MANITOU SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — In the corner of The Loft (a cafe with a community focus) in Manitou Springs, you'll find a phone booth that tells stories about Manitou; only a dial away, the tales cover past and present and aim to connect visitors with this unique, mountainside town.
According to Justin Snyder, co-owner of The Loft, the idea to transition the secondhand booth into a storytelling device has been sitting in the back of his mind for a quite a while.
The concept, for Snyder, was rooted in his past, "I grew up in a small town in Ohio and wasn't close to the local library; our local library had a phone that you could call into... once a week there would be a new story on this phone line."
So each week, he called the line, "... and that's kind of how I heard stories, and I thought it was fascinating," Snyder finished.
The idea became a reality when Snyder met Audrey Gray, executive director for the Creative Alliance of Manitou Springs (CRANE), "I didn't know who Audrey was, we had met briefly but I didn't know she was involved with CRANE, and she said, 'hey, I can make that happen.'"
The process took about a year's worth of work.
Following the acquisition of approximately $7,500 in grant funding, a ton of creative engineering performed by Infinite Creations, as well as finding and securing storytellers to provide recordings for the booth; the project, helmed by CRANE, was completed and opened for visitors to engage with during October, 2025.
The booth now contains a directory with two-dozen stories and their associated numbers-to-dial listed out; each story is told by a Manitou Springs local.
"So you pick up the phone and you dial the number, and you get to hear a wonderful story about Manitou," commented Gray, "either a love story or a why I live here story or a cultural story [or] a ghost story, all types of different stories."
Gray hopes that the story booth will help folks feel connected, "I hope that people recognize why Manitou is the community that it is, and I hope that people remember why it is that they're here and understand a little bit more on what makes Manitou special."
Snyder says that the story booth is here to stay and CRANE hopes to eventually expand on the project.
For more information on CRANE and their ongoing endeavors, click here.
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