Best bets this weekend for the Durango area are kindred to the emerging spring with an end-of-winter pond skim Saturday at Purgatory Resort and Easter services Sunday.
A pond skim competition will be held from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the base area of Purgatory Resort, 1 Skier Place.
The end of the ski season and the approaching spring will be celebrated with attempts to successfully skim across near-freezing water on skis and snowboards without falling in.
A promotional crew from Red Bull will set up the event area and amp up the crowd. Prizes will be awarded for: male and female best skim, best wipeout and best costume. Music and beer from Ska Brewing Co. will also be featured.
Registration is limited to 75 participants and will open at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Burton store in the resort plaza. Entry is $5. Skiers and snowboarders must be 16 and older. A signed waiver is required for participation, and a parent must sign for participants younger than 18.
After the pond skim, Aeromyth, an Aerosmith cover band, will play from 4 to 6 p.m. on the beach at Purgatory’s base area.
For more information, visit www.purgatoryresort.com.
Durango residents will observe Easter on Sunday by attending church services in the area and celebrating traditionally and non-traditionally in their homes.
Easter is a Christian holiday associated with the story of Jesus Christ’s resurrection. The resurrection, according to the New Testament of the Bible, took place three days after Christ was crucified by the Romans. A series of events and holidays are held leading up to Easter, beginning with Lent – 40 days of fasting, prayer and sacrifice – and ending with Holy Week, which includes Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and, finally, Easter Sunday.
Easter is celebrated in different ways across the globe. Many traditions associated with the holiday date back to pagan times before Christianity. In the United States today, Easter is a commercial and religious event. Examples of nonreligious Easter figures and practices include the Easter bunny; Easter eggs and baskets; and games, such as egg hunts, egg rolling and egg decorating.
Across all traditions and celebrations, Easter is a seasonal marker for spring and represents fertility and birth.
For more information about Easter Sunday church services in Durango and the surrounding area, visit www.durangobusiness.org/religious-organizations.html.
Raven Narratives: live storytelling, 7:30 p.m., $13-$20, Sunflower Theater, 8 E. Main St., Cortez.
Durango Nature Studies full moon hike, 7:30 p.m., $0-$10, Falls Creek, County Road 205.
Wilderness 101: What Citizens Need to Know, 3:30 p.m., Anasazi Heritage Center, 27501 Highway 184, Dolores, 882-5600.
Raven Narratives: live storytelling, 7:30 p.m., $13-$20, Durango Arts Center, 802 East Second Ave., 259-2606.
Free book giveaway, noon, Downtown Security Storage, 923 Narrow Gauge Ave.
