Community Voices: Notes from the Front Range
Community Voices stories are sourced from community members across the state—told in their own words and selected from our 64-county community ambassador program. They are not editorial products of our journalism team, but are first-person reflections on life in Colorado - building bridges through empathy.
By Jo Carroll (they/them)
“Colorado Proud” is the name that adorns the cantaloupe: a tan rinded melon whose inner flesh captures the golden rays of the early Colorado sun. Feeding off the fresh snowmelt from the mountains harsh winter, the rocky earth of the Colorado plains serves as the fertile soil for these juicy fruits.
After consuming the springs spoils, this fruit is shipped around the state for all to consume during the summer months, so that all of us can become a part of the earth we call home.
Despite the cantaloupe hailing from another part of the world, it has found home in Colorado with its agreeable conditions: much like many of Colorado’s other residents. In the cantaloupe isn’t just Colorado’s fertile soil or rich waters, but also my story.
I have lived in many different places during my 28 years in Colorado. In my childhood, I passed the short summer days and long winters in Cripple Creek—a city whose identity lives between a sleepy mountain town and a thriving metropolis. Like the Cantaloupe, I fed on the snowpack that would accumulate each winter in the valleys and on the peaks.
It wasn’t long, however, before I found myself running down the mountains to the front range’s fertile planes. I spent my time as a teen maturing on these plains—taking in what the state had to offer. It was as if a vine had sprouted from the earth in eastern Colorado Springs for me to blossom from.
As a young adult I began my frantic rush to be shipped around the state. Frequent visits to places like Grand Junction and Salida, living in places like Greeley, Denver and Fort Collins, going back home to Colorado Springs and the mountains. I was the produce being shipped far and wide.
Finally, at 26, still young and bullish, I met a stranger for a date. I had once again changed careers, left a long-term relationship, and was struggling to find my joy in Colorado because I never felt settled in. After a five-minute rant disparaging my hometown, my date looked at me and asked, “but what did you like about it? What did you learn that you still take with you?”
This person had seen me as a cantaloupe, a product of Colorado, and asked me to slice through the tan rind to enjoy the golden fruit that laid within. It was the first time that I had really asked myself, “and what do I love?”
Growing up in the mountains, I learned that the snowpack is sweet. It is heavy. It is dense. It forces us to slow down and stay close to home. It builds community because it puts us closer together when we can’t get to the outside world. It was my small mountain town that taught me that people are kind and want community. When you live at 10,000ft, any fruit is a treat, any sweetness is a gift, and if you don’t eat it, it’ll rot on the counter.
This mindset is what has allowed me to travel up and down the state and make it home. Greeley was home because my upstairs neighbor, Ms. Martha, would check on me and my roommates daily to ensure that we were okay and getting good grades. Fort Collins was home because the baristas at my local coffee shop shared more than just our names, but also our pets, our stories, and our kindness. Colorado Springs was home because I knew its layout and who owned the local shops. Salida and Grand Junction were home because the mountains are a part of me as much as I am them. No matter what, I could find a friendly face and a good meal.
I realized that I am the cantaloupe, that I am ‘Colorado Proud.’ I have been nurtured by those around me to take my time and grow, to travel the state, and to consume the nutrients that are filtered through my communities statewide. I realized what makes Colorado unique is that it can welcome something like the cantaloupe, something once foreign to us, and plant it in its soil where the people will nurture it to grow.
So now, when I talk about where I grew up, when I talk about the 10 different cities I’ve lived in, when I talk about Colorado, I look at it through the eye of the cantaloupe: Colorado Proud.
Rocky Mountain Public Media, the home of Rocky Mountain PBS, KUVO JAZZ, and THE DROP 104.7 has a partnership with Colorado Ethnic Media Exchange to launch this monthly essay series, as part of our vision to co-create a Colorado where everyone feels seen and heard. Learn more about all of our brands and content.
We Want to Hear from You
We’re inviting community members across the state to share their own stories of living in Colorado —of identity, discovery, and what it means to belong. Tell us about a moment or a place in Colorado that changed how you see yourself or your community.
This is part of Ambassador64, our statewide listening initiative to ensure public media reflects the voices of all 64 counties in Colorado—starting with yours.