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Badfish co-owners Mike Harvey and Zack Hughes launched their Salida business in 2010, but Hughes has been shaping surfboards since 2007. Harvey remembers, “In the beginning, it was just two good friends having fun together on the river. As a whitewater park designer I was trying to figure out how to engineer structures [to] create surfable waves and Zack was in his garage trying to make surfboards... Badfish grew organically from that desire.” Ultimately the duo began making boards to share with the world, riding the Colorado river surfing wave back when it all began. This year, Badfish opened its first retail shop at 148 E. First St. in Salida —locally known as the ‘blue building.’ “Salida is our home. This town is our family. We’re proud of our hometown… People all over the US, Canada, and Japan are paddling and surfing boards that say ‘Salida, CO.’” Visit BadfishSUP.com