After years of serving their communities in education and law enforcement, Kristy and Pat Rigdon continue to do so postretirement – but now by serving cookies.
The Rigdons, who are both UCCS alumni, opened a Mary’s Mountain Cookies location as licensees in July of 2022. The longtime couple had been fans of the Fort Collins-based bakery before taking on one themselves, with fond memories of going to the former Breckenridge store and asking their daughter to bring cookies back with her on her visits from college.
“When we would go to the Mary’s Mountain cookies that used to be in Breckenridge, we always commented that we thought it would do well in Colorado Springs,” said Pat. “And then our daughter went to Colorado State University, and we wanted her to bring cookies home all the time. So we continued to talk about it and decided to make the inquiry. Mary responded saying that she usually doesn’t look at these inquiries anymore, but something made her look at ours. That was in March of 2022, and then we opened in July, so it was very quick. Especially for me – I was retiring in a month and then, almost the next day, building the cookie store and getting it ready to open.”
Though neither Pat nor Kristy have business degrees or previous business experience, their years of working with people and the community have provided knowledge and skills that still help in their current work and have allowed them to seamlessly transition from one public-facing role to another.
“I’m a firm believer that everything you do leads and contributes to the success of the next thing you do,” shared Kristy. “Both of us had leadership positions within our organizations that gave us skills that transfer well. I was in education and that’s all about customer service and family, and with the police department, the citizens of Colorado Springs are customers. We felt like those skills really transferred. And it was important to us that we contribute back to, and live and work in, our community.”
Kristy’s journey in education began with a bachelor’s in psychology in 1990, followed by a graduate degree in counseling and human services in 1993 and another master’s in 2006, this time in curriculum and instruction, all from UCCS, while Pat earned his master’s in criminal justice from UCCS in 2011.
“I use my counseling degree every single day through my entire life and in working with people,” said Kristy. “I think a college education in general gives you a good foundation and helps you with everything that you do, whether you end up in that field or not. It broadens your world, which helps you make better decisions and form more informed opinions, and teaches you about time management, the satisfaction of completing things and being on a team. I really appreciated my time at UCCS and all of the people there that supported me.”
“I would also say that in the university setting, you get to see perspectives from people from different walks of life,” Pat added. “Even now, our student employees all come from various backgrounds. You gain an appreciation for that and are more open to others’ ideas and just trying to meet them wherever they’re at. I think the value you get at UCCS and the ability to go to school in a great city can’t compare, really. It’s a great opportunity that hopefully more and more local people continue to take advantage of.”
Those student employees are another connection to UCCS for the Rigdons and a way that their experience working with people continues to be beneficial.
“It’s been great to work with all these young people, many of whom haven’t had a job before, and hopefully they can benefit from our experience,” said Kristy. “We have an amazing team, they are professional and they work well together. It’s just been great having these kids work with us, and it’s important to us that we launch them well into their career. We feel that the skills that they get working with us are ones they can carry on into their next position and chapter in their life.”
In their previous vocations, Pat spent 27 years in the police department, rising to the rank of deputy police chief by the time he retired, and Kristy has had a storied career in a variety of educational roles in District 49. She progressed from elementary teacher to coordinator jobs for literacy and instruction departments and ended with a three-year period as Principal at Inspiration View Elementary School.
Having lived and worked in Colorado Springs for decades, the Rigdons have a good sense of their city and community and the people that make them up.
“We live downtown, too, so we just commute on foot three blocks,” said Pat. “We have a lot of people we’ve known from downtown for years, so it’s nice to have a good catch-up conversation with people who come in. And for a city of our size, it really does give it a small town feel where you have people coming in daily that you know, and then they bring in other people, too, and introduce them, so it’s really nice.”
“We’re downtown all day, every day. For us, it’s a neighborhood. It might not seem like a neighborhood to some, but it really is,” Kristy said. “That’s part of the reason we chose it too, because we’ve seen the different changes over the years, it’s an up-and-coming area and people are dedicated to the downtown being a vibrant place to live and work.”
“For us, yes, we own a business and we make money selling cookies, but that’s not the why of what we do,” she added. “It’s important for us to create an experience and share joy with our community and our guests, and we happen to do that through cookies.”