Sundance says goodbye: Fort Collins-area fixture rides wave of well wishes in final days

When I got to Sundance Steakhouse & Saloon early Thursday evening, I first spotted owner Nicole Hendrix adjusting its front mat, a spray bottle of Windex at her feet.

By the time I got to its entrance, Hendrix had disappeared inside the sprawling honky tonk. The next time I saw her, she was perched by a pool table talking to one of Sundance's former beer reps. After that, she was behind its main bar, her high ponytail swishing as she flitted from customer to customer while the nearby dance floor clattered with line dancers.

It's been all hands on deck at Sundance for nearly two weeks — ever since Hendrix announced the country bar at 2716 E. Mulberry St. would unexpectedly close July 26 after 42 years on the eastern edge of Fort Collins. The decision came after the business couldn't agree on renovations with the building's property owner, Hendrix said.

The building's longtime owner, Howard Hogan, declined to comment on Sundance's closure for this story. He instead deferred to Hendrix and Matt Patyk, a broker with commercial real estate firm CBRE who represents Hogan.

Patyk confirmed that an agreement couldn't be reached with Sundance and said he's optimistic about the future of 2716 E. Mulberry St.

"It's an amazing piece of real estate and we're excited to see what comes next," Patyk told the Coloradoan Friday.

Since the announcement of Sundance's closure, people have flocked to the airy country bar. On Thursday — its second to last night in business — the saloon's dining area buzzed with customers as servers brought out hamburger baskets and plates of steak and baked potatoes. At one table on Sundance's western edge, Penny Rimestad talked about all the years she had line danced there (Sundance hosted line dancing lessons Sunday and Thursday nights and country swing dancing some Wednesdays).

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At another nearby table sat a woman who came to Sundance back in her college days. She brought her own daughter, freshly 21, for the first time so they could experience it together before it shuttered.

"The support from the community has been 180 degrees from what I expected," said Hendrix, who purchased Sundance with her now ex-husband, Kyle Scott, in June 2016.

Hendrix bought out Scott's portion of the business roughly four years later, and has spent the majority of her ownership there working to reverse the bar's formerly rowdy reputation.

"We had spent eight years overcoming (terms) like Scumdance or Scummer," Hendrix said, referring to Sundance's reputation for dirt cheap drink specials and alcohol-fueled incidents that resulted in headaches for local law enforcement. "I'd prepared myself to be inundated with that."

Instead, Hendrix said she's been swamped with sweet messages and well wishes.

“We’ve already heard of people flying in from other states to come and spend the last night with us," Hendrix said. “My phone and social media has just been blowing up. I can’t even get back to people in time. Memories are just flooding in.”

As more people filtered into Sundance Thursday evening, the evening's line dancers got the hang of the ongoing dance lesson led by instructor Sara Elder. On a quick break between songs Thursday evening, Elder frowned when I asked how it felt to be teaching her last lesson at the bar.

"Sadder than sad," she said.

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Sundance is by far the biggest of only two bars in Northern Colorado that house regular line dancing nights, said Elder, noting that she also teaches line dancing on Monday nights at The Boot Grill in Loveland.

"It's a place that people have been coming on Friday and Saturday nights for generations," Elder continued. "People have been crawling out of the woodwork saying, 'I met my husband there. I danced there in college.'"

"I’ve danced with gentlemen out here on oxygen," Elder said. "One of my first nights I came out line dancing (here) there was a woman in a walker on the dance floor, and I said I want to be that. I want to be dancing on the Sundance floor when I’m in a walker."

"Unfortunately that’s not going to happen,” she added, pausing. “Maybe somewhere else.”

With the end nearing for Sundance on East Mulberry Street, Hendrix said she's hopeful this isn't the end of its story as she mulls possibly reopening it in a new location. It's too early to say if that will happen just yet, though, Hendrix said.

"I was born and raised here, but Sundance has been here longer than I’ve been alive, so I feel completely inadequate to make this decision (to close)," Hendrix said. "With the community’s support and all of the messages we’ve been getting I think that I have to do my due diligence to see how we can keep it a part of the community. It’s obviously bigger than me. It’s bigger than the 42 years in this building."

Hendrix said she's heard from supporters across the U.S. and even in Australia. When she traveled to Maryland to put her grandfather into hospice care, his nurse there had been to Sundance, she recalled incredulously.

"We’ve had baby showers, weddings, funerals, divorce parties, literally anything you can imagine has been celebrated here," Hendrix said. “I don’t even think we can grasp how far the memories reach."

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Sundance says goodbye: Fort Collins-area fixture rides wave of well wishes in final days