What will become of the do-it-yourself town?

A few weeks ago, I became a card-carrying member of the Boulder Fitness Club. Well, no: There are no cards, really. But there certainly is a fitness club, in a former dance and gymnastic studio tucked behind The Gift Box in downtown Boulder. It offers a circuit of hydraulic resistance equipment, a few commercial-quality treadmills, a Bowflex gym — and all the Montana Public Television you can watch.

I love the story of how this little gem came to be. Back in 2005, a group of women friends from Boulder enjoyed a free visit together at a fitness club in Helena. “We said, we really need to do this more – but we don’t want to drive to Helena all the time,” recalls Connie Grenz, one of the five. They looked into getting a franchise for the club they had enjoyed, but there wasn’t one available.

So the women decided to create their own.