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New event venue set to open in Craig this September

Day Off Ranch will provide a new event venue for Craig residents and visitors.
Courtesy photo

Despite their official opening being as far off as September, Day Off Ranch owners Bob and Nancy Borberg already have had a jumpstart to their new event venue business.

The Borbergs are Kansas City natives who made their way to Colorado after their restaurant business went under as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nancy Borberg said that, after 25 years in the restaurant, the couple wanted a change of scenery.

“We started visiting different resort areas — different mountain towns,” she said. “We used to live in Winter Park, but it got way too crowded for us. We were looking for a small town, and we just sort of stumbled into Craig.”



Borberg said that she is already fielding requests to rent out the venue, including weddings planned for 2022 and hunters looking for lodging in the fall. The venue, a 3,000-square-foot barn with patios and guest suites, sits on 114 acres where a former Mennonite ranch used to stand.

The “Run-of-the-Ranch” package — which gives the venue to clients for an entire weekend with access to two nights in the four-bedroom guest suite and two nights in the one-bedroom guest cabin — costs $12,500. Rentals for weekday events start at $4,500, and weekend events can range from $5,000 to $6,750. Lodging ranges from $200 to $500.



“We’re really hoping to sort of be a hub for a weekend,” Borberg said. “People can explore the whole surrounding area, the beautiful Northwest mountains of Craig. Outside of Steamboat, we have a whole different landscape here. We have wide open space and green, grassy plains, and the National Forest is right up the road.”

Though they have gained solid interest within the local community, Borberg said the journey to opening the venue was not always the easiest.

“(Small Business Association loans) are very difficult to work with,” she said. “The paperwork is exhausting, but the bank is really good at it. So they’ve sort of taken a lot of burden off of us. The worst thing for us is trying to purchase materials.”

Borberg said the best part, however, has been getting to meet other residents in Craig and watch the town open again after COVID-19 regulations were lifted. The ranch’s barn provides seating for 150 people and catering space for vendors. She said that the economic opportunity in the Moffat County area is something she believes is in its infancy.

“To me and my husband, this is the land of opportunity, honestly,” Borberg said. “We say every day, ‘We need some contractors. We could use a glass repair shop. You could start a store. There’s no distillery here, (and) there’s all kinds of opportunities for entrepreneurs.'”

Though the Borbergs have not been in Craig a long time, Nancy Borberg said that the community she has already built has made the move from Kansas City worth it.

“I get to work and live on a ranch in Craig, and the people in Craig are really wonderful,” she said. “They’re fun, and everybody is so great at customer service. They’re the nicest people.”

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