BBB Announces Year-Long 40th Anniversary Celebration

Throughout 2023, BBB Serving Northern Colorado and Wyoming will be celebrating its 40th anniversary of service in our area. Lisa Curtis, a graduate student at Colorado State University, wrote her master’s thesis on the viability of a BBB in Northern Colorado. Based on the enthusiastic response of the community, a local BBB was founded on May 17, 1983, as the Better Business Bureau of Northern Colorado with Curtis serving as its first president. 215 businesses joined as charter members in 1983, 26 of which have been continuously BBB Accredited to this day.

During the following years, the BBB of Northern Colorado would expand operations first into Wyoming and the Eastern Plains of Colorado, then up the I-70 corridor along with Steamboat Springs and other mountain communities. BBB would undergo name changes including BBB of the Rocky Mountains and the Mountain States BBB and continue to expand until arriving at the present day BBB Serving Northern Colorado and Wyoming with a service territory covering 38 counties in Northern Colorado and Wyoming from Cody, WY to Sterling, CO and from Rifle, CO to Gillette, WY.

“This milestone is a great time to look back at our local BBB’s accomplishments over the last four decades and thank all those businesses, individuals, and community partners who helped us further our mission of advancing marketplace trust,” said BBB CEO/president Shelley Polansky. “At the same time, we have an opportunity to look to the future with a number of new initiatives and programs being rolled out both locally and nationally.”

Some of the numerous ways BBB will celebrate this anniversary include:

• Recognition of BBB’s anniversary at the 2023 Torch Awards for Ethics celebration (celebrating its own 25th anniversary) on April 27 at the Embassy Suites in Loveland, CO,

• Visits to all 26 charter Accredited Businesses that have been continuously accredited for 40 years,

• Additional outreach visits and road trips throughout our service territory,

• Feature articles on the history of our local BBB and businesses that have stood out as marketplace role models during our history,

• Sharing of photos, articles, and other materials from BBB’s archives in articles, videos, and on social media,

To learn more about BBB’s 40th-anniversary celebration, visit the anniversary website. There you can read a detailed history of BBB Serving Northern Colorado and Wyoming, find out more about our 1983 charter Accredited Businesses, and get involved with the celebration. Make sure you don’t miss anything by following us on social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram) and by signing up for our Trust Factor newsletter.