The Sober Soirèe, southern Colorado's largest non-alcoholic bash, will be held Sept. 13 and this year will culminate the new Sober Week 2025 observance, which Colorado Springs City Council is proclaiming on Tuesday.
The only nighttime charitable gala to benefit a nonprofit organization in Colorado Springs that doesn't showcase alcohol as a key guest is going big.
The third annual Sober Soirée, the largest fundraiser for Homeward Pikes Peak, will cap off an entire week honoring sobriety, with a focus on employees in the hospitality and restaurant sector.
"Sober Week 2025 is a new community awareness-raising activity to highlight that substance abuse is very prevalent among hospitality workers and show them options to deal with stress and demonstrate a healthy lifestyle," said Beth Roalstad, CEO of Homeward Pikes Peak. The organization provides supported housing and addiction recovery programs for individuals and families leaving homelessness.
The event that runs Sept. 8-13 will feature daily events that are open to anyone. The week begins on Monday with entry-level group yoga at Weidner Field soccer stadium, moves to a mass hike in Red Rock Canyon Open Space on Tuesday, introduces a coffee and donut socialization in Acacia Park on Wednesday morning, hosts a competitive industry field day on Thursday and offers a volunteer project on Friday. All events are free, but registration is requested at https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/sober-week-4458743.
Saturday night's high-vibe dance party starts at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 13 at The Warehouse, 114 E. Cimarron, offering craft non-alcoholic mocktails by mixologists and small dinner plate selections by local chefs. Tickets are $125 each and available at https://homewardpp.org/event/sober-soiree-2025/. It's Homeward Pikes Peak's largest fundraising event, Roalstad said, bringing in $80,000 to $100,000 a year.
Colorado Springs City Council is scheduled to proclaim Sober Week 2025 during its meeting Tuesday.
"I don't think a lot of municipal leaders talk about recovery as a goal for their city, but it makes sense when I think about costs to the community," Roalstad said. "If people are drinking mocktails when socializing, perhaps there would be fewer DUIs, safer streets and less stress."
A coalition called the Sober Week Collaborative has been working on the weeklong observance, with others involved that include Springs Recovery Connection, Diversus Health, Pikes Peak Rising, Eleven18, Culinary Hospitality Outreach Wellness, the city of Colorado Springs and Big Table Colorado Springs.
"By coming together, we're letting people know before they're in crisis there are resources in the community, there's counseling and activities available on the same journey," said Sara Potter, city director of Big Table Colorado Springs.
The nonprofit operates in four cities in the nation to support hospitality workers in crisis with needs such as medical care, car repair and eviction.
An estimated 26,000 restaurant and hospitality employees live in El Paso County and work at some 2,500 restaurants, motels and hotels, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Of those workers, 16% live below the poverty line and 10% are considered working poor families.
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With erratic and late-night hours, high stress, holiday scheduling, low wages, a lack of medical benefits and sometimes being treated like a servant instead of a server, working in the industry can be an emotional drain that leads people to stay up and drink after their shift ends, Potter said.
"We're hoping by modeling this week of early-morning activities that after work people would wind down, go home, go to sleep and get up early and exercise in the mornings," Roalstad said.
The focus of Sober Week isn't on forgoing alcohol as a punishment or a buzzkill but rather as self-care to improve health, longevity and enjoyment of life without feeling like you "need" a drink to get by, Potter said.
It's estimated that Colorado Springs has about 40,000 people checking in and out of inpatient and outpatient sobriety programs, she said.
"We get in our routines and develop habits, and we want to create a safe space in the hospitality sector by bringing in mocktails and the idea we're meeting for coffee, not shift drink, where you sit and drink with friends all night and then repeat the process," Potter said.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, since 1989, has promoted September nationwide as National Recovery Month.
Well-known Colorado Springs Chef Brother Luck was inspired by the first Sober Soirèe to join the sobriety movement that has been gaining momentum nationwide.
A Gallup poll conducted July 7-21 reported a record-low drinking rate of 54% of U.S. adults consuming alcohol, the lowest percentage in the survey's 90 years of tracking. Health concerns coupled with the rising use of legalized marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms seem to be contributing to the decline in alcohol use.
Brother Luck, owner of Four by Brother Luck, a downtown redefined Southwestern restaurant; Eleven18, a Latin Tapas bar; and The Studio, a private meal venue, said when he hosted the first Sober Soirèe in 2023, it became more than an event because it launched his story of sobriety.
"That night changed everything," he said. "Now, as we step into the third Sober Soirèe, I'm also celebrating two full years as a sober chef and professional. I've learned that choosing sobriety is cool. It's powerful. It's fun. You don't have to wait for a breakdown to want a breakthrough."
Not drinking at such an event doesn't equate to missing out on anything, Brother Luck said, but rather "is proof that joy, connection and good vibes don't need alcohol to be unforgettable."
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