Meet Dani Grant of Mishawaka Holdings

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dani Grant.

Hi Dani, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
When I acquired Mishawaka in 2010, the nearby campground then called Columbine Lodge or the Rusty Buffalo, was always of interest to me. The owners decided to retire in 2023 and at that time approached me about purchasing the campground. The campground was a long-term rental for trailers as well as campground sites seasonally. The general store was pretty rundown, and the whole property was fairly dilapidated. I knew the project would be big because the vision I had for it. I partnered with the Owner’s son, Mike Jensen, and we began the long project. It took 20 months to get the project through approvals with the county. The campground resides in a national forest on a wild and scenic river and unbeknownst to us, the property had been rezoned during Covid to not allow camping. Ironic, I know, it’s a campground, however, stranger things have happened in county meetings. We were able to get approval for a rezone, after five setback variances and 17 amendments, all with neighborhood support. It was a true testament to how the community felt about Mishawaka and how it had been revamped and what it did for the communities pride and joy.

We are now heading into our third season of operations and while it hasn’t been easy, we’ve been finding our way

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Some of the struggles were relocating the residents who lived in the trailer park. The reality was, the places they were living were very rundown and needed to be replaced. Our work with Neighbor To Neighbor, and our financial investment towards deposits on new homes, afforded them the opportunity to relocate into better situations. what we were concerned would be a fight, ended up, feeling like a victory for us and for the residence.

Another struggle was locating all the tiny homes across the country, bringing them to our site and renovating each one of them to make them adorable. My partner went on long road trips and hitched these tiny to his truck and brought in nine tiny homes from seven different states. We even converted an old cargo container that was on site and used for storage into a new tiny home.

The last struggle was taking my vintage airstream and remodeling it into a coffee cart. The struggle there was me giving up my airstream:)

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Mishawaka started as a restaurant in a venue and branched into a holding company that runs an outdoor venue, a full service restaurant, an outside promotions company, a transportation company, a media company, an eventing company and a resort.

In 15 years, my team of incredibly dedicated and creative staff have helped me launch these different entities, all which serve our needs in the music industry.

Mishawaka Amphitheatre, Mishawaka Restaurant, Wide Open Adventure Transpo, Mishawaka Presents, Black Bear Events, Mish Media, and Riverside Colorado are the entities that provide services to all our endeavors as well as for other people and businesses that utilize our services.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
What matters most to me is making sure that Mishawaka has a foundation that will allow it to thrive for another hundred years. There are so many people from so many places that have had important experiences at the Mish – beautiful and unique experiences – in an intimate venue with one of the most scenic views in Colorado. My ownership is just a short span of time in this 120 year-old venue and I look forward to seeing how it evolves after I hand off the reigns one day.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Riversidecolorado.com
• Instagram: @riversidecolorado
• Facebook: @riversidecolorado
• LinkedIn: Riverside-colorado

Image Credits
Sunnyside
Tara Gracer