Yes there is a need for blackberries for folks that live in the cold as well as folks that live in warm climates.
Lawton gave me a few berries last year and they had the classic old timey blackberry taste…not super sweet but not super tart. It does sucker like crazy though. So buying one plant will get you a dozen or so pretty fast. Pretty obvious its a wild type that wants to survive. Berries in year 1 of my 2yo plants were pretty big…i would say that they will average bigger than a quarter consistantly. Likely bigger than that though.
Everett has a nice heirloom… and im growing it here as well. Not sure if he wants me or himself to spread it to folks… I think it has survived -50F or so in its lifetime.
I have Ebony Hardy from Canada… the old Ebony King that is very thorny that can even grow in parts of Alaska… and i have Illini Hardy going now as well.
I have some Eastern European varieties growing now that are used in commercial production. They survive -30F with ease. All are thorny.
I have talked to a guy in Utah that grew Illini Hardy and Prime Ark Freedom. He has a U-pick operation. He no longer grows Illini because people wont get near the thorns and dont want their kids near them… so he just cuts down Prime Ark to the ground and only grows primocane berries… so that is also an option since Utah is similar to CO in climate?