Nothing extraordinary. A car stopped outside the Keep Alliance Beautiful Recycling Center several months ago, we toted the load inside. The woman looked familiar though the face I could not quite place. She was Flor Acosta (now Sheridan), one of many high-achieving AHS students that showed up in our APS coverage just over a decade ago when I worked for the paper. Turns out the Alliance native had moved back with her husband Fletcher and they were interested in recycling services for their new downtown business.
Skip ahead to mid-April 2024. Anyone curious about the wood-smoked fare at Golden Hour Barbecue has likely stopped in and met the couple between the butcher block and cash register, or at least heard that Flor and Fletcher bought the historic Newberry Building. KAB provided a white tote in the alley weeks before the official opening on St. Patrick’s Day. Personally, I have missed Pigaro’s and looked forward to the incoming barbecue joint. My first trip came later rather than sooner on an afternoon date. I was glad to see a successful handoff from Newberry’s Common Grounds, also avid recyclers. The building itself has a presence and personality – one of a handful of my Box Butte Ave. rooftop photography vantage points over the years – with plenty of space and potential.
Flor and Fletcher shared their story on a recent morning as the gray diffuse light of spring fell on a table at the restaurant. They met junior year while attending UNK “randomly walking on the Kearney bricks that night,” Fletcher reminisced. As to how they ended up business owners in Alliance, the path went right through the heart of barbecue country in Texas where Fletcher worked his way up in the business and Flor taught mathematics in a public charter school district. Our journey in life just clicked, this is why (we’ve) had to go through these experiences . . . We took the leap to do it, they explained. “Couldn’t have picked a better place to do it, it was meant to be,” Fletcher said.
Everyone’s journey begins with the proverbial first step. Fletcher, who grew up just north of Austin, TX, coached tennis while living in Kearney. He graduated before Flor with a GIS degree working in Texas before moving back to be with her. After she earned a teaching degree they decided to settle in Houston. “Had fun while we were there,” she said. “Was a point in our journey where we were getting very settled and figured if we didn’t move in a year or two we’d be there (longterm).”
The Sheridans spent five years in his home state as “(I) learned from the best BBQ’ers,” Fletcher said. Their trip back for Flor’s sister’s Quinceneria (at the Newberry) dropped a fork in the road this past June. They loved the setting and found out the property was for sale then “sat on it for a month” before returning during Heritage Days. “(We) got to see the building in full action,” Flor commented. “Downtown is so cute, classic – a place you would go and visit when you’re traveling.”
Soon after that they put in an offer and found the pit (or smoker) could not be located in the desired spot – and the property lacked space outdoors. Fletcher said their real estate agent spoke to the owners of the lot to the north, Jerry Reynolds and Cindy Kusek. The west end of that property now hosts the pit (a metal roof over two smokers). “They came around and are super supportive,” Fletcher said. They closed the sale and Flor’s parents flew down to drive a massive U-Haul, pit in tow.
Golden Hour BBQ joins dozens of Alliance businesses who take advantage of KAB’s free pick up service. Their bin, just north of West Fourth Street, contains mostly cardboard (corrugated and paperboard) on average in addition to plastic and glass containers and a few miscellaneous items indicative of the business.
“Why not (recycle)? It doesn’t take much time from our day and it’s the right thing to do,” Flor said. Fletcher said it keeps things out of the landfill as they have also repurposed other things. “With two types of meat (packaged in) heavy cardboard it’s awesome to have a recycling bin . . .”
The BBQ is considering engaging customers with a bin where they can deposit used and opened plastic flatware. Convenience impressed Flor. “I was amazed by how easy it (recycling) was to do here,” she said. “I would have to drive to find dropoffs in Houston. . . . Even at the schools’ recycling bins were thrown into the trash.”
Flor and Fletcher are also adamant about reducing food waste.
“I have worked in restaurants for 10 years and have seen how much waste there is,” he said. “We take what we can to Community Table. We don’t serve anything but fresh food. The goal is not to have anything left – goes back into Community Table, back into beans or to our table (at home).”