Life in Greeley, Colorado
Both Britton and Cassie were born in Greeley, Colorado, so we have some perspective on life here.
Welcome to Life TransPlanet from Britton and Cassie
Where is Greeley, Colorado?
Greeley is about 15 miles east of Interstate 25 (I-25) which is the main freeway that runs north and south connecting Cheyenne, Wyoming through Fort Collins, Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo to Raton, New Mexico all the way to Santa Fe and beyond through Albuquerque. Greeley is the county seat of Weld County and has approximately 80,000 people.
It has two small towns that form the Greeley-Evans area and include both Evans and Garden City to boost the area to over 100,000 people. It is located on Highway 34 which runs from the mountains and Estes Park, Colorado out to the eastern plains. Collectively, the towns including Greeley just east of the mountain range are called the Colorado Front Range.
What is Greeley famous (infamous) for?
Greeley is home to the University of Northern Colorado. James Michener who once lived here and taught at UNC based his novel Centennial on his experiences here.
University of Northern Colorado Campus area
Greeley is also known as a major beef-producing area. Monfort became well-known for its beef and began the practice that is now the norm of confined feed lots. Now the company is called JBS Swift. East of Greeley for miles and miles and miles there is nothing but cows standing out there waiting to be slaughtered by Swift. We flew over it in a small Cessna and it is really incredible how many cows go through Greeley to become hamburgers. For more on Greeley’s role in the meat industry/fast food industry, read the book Fast Food Nation as that will get you started. Greeley is pretty well-known for all the problems that this industry brings to our community including an occasional awful stench of cow waste, exploitation of workers and the environmental consequences.
The Black Part of the Picture is, you know what
Greeley’s History
Greeley was originally named Union Colony and was founded as a Dry Town meaning that alcohol was prohibited (it is no longer this way). They called this “Temperance” and it was part of the Utopian vision that they had when they settled. It is for this reason that Evans and Garden City were originally formed -so they could drink. It was named after Horace Greeley and one of the famous first habitants was Nathan Meeker for whom the town Meeker on the Western Slope of Colorado is named.
Current Demographics
Greeley is about 70% white and 30% Hispanic/Latino with about 10% speaking only Spanish. Even though there is a university AND a community college (Aims) in town, most college students leave town on the weekends to Fort Collins, Boulder or Denver where there is a better night life. Greeley is a fairly friendly city where people will smile at you or say “hi” as you pass them on the street. Most people are helpful if you ask for anything.
Events
Greeley’s main event is the Greeley Stampede also formerly known as the Greeley Independence Stampede as it is the largest Fourth of July Rodeo and celebration in the US. It is about 2 weeks of carnival rides, rodeos, people walking around or riding horses with cowboy hats and boots, country music and rock concerts, food and fireworks. Most of Greeley can hear the festivities and see the fireworks over the Stampede.
Food
Greeley is like most towns in that there are a lot of chain restaurants like Chilis, McDonalds, Starbucks, Applebees, that make it look like any other town out there. But if there is some distinction in food it would probably be the local steak restaurants and Mexican restaurants. Because this is an agricultural area with a focus on beef and a large number of Hispanic workers that come to work at the packing house, it is pretty easy to see why that would be.
Weather
Like most of Colorado, Greeley is sunny more days than not, even in the winter. The winters can be pretty cold with a lot of snow and the summers can be very hot. It can also get pretty windy sometimes.
For more info about Greeley you can visit:
Greeley Tribune, The local newspaper
University of Northern Colorado
Thanks for visiting, and let us know if you have a specific question!
