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Jonny's campaign for Colfax Museum Inc

Denver was changing so rapidly I knew I had to act if I wanted to preserve the things I loved about Colfax Avenue. 

Five minute read. Worth it, I promise.

A heartfelt thank you to all of our Colfax Museum friends and supporters! With your help, we get closer every day to creating a space to showcase a legendary street and its people: Colfax Avenue, the longest, wickedest street in America. (And no, Playboy Magazine never said that about Colfax…one of the things you’ll learn from a trip to our museum!)

My family and I have spent 15 years on this mission and to my knowledge no one has ever put together a collection this expansive and thorough of Colfax Avenue artifacts and lore (If there is, please call me.). I spent an additional year working without pay doing construction on a building that ultimately severely flooded, literally leaving my dreams in the mud and my finances washed away.

Friends of The Colfax Museum, to speak frankly, this has been a very difficult year for the museum, my family and I. Many of you will remember that a few months ago I decided to call it quits, and was ready to sell off the collection. If a few key community members hadn’t reached out to me and encouraged me otherwise, this collection might have been parted out and sold from frustration. Ultimately I realized that’s not the right thing to do, so here we are…

Out of the crisis arose some true allies in this endeavor, who share the dream of returning the Colfax Museum to Denver. Enough donations came in to get everything moved and safely stored. Thank you donors!

More good news is that the work to acquire the items in the collection is mostly done and almost all of the key pieces miraculously survived the 2 ½ foot high water. Much like Noah and his family, I feel the Colfax Community is ready to step out into the Promised Land after the Flood. I have every confidence that with the community support it deserves, the museum is going to thrive and will be a popular destination for locals and travelers alike.

This is not a vanity project and a museum is not a profit driven enterprise.  I realize full well without both public and private support for a project of this magnitude, this museum and its’ curations are going to be lost, like so much of our other local history. Please, I’m begging you don’t let our beloved history end up in a dumpster.

As it stands, The Colfax Museum doesn’t own the collection. Technically the bank does. We took out a HELOC loan, maxed all of my credit cards and then some to fund the dream that was this museum. (Anybody remember Jonny B’s Pawn Shop?)

Clearly, the next step in getting the museum established is raising the money to pay off the loan.

We need to write a check for $150,000.00 to the bank. Then all of the museum related debt will be lifted from my family and the collection. At that point, the Barber Family will donate the entire collection to The Colfax Museum 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Having the collection paid for and in the possession of the non-profit also guarantees that any direction the museum may take will be managed by a competent and experienced Board of Directors.

The fifteen years of our lives putting all this together without pay will be our gift to the city of Denver and the people of Colorado. Taking the debt burden off of my family and I will then free us up to work on this project in a new capacity, with the next objective being the creation of a long-term, physical space to showcase the museum. We have a number of prospective locations, but are unable to move forward until this first step is taken.

This museum is uniquely Colorado, yet intrinsically connected to our National story. Every major city has galleries and museums of all kinds, but this is the only Colfax Museum in the world. The stories are just too good to be ignored or forgotten, and you will be pleasantly shocked and surprised to see how much Colfax Avenue Culture has affected Pop Culture in general. Please do your part today and help this dream become a reality by becoming a cherished member of the Colfax Museum family.

Donators will get VIP treatment for life and the satisfaction of knowing that our urban history will live on. Thank you!

Donations 

  • Jeremy Matzke
    • $100 
    • 4 yrs

Organizer

Jonny Barber
Organizer
Denver, CO
Colfax Museum Inc
 
Registered nonprofit
Donations are typically 100% tax deductible in the US.

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