Imagine a hiker has been backpacking through the rugged San Juan Mountains, surviving in the untamed wilderness for two straight weeks without any amenities of the modern world.
Upon finally rolling into Silverton, the hiker’s first instinct is to saunter on over to the nearest bar and quench his thirst. But before he can belly up to the bar, the hiker realizes he probably looks like one of the wild animals he’s been living among. And he probably doesn’t smell very good, either.
Many weary travelers have found themselves in this situation passing through Silverton, a high-country mecca for adventures of all stripes.
For them, something new: The town of Silverton opened its first public showering facility, part of the new Parks and Recreation Facility, which finished construction last September in Anesi Park.
Showers cost $5 for five minutes. The facility includes four showers, each situated in their own small room with a door that can be locked for privacy. Cleaning supplies are not provided.
Showers will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in June and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in July. The hours of operation after July will be determined based on initial observations, including maintenance and cleaning costs during the first two months of operation, said Gloria Kaasch-Buerger, town administrator for Silverton.
The town plans to keep the showers open through the fall and will determine later whether they will remain operational through the winter, Kaasch-Buerger said.
Construction on the shower facility was completed last September, alongside the rest of the new parks and recreation facility, but remained closed because of delays in installing the shower’s payment system.
The new facility also includes public restrooms, an information center, a community kitchen, a garage, an event space, a band shell and office spaces.
“This is a legacy project, this building will be here for years to come, and it doesn’t just provide public restrooms for guests,” Kaasch-Buerber said. “It also provides a space for our growing parks and recreation facilities, that department has been growing for years and needed a spot to call it’s own.”
Anesi Park is located on the historical location of Silverton’s original Town Hall and was donated to the town in 1991 by the Anesi family, who have lived in Silverton for generations, Kaasch-Buerger said.
She said that until last September, the area was known as Columbine Park, after which the construction of the new parks and recreation facility triggered a stipulation in the land deed requiring the park to be rededicated to the Anesi family if any improvements where made.
The official name may have been Columbine Park, but Kaasch-Buerger said the colloquial one was “Potty Park” because of the long-outdated midcentury era public restroom facility it housed, which for a time was the only one in all of Silverton.
The new facility was the first new building erected in Silverton in 24 years, according to a town of Silverton news release. Its construction was part of a larger project to revitalize the Blair Street business district, which Anesi Park is located in the middle of.
Blair Street is a designated historic district that is a dirt road lined with Old West-style architecture. Future steps in the revitalization project include installing curbs, sidewalks and streetlights, Kaasch-Buerger said. The town’s goals with the revitalization project are to make the area more pedestrian-friendly and attract more businesses.
The showers operate off a token system: $5 buys one token that can be deposited outside the shower and earns users five minutes worth of water, said Sarah Friden, director of facilities for Parks and Recreation.
Friden said the town opted for a token system as opposed to a system that could process debit/credit card transactions to avoid paying a cut of revenue to the payment system company and circumvent costly electrical guidelines.
She said pipe problems are frequent and can be difficult to fix because of Silverton’s remoteness, abundance of Victorian era homes and the fact that only one plumber lives in town. The public showers ensure visitors and locals can always get clean in comfort.
“People here are stoked, because it gives (another) source of hot water,” she said.
nmetcalf@durangoherald.com
