Rural, Recreation-Related Businesses Support Each Other Through ‘Rural is Rad’

This story was produced through the Daily Yonder Rural Reporting Fellowship, with support from the LOR Foundation.

In Colorado, a new online database hopes to bring attention and collaboration to rural businesses, primarily those in the outdoor industry.

Rural is Rad was started by Kelly Mazanti, TJ Smith, and Robin Hall, who all own small businesses based in rural Colorado. They discovered a shared interest and mutual frustration over growing businesses in rural communities. 

The group met during West Slope Startup Week, a conference that brings together startups based in the rural Western Slope of Colorado for a week of networking, lectures, and discussions. They wanted to build something that would continue to bring together rural brands in the outdoor industry and create a space where customers could find these brands in one place.

“We have to support each other because I have found that the people who live in these [rural] places are the most courageous and creative people that I’ve ever met,” Mazanti said in a Daily Yonder interview.

Mazanti runs Buttnski, an apparel brand based in Summit County, Colorado. She sees her role as a business owner in the community as a way to support economic development in a rural county and contribute to a thriving community. 

“As a founder, my goal is to build this headquarters of operation for Buttnski in Summit County so that we can employ people and contribute to economic development and become not only an industry hub in our community but also a place where we can help develop how this community grows,” she said.

Rural counties with outdoor recreation opportunities can attract more residents who have more money than non-recreational rural counties. However, recreational economies also tend to have lower wages and can drive up housing prices in a community, which pushes lower-income people to other areas. 

Mazanti hopes that Rural is Rad can connect rural business owners and communities to help solve challenges like this.

It can be harder for small brands and businesses in rural communities to gain traction. Rural small business owners struggle with the lack of access to financing, broadband speeds, and increasing cost of doing business. 

The Rural is Rad database hopes to address this by bringing rural brands to a larger audience outside of their home communities. 

Colorado has a plethora of opportunities for rural businesses through their Rural Opportunity Office including the Regional Resiliency & Recovery Roadmaps Program, the Rural Data Dashboard, and the Rural Technical Assistance Program. 

“I think if I was trying to do this in any other state, I wouldn’t have this kind of support or the type of resources and community around me,” Mazanti said. 

She sees collaborations with everyone from the statewide governmental organizations to nonprofits like Startup Colorado to small-town chambers of commerce as vital for the success of the Rural is Rad movement. “Colorado is an example, and it’s a great place to start this kind of a movement.”

Rural is Rad plans to host events and workshops for business owners. The second Rural is Rad week is scheduled to start on Small Business Saturday (November 30th, 2024). This week will highlight rural brands and offer consumers a way to support rural small businesses during the holiday shopping season.

“We can utilize that directory year-round to point people toward these to discover new brands. But then during Rural is Rad shopping week, which happens once a year, that can be an opportunity to further promote these smaller, more unique brands and founders that people may never have heard about,” Mazanti said. 

Currently, Rural is Rad’s database features 17 brands from jewelry makers to backcountry bathroom kits to campgrounds. Brands and service providers can join Rural is Rad by filling out a survey on the website.

Mazanti hopes to expand the database to eventually include all of rural America. 

This article first appeared on The Daily Yonder and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.