How much sun does the spot have? I agree with the local nursery, elderberries can grow into trees, Usually one removes older canes for fruit production. I only keep my canes 2 years,
I guess if grown right, you could form a shrub. Not all cultivars will do that. Not sure which would be best? With partial sun anything would be slow growing.
I made a hedge and I used Cornus Mas, the cornelian cherry tree It is slow growing though and took a long time to form a hedge. Today I might consider the Romance series of tart cherries. They are bush cherries. Carmine Jewel, Crimson Passion, Juliet, Romeo, Cupid and Valentine. Fast growing in 3 years you would have a decent hedge. in 5 it would be 6 feet tall.
And they produce some of the best tart cherries known to mankind.

Elderberries are definitely easy care. They are water loving plants though, so if your climate is at all arid, you might appreciate something that will use the water more efficiently. Also, in your climate they may very likely die back completely each year. This will not make them useless, just that they may have to start out from the ground level again each spring.

In terms of edibility, I have not been at all impressed with any of the cultivated varieties. Seems like the named varieties tend to just have larger berries with smaller seeds, but no flavor. If you want to make jelly, cough syrup, wine, or use the flowers for something, that would be fine though.

Other ideas (varying edibility):

-- autumn olive (fast growing, abundant berries, useful and healthful)

-- buffaloberry (native, slower growing, nice foliage, sometimes berry harvest)

-- golden currant (native, very fast growing, large tasty currants in abundance)

-- saskatoon (native, slower growing, most edible of this list, screening may not be great)

As I stated Carmine Jewel, it is hardy in your zone. Or any of the Romance series. Honeyberriesusa sells them as does Henry Fields, often they have huge sales you can get them cheap. I bought one for 7 bucks from them. Sign up for newsletter to get discount codes. These plants get to about 6 feet high and wide.

http://www.fruit.usask.ca/articles/Sour%20Cherries/Carmine%20Jewel%20notes.pdf#page=2&zoom=auto,-73,488

Today they went on sale for 15 bucks at Henry Fields. Sale ends Sunday

Offer Keycode: 0642473

http://www.henryfields.com/product/Carmine_Jewel_Dwarf_Cherry_Tree/fruit-trees-and-nut-trees?p=0642473&uid=9R0CrRMPU9wC9Rj4hbP4&r=052815HF&utm_source=em&utm_medium=spec&lm=henf

Thank you for the good advice. I haven't considered the possibility of the elderberries dying down to the ground in the winter. Interesting. I do have a Carmen Jewel bush I got from Gurney's last year. Came as a twig and while it is leafing out now, I would imagine it will take many years to grow large enough for our privacy desires. I was planning to get a Juliet cherry this summer too. But for our screen I think I need to go a little bigger. I Like the idea of the golden current and have never heard of the autumn olive. I will look into that one.

One other plant I was considering is Bridal Wreath Spirea. It wouldn't have fruit but has beautiful spring interest and pretty good fall color.

Oh, and sorry I forgot to answer...the spot is in full sun. We do have drip irrigation to the area as well.

The Carmine will not take long to grow big, but heck the more the better! Related to autumn olive is Goumi and silverberry. Goumi has better tasting berries, but all are only good for syrup or jam, not great fresh eating.
https://www.onegreenworld.com/Goumi/347/
https://www.onegreenworld.com/Silverberry/372/
My Carmine was a twig when i got it two years ago, not anymore! I kept it in a pot, it would be bigger if in ground.

Wow! Impressive growth on the Carmen Jewel! I can't wait for mine to look like that. I will think more about the idea of using dwarf cherries.

I second the use of dwarf cherries, this is what I went with for my edible privacy hedge after a ton of research. Also, the Romeo's I ordered from Henryfields were much bigger than I expected, 3.5 ft tall, I expected twigs. Also, they were covered with hundred's of flowers already last week, after a month in the ground. The carmine jewel has been around the longest and you might be able to get several of them for much cheaper. I ended up paying a little extra so I can have some variety. As you can see from the picture above they look nice even when not covered in flowers.

codym17, how tall do you think your dwarf cherry hedge will grow? I measured the site again yesterday and feel that I really need the hedge to be 8 to 10 feet tall to give us privacy from the bike path which is elevated above our backyard a bit. I like the idea of a cherry hedge, but the most important aspect of the hedge is to give us privacy. Have been considering creating a berm to add height if necessary.

Thanks again, everyone!

I have also started looking into Amerian Highbush cranberries. They grow fast and tall, with white spring flowers, beautiful fall foliage and berries that can last on the branches through the winter for birds. I wouldn't use the berries as much as I would with elderberries and cherries, probably just a few batches of chutney, jams, and cranberry sauce, but the shrubs fit my needs in every other area of concern.

Anyone have experience Highbush cranberries?

Another one I have looked into today is the black chokeberry bush. Unfortunately I think it only grows to about 6'. Otherwise it looked like a good option. May use it elsewhere.

One more question , how do the dwarf cherries look in the fall? Any color?

You might want to check out local people for the hardiness and eventual size of these plants. I am at 8300' in CO, zone 5a and quite windy. Elderberries get ~8' tall here. Service berries get 6' or so. All this with irrigation. Other plants which should in theory grow here, don't.

A lot of plants have a smaller mature size in harsher climates, like mine. You don't give the other details about your location (like wind, etc) but many of these plants may end up smaller than they would if grown in a warmer/wetter location.

BTW here I have yet to see Carmine Jewel cherry get much higher than 4'.

Steve, thanks for the info about the plants in your area. I am at about 6100 feet in elevation, in a suburban neighborhood outside of the town ofJackson, WY. The spot or the hedge is in full sun, with drip irrigation, and not super windy unless it is a windy day. Everything I read about Elderberries say zone 3 is fine for the cultivars I am considering. 8' tall would be perfect. My latest thought is I could build a berm of sorts if I decide to use a shrub that only grows 6'.

You might try some Jostaberries! They get taller than currants, I read. They have no thorns, whereas the gooseberries that are their other parent are thorny. I've never eaten them, but they sound great and like cold areas.

no one mentioning sea buckthorn? If you plant something like saskatoon, which I like, it will be a bunch of small trees, not an hedge.