Nearly four decades after the Union Colony Civic Center was built, Greeley looks a lot different.
And as the city is expected to continue growing, civic center leadership has begun to consider whether the building’s name reflects its identity as a performing arts center. To find out, the civic center will ask Greeley residents this question starting this summer.
The UCCC puts on hundreds of shows each year with a total attendance of about 15,000 people in 2024. In addition to two performing arts theaters, the UCCC is connected to the Greeley Recreation Center and hosts the Tointon Art Gallery, which features 10 exhibits by local, regional and nationally acclaimed artists each year.
The Union Colony Civic Center in Greeley lights up the night during the Festival of Trees event on Nov. 24, 2023.(Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)Though the UCCC is a civic center by definition, the building primarily serves as a performing arts center, UCCC Board Chairman Mark Pugatch said, and the name should reflect that. Being called a civic center, he said, makes it difficult to attract some productions that may not be familiar with the center’s capacity for the performing arts.
In April, Pugatch joined Greeley Culture, Parks and Recreation Director Diana Frick in approaching the city council to request permission to conduct a survey about a possible name change. They explained their concerns to city council members that the facility’s current name doesn’t accurately reflect the UCCC’s purpose, potentially resulting in a lack of attendance.
“What we really want to do is to reach out to the community and see if we can get the answer to our primary question which is: Are we happy with the status quo, or do we want to grow our programs and grow our attendance and promote a really beautiful building that is better named by something else other than a name that was assigned to it 38 years ago?” Pugatch said.
Retired Greeley-Evans School District 6 music teacher Kris Pierce, right, conducts nearly 600 student singers from elementary schools in the Greeley area on Feb. 21, 2023, during rehearsal for the evening's elementary choral festival at the Union Colony Civic Center in Greeley. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)While members of the city council’s responses ranged from supportive to neutral — “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,” Mayor John Gates commented — the council gave unanimous consent for the UCCC board to pursue the survey, not just on the name change but additional changes the UCCC could make to improve guests’ experience and attract more people.
Many public comments about the potential name change were initially critical of the idea. According to Pugatch, the board has heard comments both positive and negative. While some residents have been supportive of the venture, others have accused the center of catering to specific groups in the city who may be offended by the name.
“I’m not directing this to one group, ethnicity or side of the city,” Pugatch said. “The survey, as intended, will go out as a blanket survey targeting everybody. We’re giving them a chance to voice and say, ‘Hey, we do want to change the name!’
“If the survey comes back and they don’t, we’ll know not to pursue it.”
Pugatch said this is something the UCCC board has been interested in doing since before the pandemic, as they have watched Greeley continue to grow and its values as a community shift.
“As Greeley grows and evolves, the places within it must grow and evolve as well,” he said. “We know that the arts are essential to the health of our community, and we have this beautiful building, and sometimes we need to ask ourselves what the identity and purpose of this building are today, rather than what it was 38 years ago.”
The Union Colony name also carries historical connections that some find problematic. Before modern-day Greeley incorporated as a city, the community began as Union Colony, a farming community founded by Nathan Meeker in 1870. The colony aimed to create a community based on temperance, religion, agriculture, education, irrigation, cooperation and family values.
Mayor John Gates looking out at a full audience while giving his final State of the City Address at the Union Colony Civic Center on Thursday. (Courtesy/City of Greeley)Meeker’s aim of creating a utopian community, however, meant Union Colony rejected those who did not conform to these values. This resulted in a largely white and Protestant community, and that history continues to give some present-day Greeley residents pause.
“Greeley has a fascinating history, but the Union Colony was really a utopian, but very white, Protestant and wealthy planned community, so of course that left a whole lot of us out of it,” Councilwoman Deb Deboutez said, who has voiced her emphatic support for renaming the center previously.
According to Pugatch, the hope is that a complete or even a partial name change will increase the center’s attendance and visibility within the community. Such an increase could complement the city council’s efforts to build a civic campus downtown — a project that combines City Hall, the Weld County Justice Center and Greeley-Evans School District 6 offices in the same location downtown — Deboutez said, helping to usher in a new era for the area.
“We are really trying to focus attention and resources on downtown because it is really the heart and soul of our community,” Deboutez said. “If we can build the civic campus with Weld County and the school district and rename the performing arts center, I think it would be a rebirth and a renaissance for downtown.”
The Tointon Galley supports local artists in its location at the Union Colony Civic Center building in Greeley on Dec. 7, 2023.(Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)Downtown businesses near the UCCC also voiced support for the potential name change, particularly with its aim of increasing foot traffic in the area.
“It is mainly for performing arts, so I don’t see an issue with them changing to reflect that if that’s what they do,” said Carissa Murphy, social media manager for The Nerd Store. “Here at The Nerd Store, we are all about being who you are and being inclusive. So if they aren’t comfortable with the name they have and they want to change it, we’re cool with it.”
Though the survey will be largely open-ended regarding a name change, giving residents the opportunity to suggest any name they want, Pugatch said they will also recommend a few name options: City of Greeley Performing Arts Center, Greeley Premier Theater, Greeley Performing Arts Center, UC Performing Arts Center or UC Greeley Performing Arts Center — with the last two reducing the “Union Colony” part of the name to just “UC.”
A pair of Clydesdales wait for riders in the cold while outside the Union Colony Civic Center in Greeley during the Festival of Tress event. The horses belong to Mountain Shadow Carriages from Windsor.(Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)“I think if it’s spelled out, ‘Greeley Performing Arts Center,’ people will know what it is. It’s a state-of-the-art facility, and I don’t think many new residents know we have that amenity in our city,” Deboutez said. “I think we need a lot more programming and a lot more shows, but I think having a name like performing arts center may pique people’s interest, and they may seek out what shows are at it versus not knowing what it is.”
The survey will be released in mid-July and run until the fall, allowing residents to share their opinions on whether the center should be renamed and, if so, what that name will be. The survey will be available at several public events and UCCC productions. It will also be posted on the city’s engagement website, speakupgreeley.com.
The UCCC Board hopes to have the survey results in hand by November so that it can present them to the council before its composition changes after this year’s elections.
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