La Mariposa renovation begins soon

LYONS – The owners of La Mariposa restaurant, Rene and Maria Cervantes, will begin remodeling the restaurant, located just east of Lyons on Colorado Highway 66, this week. The restaurant has been closed for several months. “We thought that we would be open again by now,” said Cervantes. “But we are going to do a lot more renovation than we originally planned to do. We might change the entrance way to the other side of the building and we are going to change about 70 percent of the existing building.”

Cervantes said that at least 50 percent of the menu would change as well. “We were originally doing food from northern Mexico but we are thinking now of doing more food items from all over Mexico, from the southern region and the coastal regions. We recently opened, a few months ago, Agave in Boulder and that restaurant is very successful. We feature several vegetarian dishes, cilantro rice, different kinds of beans, salsa sides and we are thinking of doing more dishes like that in Lyons. To be honest, we tried this concept about 15 years ago, but it was so new that no one thought that we were serving Mexican food. It was just too new, so we went back to northern Mexican food.”

The Cervantes family has been in the restaurant business for 24 years starting with their restaurant, La Mariposa in Longmont. The La Mariposa in Lyons opened about 18 years ago. They own four restaurants, one in Longmont, Lyons, Boulder (Agave) and a La Mariposa in Denver. When they opened their first restaurant in Longmont, Cervantes was a stone mason. His wife Maria ran the restaurant while he worked as a mason. They have four kids and they all work in their restaurants. Cervantes said he does not know when they will reopen the restaurant in Lyons.

“As soon as we start the construction, we will be working quickly to reopen,” he said

Designer Geckos opens in Hygiene

HYGIENE – Little colored geckos (small lizards) have become amazingly popular as pets. The craze has been sweeping the country and is the most popular on the west coast and in the south west. Most people know about geckos from watching the little green gecko who advertises Geico Insurance on TV.

In February Ray and Carol Rehner open a gecko store, Designer Geckos, in Hygiene at 11747 Hygiene Rd. on the corner of Hygiene Road and 75^th Street. They raise, breed and buy and sellgeckos after they have acclimated them to humans. “We fell in love with geckos as soon as we picked one up,” said Ray Rehner. “The leopard geckos are really popular especially in Europe and Asia. People fall in love with geckos. They are very smart, neat and clean and they sleep all day, when people are working; they are nocturnal. At night they like to come out and look around. They love to watch TV and I take mine outside; I take it hiking, or for a ride in the car or for a bike ride as long as it is warm enough. It needs to be above 65 degrees. They come in many beautiful colors and they eat golden meal worms.”

Ray works for a bio-tech firm in Boulder and Carol works for an aviation company in Boulder but telecommutes from home. Both decided to keep their day jobs until they built up their business.

The geckos range in price from about $50 to several hundred dollars. They are hypoallergenic and safe for people with allergies. Rehner said that children should be at least eight years old to own a gecko. At Designer Geckos the Rehners sell all the supplies to raise and feed geckos. The little lizards require a terrarium, heating pad for sleeping, food, vitamins and a few other things. They need vitamins because they get very little sunlight. They adapt very well to people and they can be left alone for about a week and take care of themselves. For more information on geckos call Designer Geckos at 303-588-8060 or go to designergeckos.com.

Help for women in Uganda

HYGIENE – Crane Hollow Café in Hygiene will be hosting a Bead for Life Party on Saturday, April 17 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Bead for Life creates sustainable opportunities for Uganda women to lift their families out of extreme poverty by the sale of their gorgeous handcrafted beaded jewelry and bags. We will joined by one of the Bead for Life Founders, Torkin Wakefield. Light refreshments will be served. For more information: www.beadforlife.org.

Swap meet at Lyons Village Central

LYONS – Got stuff you want to sell or something you are looking to buy or just want to have some fun on Memorial Day? Come to the Third Annual Swap Meet and Celebration at Lyons Village Central on Monday, May 31 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for music, food, drinks, and lots of great second-hand stuff. Booths are available for rent for $20 each with $15 going to the Lyons Community Foundation and $5 to the Lyons Youth Baseball Softball Association. Or if you have some good stuff that you don’t have use for anymore but don’t want to bother with a booth, donate it to the LCF and we will sell it in our booth. For more information or to reserve a booth, contact Nancy or Robin at City Chicks Food and Flicks, at foodflicks@earthlink.net, or 303-823-6049.

Clark’s Market is now Boulder County General Store

HYGIENE – Clark’s Market in Hygiene is under new owners and has a new name. The new Boulder County General store is now operated by Mary Magdalena and Tim Combs. A grand opening will be held on May 15 and 16. Magdalena and Combs will continue running the small grocery store and keeping the best of the old and incorporating a new focus on locally grown and locally made products. Any growers in the area raising healthy food that the new owners might sell at the store please contact Magdalena at 303-652-4004 or Combs at 303-775-9322. Be sure to stop by the Boulder County General Store for the grand opening May 15 and 16 and try a free homemade cookie and see what the newly remodeled store looks like. Magdalena will make you feel like you are welcome in her kitchen and on the front porch.

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