Nights like May 27, when one of the world’s most popular and award-winning bands choose his bar for their after-concert party, don’t tempt Dave Killingsworth to stay in the business.
The longtime Morrison business owner recently listed the Bear Creek Avenue bar, its adjoining businesses, houses and the property around it for sale for $15 million.
Killingsworth knows the Black Keys — who recently held a late-night Record Hang at the Morrison Holiday Bar — are famous but not much more than that. And he’s met plenty of famous people in nearly 20 years of running Morrison’s popular live music venue. The idea of meeting more isn’t even a consideration for him.
“I just had my Medicare birthday this month,” Killingsworth said. “If I had endless energy, time and money, there’s a lot more I’d like to do. But I don’t. And I don’t want to fight with the town to do it.”
The things he wants to do include opening up the walls between neighboring Tom’s Upholstering shop and Red Rocks Grill — both of which Killingsworth and his Texan brother Fred own — and creating a large restaurant/bar with garage doors, more room for dancing and other features he thinks patrons would enjoy.
But that’s either a job for someone else, or an idea a new owner may not pursue, he said.
While Killingsworth has put years of effort and money into expanding the Holiday, including adding a rooftop patio, two parking lots at the back, expanded bathrooms and other amenities, its future doesn’t matter to Killingsworth. Well-known by the town’s elected officials for confronting them at their biweekly meetings about the lack of town parking and action to help Morrison’s businesses, he says that’s also not the reason he’s offering his properties for sale.
“It’s just time,” he said. “And I’m not the only one involved. My brother wants to sell, too.”
Unique Properties describes the site as “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to acquire a rare mixed-use property in one of the state’s most charming and highly trafficked tourist destinations.”
But the Holiday isn’t just known for its live music or location in downtown Morrison. Killingsworth has also created a sense of community that extends beyond music lovers. The Holiday hosts free community dinners on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and Easter. It first introduced the idea in 2007, holding them annually until the pandemic. Those events returned this year, drawing some people back who treasure them as a unique tradition.
Killingsworth isn’t without some sentiment about his establishment. He hopes a new owner will keep the Holiday, which has operated as a bar since the late 1800s, alive.
“If they’ve been here more than a couple times, I don’t know why somebody would take the Holiday out,” he said. “But that’s not my business.”
He’s also not on a timeline. If it doesn’t sell, he said he’ll hold onto it for at least another five years. And if it does, he’s not yet sure what he’ll do.
The property includes buildings from 401 to 417 Bear Creek Avenue, as well as 109 Mill Street. That includes about 10,400-square-feet of retail space, two houses and 58 private parking spaces.
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