Koko’s Friendly Pub announces new name
Koko’s Friendly Pub and Grill, at 2121 E. Main St., Cortez, has a new name – Destination Grill.
Restaurant Manager Freedom Leonard said they changed to name to reflect what the restaurant really represents.
“Our restaurant has a lot to do about traveling and so we wanted to reflect that,” Leonard said.
The restaurant and adjoining conference center has been under new management for about 2½ years.
“It’s not about the journey it’s about the destination,” she said. “A lot of our clients are travelers, and we wanted to make it a destination theme around Mesa Verde.”
In addition to the new name, the restaurant has been remodeled inside, and Leonard said a complete remodel of the conference center should begin soon.
“Hopefully we will have the remodel done for our Christmas parties in December,” she said.
The name change took effect last week, banners are up and Leonard said a new sign will be coming soon.
The menu at the restaurant will largely stay the same with the local favorites remaining, such as the quail, but Leonard said there will be a few changes on the menu in the future.
“We really want to add onto the menu and expand it as a global cuisine,” she said.
In addition, Leonard is hoping to add additional local beers to the menu. For more information, call 565-6000.
Doctoral fellow to talk about the Colorado River
The Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College will host Sara A. Porterfield’s lecture, “The Colorado River in Global Perspective,” on Monday, Oct. 27, at 6 p.m. in the Center of Southwest Studies’ Lyceum Room at Fort Lewis College in Durango.
Porterfield is the center’s inaugural doctoral fellow in Southwestern history. The fellowship is a collaborative effort between the center and the graduate program in the history department at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Porterfield will spend the 2014-15 academic year in residence at the center performing dissertation research and writing in addition to teaching in the college’s department of history.
Ms. Porterfield’s research focuses on the engineers and river runners who have traveled into and out of the river basin. Such engineers include Floyd Dominy, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation from 1959 to 1969; Dominy is perhaps best known for championing the controversial Echo Park and Glen Canyon dams in the Colorado River basin.
River runner Bus Hatch operated the first commercial river rafting company in the Colorado River basin in the mid-1930s, and in 1957 made the first descent of the Indus River in Pakistan.
Porterfield’s talk will present her preliminary research on these figures and others, and suggest ways the Colorado River has had an impact on a global scale.
The Center of Southwest Studies celebrates its 50th year in 2014. The center provides an active program of public lectures and events throughout the year at its museum, research library, and archives facility on the campus of Fort Lewis College in Durango.
For more information, contact the center’s business office at (970) 247-7456 or visit swcenter.fortlewis.edu.
Cortez Journal