HE WAS A DOWNHILL RACER, competing with people like Jean-Claude Killy. Over and over, his coaches told him to slow down and just finish the course.He didn’t listen. Then he had a major accident and recuperated in just one season. He returned and won more races without changing his all-in style.
Later, he bought a Häagen-Dazs franchise in Santa Fe. With the same all-in mentality, he and his wife got to know everyone’s name and everyone got to know theirs.
This was a place where, over the years, something like 1,000 kids scooped ice cream. A place where, at any given time, on any given day, there was the smell of warm cookies in the air, a place where oohs and aahs erupted as spectacular ice cream was handed out by a friend’s son or daughter. It was also a place where the kids who didn’t work there tried to hang out. In no uncertain terms, Libby told them to “buy or fly.”
Libby’s store was a glorious memory that connected thousands to a time in their lives and a place in this town. For many who were there, or for those who have just heard about it, there is a nostalgia – and a love – for this downhill skier who turned an ice cream parlor into a little local paradise right in our front yard.
A lot of people told us, You gotta talk to this guy! How do you explain the fact that you’re so popular?
You mean they like me?
Yeah, they like you.
I’m interested in everyone I meet. Each person has their own uniqueness, and boy, finding out about that person and their background is really fun.
People say your Häagen-Dazs store was the hub of downtown, a place where everybody congregated.
Häagen-Dazs was a great place for exposure to the community, that’s for sure. We got to share that every day. I worked seven days a week for a long time and got to meet so many people. I loved meeting the Native Americans and making friendships with them since they were on the Plaza 365 days a year. I still have those friends on the Plaza under the portal, one of whom is as die-hard a Red Sox fan as I am.
We made it not just a great ice cream store but a musical wonderland as well.We had the best music you could imagine playing all the time. My wife Patti was in charge of that, and she did a fantastic job. Patti took care of the front of the house, and I took care of the back. She was there five days a week; her weekends were for the kids.
Even in winter?
Yes, we started a bakery. After the first winter in 1981, I could tell we weren’t going to be selling ice cream in January. So I started making chocolate chip cookies and blueberry muffins. Pretty soon, we ballooned into baking everything you can imagine.
What made you want to create that kind of atmosphere in Santa Fe?
We were wanting to leave Telluride, and I had never been to Santa Fe. We got here, I took one look at it, and said, This is it! Then, of course, I had to find a business. At first I thought I was going to do a deli/winery, but that already existed. Patti had done graduate work at University of Colorado and remembered a very popular Häagen-Dazs store in Boulder. She asked, How about doing that? And that was it!
When you get a business going and can tell it could have great success, you work on it, keep adding to it. We did that from day one for 30 years. At one time, we were the busiest Häagen-Dazs in the country, until Universal Studios beat us out.
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Photo Mary Moon
