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Local event design company struggling after going without business since March

Without gatherings, many businesses that put on events like Amora Group in north Denver have been out of work since March.

DENVER — It's taken creative resilience to survive the ever-changing restrictions, financial hardships, and rising health risks of this year. But families, artists and business owners across the country have managed to stay afloat. 

Still, many others will not make it past 2020. For example, venues and entertainers dependent on crowds are growing increasingly more at risk of going under, like the Denver jazz club El Chapultepec, which announced its closure after 87 years two weeks ago. Or the local live music venue Lion's Lair hosting an online fundraiser right now to stay in business

"I see a lot about the airlines and restaurants and small businesses. But there's not enough on the venues," said Jake Ruybal, the owner of Amora Event Group. "The venues are hurting, entertainment is hurting, and so is the event industry." 

Ruybal knows this firsthand because he owns and operates an event design group and event rental company in North Denver. His team usually designs and decorates 80 to 100 events and weddings each year. But since people haven't been able to gather, Ruybal and his design team have been out of work, forcing him to lay off six full-time employees while also unable to hire his usual 12 or so part-time staffers.

"We do events that are 50 people or more," said Ruybal after 10 long months in the pandemic. "My industry has been totally shut down since March." 

Zero business since March, he said. Without work, Ruybal estimates they've lost just under half a million dollars in revenue this year.

"We were lucky that we had a great year last year and a strong first couple months of this year," he said. "That's really helped us weather the storm."

It's taken Ruybal and his wife five years to build up a client base across Colorado. Not to mention the time and money it's taken them to own a warehouse full of tools, furniture, bars, decorations, lighting, and a hundred other accessories that make their events both memorable and profitable.

"We can't do curbside. We have no outlet for our product. Zero," Ruybal said. "My inventory’s been sitting here, and it’s ready to go. We're ready to go."

But as COVID-19 continues to take lives for the tenth month, those accessories will continue to sit unused, in boxes on shelves, as celebrations remain virtual. 

Ruybal does not want to return to work before it's safe and has even turned down certain opportunities he felt could put his team at risk. But after hearing so much about so many other industries struggling to get through the pandemic, he wanted to bring attention to his industry and how resilient they have been this year, too. 

"I know a lot of my suppliers, partners, vendors, my clients – everybody's hurting," Ruybal said. "Everybody is just really scraping by, trying to get to where we can open again. That’s the most important thing." 

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