The Backyard Market Has Closed. Black Forest's Fall Calendar Now Runs Through One Log Hall.

In 1927, a small group of Black Forest families held a dance in a building that had no doors or windows yet. They had cut the logs with axes and cross-cut saws. The women and children had peeled the bark. Gertrude Burgess had donated the land near the corner of what was then called Templeton Gap Road and Shoup Road. The walls were up, the roof was on and the floor was finished, and that was reason enough to celebrate.

That hall still stands at 12530 Black Forest Road. For the next six weeks it is the address on almost every Black Forest calendar entry. Black Forest is unincorporated and spread across wooded lots, with no Main Street, so a log building raised by hand a century ago does the job a town square would do anywhere else.

The handoff happened on Oct. 17

Through the warm months, the forest's weekly gathering spot was a few minutes away on Shoup Road. KOAA reported in June that the Backyard Market at 6845 Shoup Road ran Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with more than 80 vendors expected, along with a year-round Farm Shop on the same property. The market's season ended on Saturday, Oct. 17, with a closing day that included trick-or-treating at vendor booths and a dog costume contest.

That same afternoon, from 3 to 5 p.m., the Black Forest Community Club gave a plaque to the Munson family at the log hall. The Monument Independent reported that club director Steve White wrote that the Munsons still volunteer their time and equipment to keep the club running. The paper traced the family through decades of the Black Forest News. Paul and Dorothie Munson arrived in the mid-1950s, bought the old Black Forest Store in 1959 and were club members by 1961. In August 1979, the paper told readers that Jack Munson would bring his dump truck when volunteers replaced the hall's roof.

The outdoor season ended and an indoor one began on the same afternoon. The calendar stays on Black Forest Road from here through mid-December.

Six weeks at one address

All of these are at the Black Forest Community Club and Community Center, 12530 Black Forest Road, at the corner of Shoup.

Three different organizations book the same building. In about six weeks, the hall hosts a Halloween event, a five-day craft show, three concerts, a Veterans Day potluck and a Christmas market. Black Rose Acoustic Society notes on its concerts page that its schedule can change, so check there before a Friday night out.

This Saturday is the first test

Trunk or Treat lands on Halloween itself, two days after this post goes up. According to the club's event page, it runs from 3 to 5 p.m. It takes place in the Backyard, the club's outdoor grounds, and anyone decorating a vehicle can start setting up at 1 p.m. The Monument Independent also includes it in its Halloween guide.

The Backyard looks a little different this year. The club put up a new fence along its Black Forest Road side. White wrote that Joe Hawkins of Hawkins Land Solutions built it and charged only for materials, which saved the club several thousand dollars. The total came to just under $12,000. It is a cement composite in a color called Rawhide, chosen from four options at a board meeting. Families lining up at car trunks on Saturday will be standing in front of it.

The busiest stretch is the first half of November

From Nov. 4 through Nov. 14, the hall is booked more often than not.

The Black Forest Arts & Crafts Guild opens its fall show on Wednesday, Nov. 4. The Guild says it holds its shows at the Community Center every year. Hours are:

• Wednesday, Nov. 4: 4 to 7 p.m.
• Thursday, Nov. 5 through Saturday, Nov. 7: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Sunday, Nov. 8: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Peak Radar's listing calls it the 62nd annual fall holiday show. It lists the members' work as quilts and afghans, baby items, paintings, pottery, jewelry, woodworking, stained glass, dolls, stitchery and note cards. The culinary members sell baked goods, jams and jellies. The Guild is a Colorado nonprofit, and it keeps a scholarship fund for local students. The Wednesday evening opening is the short window, three hours after work, before the Thursday-through-Saturday crowds.

Five days after the show closes, the hall switches to music. Stray Grass plays the Black Rose Acoustic Society's Friday, Nov. 13 concert. The event page lists the standard Black Rose prices: $15 general admission, $8 for members and students with ID, and free for children 12 and younger.

The next afternoon is the Community Club's Veterans Day celebration on Saturday, Nov. 14. It is a potluck with a band, and Boy Scouts will perform a flag retirement ceremony. The club's newsletter gives the date and describes an afternoon event but does not give a start time, so check the club's events page closer to the day.

Black Rose is back on Friday, Nov. 27, the night after Thanksgiving, with Stillhouse Junkies.

Why it all lands at one building

The hall was built to be the forest's meeting place, and it has been used that way since. The club's history page says that in the mid-1920s, about 30 families lived across a 420-square-mile area. The little log schoolhouse on Shoup Road was too small for their meetings and social gatherings. In 1924, they decided to build a hall. The club was chartered in 1929, and it says the hall will turn 100 in 2027.

Membership has stayed inexpensive. The history page notes that in the 1950s, family dues went from 25 cents a year to 50 cents. Today they are $20 per family per year. Renewals for 2027 can be paid from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, through the club's website or by check to P.O. Box 88034, Black Forest, CO 80908-8034. Voting membership is for households inside the boundaries of the Black Forest Preservation Plan, the county's former area plan for the forest. Households outside those boundaries can join as associates for the same $20.

Between the big dates, the hall stays in use. The club's classes page lists weekly beginner line dancing taught by Mack, along with Strength, Eccentrics and Karate classes. Days and times are on the club calendar. The club also rents out the clubhouse, and its rental page takes availability inquiries. Anyone hoping to book a holiday party there should look at the table above first.

The club's October newsletter, edited by Carolyn Brown, also prints the directory its membership committee gives to new Black Forest homeowners. It lists 32 churches, restaurants, shops, clinics and tradespeople, and it was updated in September. Back issues to January 2025 are on the club's newsletters page.

Dec. 5 closes the year where it started

The last big Community Club event of 2026 is the Christmas market and Santa visits on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 2 to 7 p.m. The tree lighting is at 5 p.m. Black Rose follows six days later with Rocky Mountain Stocking Stuffers on Friday, Dec. 11.

After that, the hall goes into 2027, the year the club says it turns 100.

Much of Black Forest's year runs through that log hall. If you're thinking about a home in the forest and want to know what life looks like between Trunk or Treat and the tree lighting, or what your current place is worth today, Sheena Crompton is happy to talk it through. Get Your Instant Home Valuation, and keep Dec. 5 at 5 p.m. on your calendar.