Besides its usual harsh effects on the general population and economy, Covid-19 has so far spiked efforts by the merchants of Central City, Colorado to spark an economic revival in the casino town.
Before the coronavirus hit Central City more than three months ago, the town, under the leadership of its mayor, Jeremy Fey had begun working on a redevelopment plan for what is normally a pretty sleepy community of 750 people, despite being one of the state’s three casino cities.
Black Hawk, about a mile down the road, is the largest casino town, with Cripple Creek being the other. Black Hawk, where most of the new casinos have been built, has sucked up most economic activity away from the smaller town.
Fey wants the city to be known for more than just its casinos, but given the economic devastation the pandemic has wrought, that dream may be postponed for a while. So the boarded up storefronts continue to be closed.
He comes from a promotional family (his father is Barry Fey, the celebrated concert promoter) and he wanted to bring that expertise to Central City and to turn it into an arts and culture destination and had focused on the town’s historic opera house, which was built in 1878 and which hosts the fifth oldest opera company in the nation.
He told CPR News: “I really naively thought when I decided to come up here that … I would be able to galvanize all the stakeholders in the same direction, and I’m still trying to get that done.”
Unfortunately the pandemic forced the opera house to close indefinitely.
