The versatile pasty, once a prized food item on the dinner tables of medieval England’s royalty, then the humble all-in-one meal of choice for 18th-century Cornish tin miners and, later, for Colorado miners in Leadville and Silverton, has found its latest home in modern-day Durango, courtesy of Kerry Adams, owner of The Happy Pasty located in downtown Durango.
You may be wondering: what exactly is a pasty? Pronounced “PASS-tee”, the pasty is a portable, half-moon-shaped pastry traditionally filled with potatoes, onions, rutabaga, and steak. In Cornwall, the pasty is a deeply rooted symbol of the country’s rich heritage, one Kerry is excited to share with Durango.
Married to a Cornishman, Kerry and her husband, Ross, traveled back to Cornwall every couple of years, where she first experienced the pasty. She immediately loved the idea of a tasty, affordable grab-and-go you could carry with you around town. That combination of a scrumptious, flaky crust, a hearty filling, and no need for a fork hooked her. When COVID hit, Kerry had to pivot from her 35-year massage therapy practice in San Jose, California. She decided to try pasty-making, poring over traditional Cornish recipes and gathering tips from her mother-in-law on perfecting the pasty dough. She began selling pasties as a roadside pop-up in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Clearly, she was onto something special, as her popularity and customer base grew weekly. Sure, the pasties were delicious, but something else was happening too: nostalgia. For the Brits and Cornish transplants living nearby, biting into a pasty evoked memories of home. “It helped people during COVID have a connection,” Kerry says. Customers would line up and, unprompted, start telling her their stories. “I remember my grandma making these,” or “I remember waiting in line for these at lunchtime.” Kerry recalls thinking, “Wow, this is what it’s about. It’s about connection.” After moving to Durango in 2021 and spotting a small, vacant kiosk on Main Street a few years later, The Happy Pasty was born in June 2025.
The Pasty Connection to Colorado Mining Towns
The journey of the pasty to mining towns in Colorado begins in Cornwall, of course, thanks to its thriving tin industry in the 1700s, where it became a miner’s ideal staple during lunch breaks. It could be easily transported into the mines without cutlery, providing much-needed sustenance while staying warm thanks to a sophisticated feat of food engineering. The pasty's shape, along with its heavily crimped edge, created a seal that insulated the filling and kept it warm for hours. That crimped edge also doubled as a handle since the miners’ hands were often contaminated with arsenic dust, a toxic byproduct from tin mining. After eating the pasty, the handle portion was thrown into the mine to avoid arsenic ingestion and as an offering to the “mine gods” for protection.
As Cornwall's mines declined in the 1800s, its miners, nicknamed "Cousin Jacks," brought their skills to other countries, including America, and eventually landed in Colorado's mining camps. They brought pasties with them, revered for the same reasons: portable, calorie-dense, and built to survive underground. Ingredients shifted with local preferences, but the pasty endured as a hallmark of the immigrant labor that built the West's mining towns.
-You can follow the Happy Pasty on social media for weekly specials and special event dates and times.
Steak, Cheese and a Little Bit of Texas
Beyond the traditional steak-and-cheese pasty, Kerry rotates sweet and savory specialty pasties weekly and offers take-and-bake options for those who want fresh-from-the-oven flavor at home. She also makes Texas-style kolaches, filled with smoked sausage and cheese. Find The Happy Pasty on Fridays 12-3 p.m. and Saturdays from 11-2 p.m. on Main Street. As Kerry puts it, “When the British flags are flying, I’m open!”