Committee working to change Pueblo’s brand

Pueblo is known as the Steel City, Home of Heroes and for having green chilies. But a group of community leaders in the city wants to condense all of those into one brand.

The group is made up of people from city administration, the Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce, the Colorado State Fair, PEDCO, the Historical Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo, the art community and a citizen.

The committee said Pueblo runs into problems like people shopping outside the community, people traveling through and not stopping, and students leaving after graduation.

The brand it wants to create is something that will attract higher-paying jobs, instill a sense of pride, promote tourism and make Pueblo look like the southern capital of Colorado.

KRDO NewsChannel 13 spoke with Vincent Gagliano, who’s co-owner of Gagliano’s Italian Market in Bessemer. The Italian grocery store/deli has been a staple on Pueblo’s southside since 1921. Gagliano said he didn’t think Pueblo needed to change its image.

“I think our strength comes from our diversity,” Gagliano said. “The important thing to keep Pueblo going to good-paying jobs and investing in our education — investing in our kids.”

City Councilman Dennis Flores said sometime down the road Pueblo will need a single brand, but right now the city needs more than that.

“We need to figure out how we can keep people three, four or five days in Pueblo. We need to create a tourist magnet, we don’t have one,” he said.

Flores used San Antonio as an example. He said people go to the city for vacation to see the Alamo, but there are other amenities like the Riverwalk for people to go to also.

According to the group it will cost more than $200,000 for branding services and to implement it.