a look.

We're at 3800 W Street Depository manufacturing plant.

Polydor is the oldest Italian software company still family owned and operated in the nation.

Started to make Great Grandmother out of a small grocery store on 34th and Churchill back in 1925.

This is where she started for worse.

We're still doing it on our our home turf.

We talk about how we're local.

Well, there's three generations in those pictures up there.

I'm a great grandmother, obviously my grandfather and then my father.

So it is a family affair, as the article says there, sausage making, a family affair.

We've decided to embrace the year we're 100.

I think it represents a lot of legacy.

Like my brother said, you know, carrying on our great grandmother's, family heirloom sausage recipe.

And so I think my grandmother with great grandmother would flip out on how enormous we've actually become.

You know, in the last 20 years our great grandmother's family heirloom sausage.

That is our signature item, that we still are some handcraft here today, but that particular flavor profile comes in a lot of different shapes and sizes.

So this is where everything happens.

So it starts here.

Here's a combo 20 pounds of pork.

Then it would blend through here.

Go through the grinder come out as a clean cu as it comes over to our mixer.

Then we will for whatever batch size we're doing add the spice blend to it.

So right here is our link line.

We have a portion control machine that goes through our linker and then through our cutter that's going through there.

It's cutting each link.

So everything we do here is still hand packed.

We have all of these guys that will still go through and hand pack every single box that we do through the tape machine, through the metal detector to the pallet straight to the freezer.

We do an extreme amount o products through this small room we can end up doing in one day, 22,000 pounds.

Our vendors are local, so we're, you know, really homegrown.

Anthony started in Denver in 1984 with our founder, Henry Mann.

He was from New York, and he really wanted to bring that great New York style pizza to Denver.

And from there we just continued to grow, really being known for that New York City slice.

Hey, how's it going?

How are you?

Good.

Can I have two, two size combo, sausage.

And how it all.

It is a partnership that we just started, pretty recently.

It was an easy choice, though, when we were looking at products.

The thing about making so much of our product in-house any time we bring in something that is not made in-house that's a more complete product.

It's really important to us that they have the same values that we do as a company when it comes to community, when it comes to quality more than anything.

And as soon as we tasted Polidori, we pretty much knew that.

And then once we met Steve and Melody, it became obvious as well that they had the same values as business owners as we do.

And it was sort of a natural partnership.

They've been in Colorado 100 years.

We've been in Colorado for 40 years.

Between us, we have 140 year of doing things the right way.

Funny, they since they switch to sausages, the powdery.

I see it everywhere around this community, you know, and being a loca and walking around these places.

So I, you know, I enjoy it.

And I think it was good addition to the Anthony's, repertoire.

The feedback has been extremely positive, both from our guests and also from our team, which was really important.

The people who eat our food more than anybody, or the gu is working in the back right now who take home a pizza pretty much every single day and have to work with the product and cook the product and taste it all the time.

And hearing positive feedbac from our guests was fantastic.

And then hearing positive feedback from our pizza cooks who've been back there 20 years, that they still love the product, that it's even better now.

That felt really good.

Also.

We make the product the same way my great grandmother made it.

Pork, salt and spices.

No additives, no nitrates, nitrates.

A very clean product something you can be proud of.

You know, like they started out of a grocery store.

My great grandmother passed away in 1982.

My grandfather starte this little business innovation with a food distributing company.

He didn't feel like retirement was his gig.

He couldn't play golf every day, that kind of thing.

So he started this business, and he started it was as a hobby.

And he started this little hobby, became, somewhat busy.

So.

And he needed help.

And my father said, you need a job.

Go, go work with your grandpa.

And that's kind of how I got started in the business when I was in college working for him.

And then when I graduated college, he offered me a position to take over.

And about te years later, I bought him out, brought my sister on about a year after that.

And from then on, the business really, really boomed.

I think we're we're truly humbled.

Not a lot of companies make it to 100 years.

You know, when I first joined the company 23 years ago, it seemed lik it was a long way to 100.

And.

Wow, here we are.

Sustainability is a core value at.

Paul adores sausage, and they're committed to minimizing their environmental footprint through reducing, reusing, and recycling.

Polidori has been recognize by Denver Environmental Health as a certified Green business.

To find out more about Polidori sausage, you can go to their website Polidori sausage.com.

Colorado's Front Range is home to a growing collection of public art and at Hogan Park in the Aurora Highlands a new art park is bringing local and international artists together to create something truly unique in our heart of the West segment.

We spoke with two of the artists, one from right here in Colorado and another all the way from Berlin, as they put the finishing touches on their collaborative installations.

Take a look.

My artist name is Snyder.

I am a mural artist from Berlin, Germany, and I'm out here to paint for the Aurora Highlands.

My name is Kendall.

Complete.

All of my work is based on glaciers, ice, sno and like the movement of water.

And that's the imager that I use to source my designs.

But I also think, like conceptually, I think that the idea of water and change environment and how water changes a landscape and shapes it is a mirror to our inner world.

And so a lot of my work includes like poetic statements like in the other one that says, don't let me go.

And in the tunnel or standing in it reads Denise, which is in German, Can you feel me?

Which is a phrase that is about the unmeasured energy that you feel when you experience an art installation or something that moves you.

The first time I got approached was by, Carla, who is the curator of all this and she bought a print of mine.

A couple of years later Olivia Steel reached out to me.

She knows my work from Berlin because she also has a studio there.

And, we always wanted to collaborate on a project.

When she came here to install her art, it was clear that we could do that collaboration here in one of those tunnels.

So the story of this tunnel is that Olivia came up with the phrase, which is a quote by Robert Frost.

The only way out is true.

And this became the theme of our project, reminding us that perseverance is key when you g through the challenges of life.

We decided to make the message even stronger by painting all of the tunnel so that it becomes more or less an immersive experience.

I love painting outside because I get a direct response from people passing by, whereas in the studio you're all by yourself alone for hours and hours, and painting outside is much more fun to me.

So the phrase says the only way out is through.

And the other day, a man who lived here in thi community passed by a local and, said to me that whenever he doe his work out out here and he's running through the tunnel, this helps him keep going.

So that's one of the things, one of the smal interactions I like about this painting outside that you do, you really get to kno what people think of your art.

It's the first time I have painted an enclosed outdoor tunnel space.

So fighting the elements of wind and cold and heat, and then you're also in the public, so you have interruption.

But that also is the best part of it, because you get to see how the art is affecting people as you're installing it.

There were a lot of challenges doing this project.

The weather, of course, it was very hot in between.

I have to wear a full fac mask all the time when painting and the wind.

The wind is probably the worst because it's channeled in the tunnel and you have much more wind in here, which is obviously bad for spring.

This particular project is unique because I am collaborating with another artist, Snyder, who lives in Berlin, so we didn't have a whole lot of time together in planning to prepare.

But Carla saw that both of our styles really complement each other and wanted the local presence of artist here in Denver and Aurora and, you know, the surrounding areas here in Colorado, but also international representation.

And I think she really saw it as an opportunity to bring not only this community together, but different artists from around the world.

The cool thing about traveling and painting is for me actually meeting people, meeting new people.

And we are like the stree art community is is a community.

I can go wherever I want in the world.

I will always find people who are like minded and I'm always able to connect wherever I go through my art.

I think what's special for my art is that I'm using this, effect optical effect called chromatic aberration.

That's where my colors come from.

And then I have these fluid shapes, and I'm using these colors for everything I paint, whether it's abstract, like most of the parts in this tunnel or animals or portraits and, that's some kind of my distinguishable, distinguishable style.

There's so many moments in life where you're sharing an experience with someone, and you can just feel that they feel the same way, and it might be slightly different, but that's what makes us human and connects us.

So this piece particularly is especially being here in the Highlands, is about how do we feel about bringing this type of art park in this gallery, this international gallery, to a space that's accessible public and open daily to anyone who wants to visit and, and, you know, instead of telling people how to feel, it's more like, what does this make you feel?

Also, the fact that people ge to see your art without having to buy a ticket for a museum or for a gallery, you know, they just walk the street and suddenly they see something that they didn't expect.

And that' that's the power of street art.

I think there are more and more mural artists out there, and public art is something that's being more and more valued, and that's something I really like about it.

And people start to understan what it can do for a community.

Whereas before they just didn't know which of was, and also it' more of the artist's fault side.

All right.

And so it's a kind of angst of forums and fascination and violenc and have some form anxiety in my that's too investment slipped by the energy.

Can here in on Tucson.

Let's do it just in.

So the more street art, the more murals we have, the more life there is.

I think in cities and that's even the cas when it's just illegal graffiti.

It shows there is some life going on there.

So graffiti for me is the mother of it all.

And, if you look at this here, which is a curated art park, it has nothing to do with graffiti.

But the good thing is you get to speak to a broader audience of people when you do street art and murals, as when you do graffit where it's just about your ego.

Basically, the size of this park is impressive, and there's no other place that I know of really anywhere, but especially in Colorado that has such a diverse and unique amount and variant of different art pieces from all around the world, but also from local artists.

And it's truly something to witness.

Like the larger than life sculptures, like the tucked away signage and the from like small details to large installations.

Everything is really intentionally curated and thought through, and there's 20 that I know of in at least 30 more on the way.

The Aurora Highlands two mil art Park will continue to grow with new art, structures, color, and creativity.

So be on the lookout for that.

And remember that it's free to explore.

So bring a friend or a few and take a walk through this one of a kind art experience.

To plan your visi or learn more about the artists involved, head to Aurora highlands.com.

Season one of Colorado Soundstage takes us on a musical journey of live performances at stunning venues, all across Colorado.

This PBS 12 original serie showcases the band, Shane Smith and the Saints as they grace the stage live from the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater.

The band performs all I See Is You, their hit song featured on the Paramount show Yellowstone, as well as their new music, including a few love songs.

Thanks for watching studio 12.

Don't forget to follow u on social media and on YouTube.

We look forward to seeing you again next Tuesday night at eight.

I'm Ryan Hare and I'm Bob Cannady.

Have a good week.

See you next time.

All right.

Right, right.

Now GPB let's go get your ass to go.

0000.

0000.

Hey.

Our band, you know, never.

We've never signed with a label.

We've never had.

We've just been independent since day one, and, and, it's it's been a very difficult path because of that, but it's made for a really kind of cult audience and like a family more than a fan base.

And, and we're really proud of that.

We managed to start building ourselves up.

We got with a management team in Denver, Seven's management and Brian Schwartz and, you know, managed to rebuild a team.

And from that time on, in early 2020, it just started to grow.

And here we are headlining my favorite venue in the world, for the second time.

That's always been the goal is to play Red rocks, just like, you know, and maybe even to go there, you know, and see it.

You know, I'm from Texas.

This isn't in our backyard.

Exactly.

I want to close this out the right way or what?

They'll be singing stones on the moon.

Or just, like gonna burn it out of the blue.

Oh, the clouds, their bodies might fall, but all.

See you.

You reach for your windowpane.

And the cries of you scream.

Tears falling from the sky.

Out of the blood.

But all I see is you don't get no.

Fucking eyes.

It's all the way.

City where the snow fell down to soon the people I've turned from their perspective.

All I could say was you.

Now remember, first of all, the sunshine itself.

So the fall through the walls.

I want to take you for some ice cream instead.

But all I could see was you.

It's all I ever see.

You.

All.

Over the way.

You're the doctor.

They always.

Oh, my.

They should just read the letters.

The billboards down the small.

But all I see is you.

When I'm older.

Whether the words of the ones that come to me.

Word of God, day after day 060200.

To see who's up there with us.

Look in this house we can't go.

0000.

A few more, more blue.

2020020.

Stones on the moon was the.

Bring me out on the moons.

Get your hands together.

Oh, we clowns for was not for.

Oh I see you see the birds for the window panes.

And the cries of this moon turn is good for my smile.

The part boy, oh, I see you on red rocks.

We love you to death, baby.

Thank you so much.

0230.

Hey, y'all.