Babbs Award: Something About Mary
Home Tour Coordinator Honored For Her Commitment To Park Hill
By Cara DeGette
GPHN Editor
For the past several years, Mary Salsich has coordinated the annual Park Hill Home Tour, which raises thousands each year to support the programs of Greater Park Hill Community, Inc., including several food programs.
For her contributions, Salsich was named this year’s recipient of the Babb’s Award, a community service award named after longtime Park Hill United Methodist Church minister Dr. J. Carlton Babbs.
Salsich was presented with the award during the registered neighborhood organization’s annual meeting on Oct. 3.
Greater Park Hill News: Give us the mini Mary Salsich bio.
Mary Salsich: I was born in Midland, Texas and my family moved to Boulder when I was 16. I graduated from Fairview High School and the University of Colorado, then moved to Denver for work. I bought my home in Park Hill in 2002 and got my real estate license in 2003. I started Red Pepper Real Estate in January of 2018. My other hobbies include tennis, biking and spending as much time as possible with my three grandsons.
GPHN: What is your Park Hill story?
MS: I’ve wanted to live in Park Hill ever since I was looking to buy my first house in 1978. But I couldn’t quite afford $77,000 at the time. So, I bought in another Denver neighborhood, then built a house, then ended up moving to the suburbs until my youngest kid was out of high school. I was thrilled then to be able to buy in Park Hill (although it was a little more than $77,000).
GPHN: What’s the best change to happen since you’ve moved to Park Hill?
MS: When I lived in Centennial there were tons of kids in my neighborhood and I loved hearing them play and having kids around. I knew Park Hill was a kid-friendly neighborhood, but when I moved in there weren’t any on my block. But now there are a bunch of kids on my block. So for me, that’s the best thing to happen.
GPHN: What do you miss most about the Park Hill you moved to in 2002?
MS: The cost. It’s become a lot more affluent and white. One reason I wanted to live in Park Hill is the diversity. If you look around the neighborhood there are three-story apartment buildings then there are duplexes and single family homes — these are steppingstones that should allow people to live in the neighborhood. I’m not sure what we can do to keep the racial diversity of the neighborhood, but [I’m hopeful] that we can keep at least the diversity in housing.
GPHN: Tell us an amusing anecdote about the Home Tour. (Maybe a story about a mix-up of some kind, or the dream home that got away…)
MS: The mix-up was this year, when the map on the Home Tour website and brochure was last year’s map. Some people rang the doorbell of some of those homes and surprised the owners when they said they were there for the Home Tour. However, one gracious homeowner invited them in for a private tour.
GPHN: What is your response to being the Babbs Award recipient this year?
MS: Total surprise!