SOUTH FORK – South Fork began 2024 with a bang after voters passed an increase in sales tax during their spring elections. 

The sales tax increase was for several projects including an increase in town employees and departments like road and bridge and to help fund projects like the town park that will begin construction sometime in 2025. 

The tax increase that was passed in April could potentially bring an additional $1.2 million in revenue to the small mountain town and help with infrastructure and pay increases for town employees such as the South Fork Police Department. 

In addition to these benefits, it was also a means to help the town qualify for grant funding for the new South Fork Town park project that started as a conceptual design in 2023. 

The town park project will consist of converting a vacant, 17-acre property east of Rainbow Grocery into a town park and riverwalk. The structures proposed in the concepts include a big multi-use pavilion, playground, two bridges that complete a walkway loop on both sides of the river, restrooms, picnic area, and ample parking for festivals and other activities. 

In addition to the sales tax increase, the town worked diligently with Sawmill Meadow owners Tammy and Matt Dorsett on affordable housing. The project kicked off in 2023 and came to the final phase in the summer of 2024, bringing workforce affordable housing to the area in the form of 20 homes on the west side of South Fork. The housing project followed a housing study that was done by the San Luis Valley Housing Coalition in 2023. 

South Fork has been on the brink of change for the past several years and 2024 brought to light all the projects that are underway. As the town moves into 2025, they will be welcoming new additions to the community including the new Basecamp Convenience that will be breaking ground this spring.  The business will be a full-service convenience store with two dog parks, one for big dogs and one for smaller dogs, and an outdoor patio where traveling families can stop, grab a bite to eat at the store or another local business and have a place to sit and enjoy before hitting the road again.