(CAÑON CITY, Colo.) — Cañon City’s oldest hotel, the historic Hotel St. Cloud, celebrated its grand reopening on Saturday, July 26. It’s been upgraded to a four-star destination, and the owners of the hotel celebrated with live music, food, drinks, and more.
It’s hard to miss it with a newly renovated neon sign lighting up the heart of Cañon City.
“That is the original sign, we retrofitted it with new neon, we repainted it, but it is the original sign,” said Lindsey Wyss, General Manager at Hotel St. Cloud.
The hotel is once again a home away from home after being closed for nearly a decade.
“I think folks are just glad we did, and I think it was a building that was meant to live on, and so everyone’s just stoked that it’s still alive,” said Wyss.
It was falling apart at the seams and almost became a parking lot before the community fought to save it.
“Just like anything else, this place was ignored. Most of us didn’t even know it was here, it’s been here for so long and been kind of falling apart and in disrepair, now man, look at it,” said Dan Brown, a community member.
It was auctioned off in 2018, which is when construction began to bring the hotel back to life.
“It’s one of those staples, we have a lot of those that are just special to us, and one of those things is Hotel St. Cloud,” said Shannon Readmond, a community member.
The cherished hotel was first built in Silver Cliff back in 1884, but the owners decided to move it brick by brick to Cañon City.
“There were lots of surprises too, the new elevator tower and riverbed, we took it down from 55 rooms down to 36,” said Wyss.
Although there are fewer rooms, they are bigger and complete with a unique art piece in each one.
“We didn’t just put stock artwork through; every room has a little booklet where you’ll be able to see like what the artwork is and what the piece means,” said Wyss.
After all the hard work and money put into the four-star hotel, the owners say it’s a cause for celebration.
“We really just felt passionate about bringing back to life what the original owners had really felt for it,” said Wyss.
Now, the neon light will shine as a symbol of the resilience of Cañon City.
“It’ll be on probably every night for as long as this place is here, a lot longer than I’ll be here,” said Brown.
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