In the hall's early winters, getting ready for a Christmas program took a day or two. A coal furnace heated the building and had to be stoked by hand every four to six hours. It needed to burn for 24 to 48 hours before an event, depending on the cold. That meant someone drove over a couple of times during the night to shovel coal, build up the fire, and reset the damper so the room would be warm when the neighbors came.
The furnace is long gone, but the building at 12530 Black Forest Road is still where the forest's holiday season begins. The Black Forest Community Club says the log building at the corner of Black Forest and Shoup Roads turns 100 years old in 2027. This year's tree lighting is on Saturday, December 5. Its story is worth knowing before you go, because for nearly a century this hall is where Black Forest has gotten things done.
Built by about 30 families, kept up by 224
In the mid-1920s, about 30 families lived in an area of roughly 420 square miles. It ran from the foothills to the Elbert County line and north to Douglas County. They needed somewhere to meet, and the little log schoolhouse on Shoup Road was not quite big enough. Black Forest Road was still called Templeton Gap Road back then.
In 1924, Gertrude Burgess donated the land and families donated trees from their own property. According to the Club's own history, the men felled the trees with axes and cross-cut saws, and the women and children peeled the bark off the logs. The building went up slowly, and the first party came early:
By 1927 the walls were up, the roof was on, and the floor was done. A dance was held to celebrate, even though the doors and windows had yet to be installed.
Additions came in stages. An early-1950s wing added a kitchen, cloak room, restrooms, and running water from a new well. A 1960s meeting room meant the whole hall no longer had to be heated for small gatherings. Later in the 1960s, members voted to allow roller skating, so the old stage came out. A new west addition held a stage and dressing rooms for melodramas, and a new hardwood floor and heating system went in.
Today the Club reports 224 member families. That's more than seven times the number of households that lived across the whole forest when the logs were cut. Dues tell the same story of continuity. In the 1950s the Club raised family dues from 25 cents to 50 cents a year. A family membership now costs $20 a year.
Where the forest went to get organized
For decades, when Black Forest needed something from the outside world, people signed up for it at the Community Club. The Club's history records that the hall hosted:
- Meetings to bring electricity to the forest, and sign-ups for telephone service
- A temporary office where residents filled out natural gas applications instead of driving into Colorado Springs
- Meetings when the area joined Academy School District 20
- Church services for several denominations before they built their own buildings
- Club members working with the county commissioners to improve roads and bridges in the years before snow removal
Several of the forest's institutions started there too. The Black Forest Fire Department began with Club members, who looked after the two fire trucks. With the county's permission, they built a two-bay cement block station on county land at the corner just south of the hall, donating all the materials and labor. That building is still part of today's station. Dances, bingo nights, and dinners in the hall helped fund the department, and the Club supplied the station's water until the department became tax-supported in 1976. The Black Forest Arts and Crafts Guild began at the hall as the Black Forest Arts Guild. So did the Black Forest Saddle Club, and the Men's Club that later grew into the Black Forest Protection and Preservation Society.
The Black Forest Ladies Club, already active when the Community Club formed, raised enough money to put a ceiling in the hall. The ceiling was never installed, but the Club kept the money.
The calendar from here to New Year's
The holiday events on the Club's calendar follow the same pattern: a potluck, the Scouts, local vendors, and a tree out front. Here is what's still ahead as of this week:
- Saturday, November 14. The Veterans Day Flag Ceremony runs from 3 to 4 p.m. and includes a flag retirement ceremony led by the Boy Scouts. A community potluck with live music follows from 4 to 9 p.m., so bring a dish to share. The Club has sponsored Boy Scout Troop 70 since the early 1950s and also sponsors Cub Scout Pack 70.
- Friday, November 27. Forest Bend Farm at 9525 Burgess Road opens its 2026 Christmas season. It runs on selected dates through December 26 and adds "Sparkle Steps" and a covered patio at the Grandma's Basement photo spot this year.
- Saturday, December 5. Christmas in the Forest runs from 2 to 7 p.m. with a holiday market of local vendors and handmade gifts. Santa and Mrs. Claus are at the hall from 2 to 4 p.m. for photos, and the tree lighting is at 5 p.m. The food vendor is Big Papa's Grill, a food truck and catering business. The Club singles out its Angry Elf Tacos.
- Thursday, December 31. This is the last day to renew your Club membership for 2027. More on that below.
The season's other big hall event has already happened. The Black Forest Arts & Crafts Guild held its fall show at the Community Center November 4 through 8, as listed in The Gazette's holiday craft fair roundup. The Guild was founded in 1965 and calls itself the longest continuously running craft guild west of the Mississippi. Membership is open to all Black Forest residents. Money from members, the community, and shoppers at its spring and fall shows funds a scholarship the Guild created in 2006 for a graduating senior who lives in the 80908 or 80831 area. If you missed this fall's show, the Guild holds a spring show at the same hall.
The block around 12530 Black Forest Road
The hall's neighbors make it easy to turn the December 5 market into a whole afternoon. The Club's Membership Committee gives new homeowners a business directory, last updated in September 2026. These businesses from that list sit closest to the hall:
| Stop | Address | Good for on market day |
|---|---|---|
| Golden Pine Coffee Roasters | 12470 Black Forest Rd | Coffee before the 2 p.m. start |
| Rockin B Feed & Supply | 12440 Black Forest Rd | Feed and supply errands |
| The Cabin Collectives | 12490 Black Forest Rd | More browsing next door |
| Black Forest Bistro | 6750 Shoup Rd | A sit-down meal |
| Cotton Blossom Caramel | 6755 Shoup Rd, Cabin B | Edible gifts |
| Rise "N" Shine Ranch Meat & Mercantile | 6755 Shoup Rd, Cabin A | Holiday-table shopping |
| Lavender & Thyme | 6755 Shoup Rd | Rounding out the Shoup Road stop |
Farther south on Black Forest Road, the directory lists more places within a few blocks of each other. The 11425 address holds Latigo Winery in Suite 6, which closes at 7 p.m., along with The Melted Moose for ice cream, closed Mondays and Tuesdays, and Forest View Post Office & Gifts. Nearby are Mountain View Cafe & Catering at 11424, Pies & Grinders at 11470, and Black Forest Brewing Co. at 11590.
The weekly Black Forest Farmers Market at 6845 Shoup Road ended its outdoor season on October 17. The Backyard Farm Shop at the same address stays open year-round.
What $20 a year keeps running
The tree lighting is the event most people see. The rest of the year, the hall runs on the same kind of volunteer help that built it. Membership dues, volunteers, and donated labor keep it going.
This fall, the Club installed a new fence along the Black Forest Road side of "The Backyard," the outdoor space that hosted this year's Trunk-or-Treat. Joe Hawkins of Hawkins Land Solutions built it and charged the Club only for materials, which saved several thousand dollars. The total came in just under $12,000. The fence is a no-maintenance cement composite, and board members picked the color, called Rawhide, at a meeting. In October, the Club also presented a plaque to the Munson family, who have been involved with the hall for generations and still donate their time and equipment to keep it in working order.
During the week, the hall has strength training, Essentrics, karate, and weekly line dancing. You can rent it for weddings, fundraisers, and celebrations of up to 250 guests, with the kitchen, tables, and chairs included. Every member is welcome at the board and officers' meetings.
Joining costs $20 per family per year. Active, voting membership is for residents inside the Black Forest Preservation Plan boundaries. Associate membership is for those outside them and doesn't include a vote. Under the Club's updated bylaws, renewals are due between October 1 and December 31 and count for the next calendar year. Memberships not renewed by December 31 lapse, and those members can't vote in the annual election. A new membership started after August 1 covers the rest of this year plus all of next year. That means if you join at the tree lighting on December 5, you're covered through the end of 2027, the year the hall turns 100.
At Behr and Behr Team, we love places like this hall, built and kept up by neighbors for a hundred years. We hope to see you at the tree lighting on December 5. If you're thinking about your own Black Forest property this winter, we're glad to talk it through whenever you're ready. Just Request a Free Home Valuation.
