Pubdate: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 Source: Colorado Springs Independent (CO) Copyright: 2014 Colorado Springs Independent Contact: http://www.csindy.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1536 Author: Bryce Crawford STUDIO A64 DOUBLES IN SPACE, MARIJUANA COMES TO MANITOU AND MORE Marijuana Starts In Manitou The Gazette is reporting that Maggie's Farm will open in Manitou Springs on Thursday, July 31, to sales of recreational marijuana. Multiple attempts to reach owner Bill Conkling were unsuccessful, and an employee at the organization's South Nevada Avenue store replied, "Honestly, I'm not too sure" when asked whether it's happening. But if true - the daily says a final inspection could still change plans - it would mark the first of two stores, and the dawn of a controversial era in the small town, which is set to vote whether to continue to allow recreational marijuana this November. A spacious Studio The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward cannabis, or so business owner KC Stark might logically think. After fending off a months-long attempt from the city of Colorado Springs to shut down his Studio A64 (332 E. Colorado Ave., studioa64.com), he's expanded the business into downstairs space formerly occupied by the Triple Nickel Tavern. (The Nickel has moved into the next-door space formerly used by chef Brother Luck.) "We went from on the verge of death, to doubling in size in a year and a half," says Stark. "It's what I hoped for when we moved in here. I couldn't have planned it better." Pictures show exposed brick, warm woods and a bar offering teas, juices, sodas and snacks. And with the club now divided between the downstairs Canna Cafe and Lounge and the upstairs Cannabis Creative Loafing Event Center, Stark is set to enter the events business: weddings, meetings, patient-appreciation parties and more are at the public's disposal. "It is so beautiful, man," the owner says. "It's about 90 percent done. It's the same area, but we just took it all down, put up our art, put up our stage up front. It just worked brilliantly." Otherwise, the social club is expanding to offer a weekly meet-up for edibles fans, and continues to administer its fraternal organization. "The Benevolent Order of the Buffaloes is not a joke: It's a very unique society," says Stark. "It's all secret codes and all that other stuff that goes with Freemasons. It's the same thing. We have our little pledges, and we have different layers and different levels and different commitments. And to be one, you have to know one." Keef crumbs According to U.S. News & World Report, last week Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced an amendment to the Bring Jobs Home Act that would make state laws allowing medical-marijuana legal on the federal level. The act is unlikely to become law, but one of the senator's aides told the paper, "It is Rand Paul laying down his marker on this issue." - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D