LAS CRUCES, N.M. – One popular Las Cruces coffee shop went from being filled with music, visitors and the best matcha on this side of the Mississippi to being used as a storage room.
What started as a pipe dream turned into five years of successful business for Frankie Jaurequi and Downtown Blues.
“The love of the blues music I’ve had since I was a kid, and I just started putting things together. Saving some money, and kind of giving everything up to secure the place,” Jaurequi said.
Downtown Blues is not just a coffee shop. It is a gathering place for musicians in the Las Cruces community. Before it closed, the Blues café was regularly hosting live music and poetry. It is now been a little over a month of silence in the shop.
Roof damage has forced the business to close, putting them at risk of a permanent shutdown.
“Kind of freaked out, didn’t think we had much of a choice, so we’re shut down,” Jaurequi said. “It’s kind of a minor disaster. But we’re still having a lot of great support from everybody.”
After offering a space for musicians for half a decade, they are doing everything they can to support Downtown Blues while they work to raise $5,000.
“This is our cultural center, these are members of our family, and what they have been through in trying to stay open FOR US would take the breath out of any one of y’all,” local musician Cleve Hattersley posted on Facebook.
He is not the only one offering support. Eric Jaurequi, Frankie’s brother, has donated some of his personal items to sell at the Downtown Blues Farmers Market stand. They have only raised about half of what they need.
When it rains, it pours. Hattersley, who was hosting many of the fundraising events, has had to step away to focus on his wife Mary during an illness. While his wife is in the hospital, fundraisers for Downtown Blues have been postponed.
Jaurequi is continuing to fight to keep Downtown Blues alive. The shop hosts a stand at the farmers market outside where the shop used to be open. Supporters can donate cash at that stand, or to their gofundme.
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