SALIDA, Colo. — The last of the aspen and cottonwood leaves are falling in this former mining town, where a boom-to-bust economy was once a fact of life.

With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, more of a bust-to-boom scenario was created in Salida, a city of 6,000 that fell on hard times like communities across the U.S. as businesses closed under stay-at-home orders and once gainfully employed residents landed in the unemployment line.

But in mid-May, locals witnessed a sudden change: City dwellers started visiting Salida for a weekend — or even longer to ride out the pandemic and work remotely — mirroring a trend seen in rural communities and small towns across the nation.

“It’s been a wild ride,” said Jillian Chernofsky, owner of the Creekside Chalet cabins in Salida, 142 miles south of Denver. “When the property was shut down in March and April, and we were getting so many cancellations for the summer, we thought it was doomsday.”

When the cabins reopened in mid-May, the situation changed like the Colorado weather, which can shift from dark and snowy to sunny and clear within minutes.

“Our revenue for 2020 is up 25 percent over 2019," Chernofsky said. "We’re seeing the highest occupancy in four years. This is the busiest we’ve ever been.”